The exploratory longline operations were conducted in the coastal waters near Lvsi and Rudong of Jiangsu Province from May to July, 2014. The selectivity of the target species Argyrosomus argentatus on different single-bait and multi-bait was tested. Single-baits included fish (Setipinna taty), shrimp (Penaeus vanname) and squid (Loligo japonica). Multi-baits included four combinations from the above three types of bait. The catch rate (15.30%) with the bait of shrimp was higher than that with squid (7.67%) in Lvsi coastal water, but the rate of the former (0.65%) was lower than the latter (2.87%) in Rudong coastal water. The multi-bait of shrimp and squid was proved to be a better combination compared with other three combinations. The difference in fishing effect between the two coastal waters was observed in the present study, and it was related to the resource distribution of A. argentatus and the physical properties of the baits. The results suggests that shrimp and squid as single-bait were more effective than fish, and shrimp should be selected as bait when the “soak time” is short （≤2h）while squid should be selected when the “soak time” is long. These data provide references for bait selectivity in coastal longline fishery for Argyrosomus argentatus.