Fishing with bait

[Ranger99]

Starting out, and growing up, I
always used worms and sometimes
grasshoppers and crickets. But
almost always worms. My grandpa
had a couple of worm beds that
he put together, so we had a nearly
unlimited supply of worms for bait.
As I got older and got to help with
trotlines we most always used beef
blood and small bream.
For a long time now, if I use bait I've
nearly exclusively used shad and to a
lesser degree shrimp.
I've used some corn every now and then,
but mostly for small bream fishing with
young kids
I tried some of those stink bait balls
some years back, but they were
were just ok and not great. Mostly
just a nose full of stink

We used a lot of bait out in the gulf, but
that's a different game altogether

Anyone bait fishing anymore?

[Muskie Hunter]

I've gone in phases. Like you,as a kid, my Granddad kept an old steel pop cooler burried in the garage and he raise nightcrawlers that we captured at night with a rail road lantern. We fished for Channel Cat and Walleye at our favorite fishing lake. Then when I found a nice quarry full of bass and very large bluegill and crappie, my cousin and I used worms and minnows. For the big fish in Lake Erie, I trolled for walleye with lures. In Canada it was lures and jigs.  On a certain river, I fished for Smallmouth with soft shelled crawdads. Then the wife and I took to Muskie fishing and it was all big lures. We moved on to fly fishing and I tied my own flies. Never had good luck with fly fishing for trout and smallmouth, things always had to be just right. Now that we put in a quarter acre pond near our horse pasture and it is well established with large bass and bluegill, I sold my boat and never go anywhere anymore to fish. At the pond I can fish with whatever I like, flys, lures, or bait. And out of all this, my most enjoyable fishing now, is just sitting back and starring at the bobber and recalling the good old days.

[Graybeard]

Yes, I raise mealworms and have lots of catalpa trees down around my pond. They are the best bait I've used when worms are on the trees.

[Dee]

In my younger days I caught a lotta bass. I didn't eat'em cause I didn't like'em. I had my favorite lures and they worked well.
In my old age, I prefer shad, will if shad aren't available use minnows, and worms.
I will eat catfish. All I can catch.

[mcbammer]

Yes, I raise mealworms and have lots of catalpa trees down around my pond. They are the best bait I've used when worms are on the trees.

  I  got into raising mealworms also . What did you use  to raise them in ? I used chicken laying mash . 

[Graybeard]

I'm using a 10 gallon aquarium and corn meal. I use mostly potatoes and carrots on top of the meal plus a couple sections of card stock egg crates.

[mcbammer]

I'm using a 10 gallon aquarium and corn meal. I use mostly potatoes and carrots on top of the meal plus a couple sections of card stock egg crates.

  Yeah, I sliced some  taters for moisture to. I  used five gallon lard cans  with tops .  you have any trouble with them crawling out of the aquarium ?   I liked the fact that using meal worms ,your  hands dont get slimy  like when using red wigglers .  Plus  their handy  , you dont have to run down to the bait shop or shovel up the countryside looking for bait .

[Graybeard]

I bought a mesh metal top especially made for the site aquarium I bought to put on top and it keeps worms and bugs all inside. Tho honestly, so far I've not seen either worms or bugs make any attempt to climb the glass walls.

When I was a boy we raised them on our work shop in a large glass jar with screw on lid. I'm guessing the jar was a bit less than 5 gallons in size but since that was 65 or so years ago memory is a bit fuzzy.

Back them we had taters and some squares of cardboard on top of corn meal.

[Doublebass73]

In my younger days I caught a lotta bass. I didn't eat'em cause I didn't like'em. I had my favorite lures and they worked well.
In my old age, I prefer shad, will if shad aren't available use minnows, and worms.
I will eat catfish. All I can catch.

I'm not a big fan of bass either but one time for S&G's I decided to marinade some bass fillets in clam juice overnight. It makes a huge difference, I actually like bass now as long as they're prepared that way.

[Muskie Hunter]

My 4 Catalpa trees supply me with a lot of the best bass bait in the world though I admit, that because of what the Catalpa worms eat, they also catch my White Armors and Coy too. They think it is algae. The big bass are fun to catch and release but the smaller ones are better to eat. I love my good tasting Bluegills but I sure miss my Walleyes and Channel Cats.

[darkgael]

There is a lot to be said fishing off the beach with a chunk of fish on a hook above a four ounce sinker....as long as you can get it out to the fish.
Anytime that I have been fishing for walleye, the bait has been bloodworms.
For salmon at Bird Creek, a piece of red yarn on a hook will do for a fly.

[Dee]

I've never tasted walleye, but lately have caught a couple. Perch (brim) I grew up eating, and catfish I could eat 3 meals a day.

[Ranger99]

Some years back in one of the SE Oklahoma
rivers there were some fish that had a walleye
look, but I was told they weren't regular walleye,
but some hybrid or something. They were
really hard to catch, and wouldn't bite any
live bait or anything we presented. I would
mainly throw the old fashioned Mepps with
squirrel tail and a brass blade. I caught everything
else but the one fish. Tried every size of
live minnows and baits and such.
We finally caught the heck out of them
with these little jigs that looked like
a tiny minnow called Renovesky or a
similar name. I still have a few, but no
label or package.
They would nearly fight one another to
bite the thing, but never even nibbled
on any other bait or lure.
Those fish were some of the best
eating fish I ever caught

[Muskie Hunter]

Some years back in one of the SE Oklahoma
rivers there were some fish that had a walleye
look, but I was told they weren't regular walleye,
but some hybrid or something. They were
really hard to catch, and wouldn't bite any
live bait or anything we presented. I would
mainly throw the old fashioned Mepps with
squirrel tail and a brass blade. I caught everything
else but the one fish. Tried every size of
live minnows and baits and such.
We finally caught the heck out of them
with these little jigs that looked like
a tiny minnow called Renovesky or a
similar name. I still have a few, but no
label or package.
They would nearly fight one another to
bite the thing, but never even nibbled
on any other bait or lure.
Those fish were some of the best
eating fish I ever caught

Those were probably Saugeye. They look pretty much like Walleye. I never ate one of them but have caught a few. Many would agree that Walleye is the best tasting fish there is. Me too, though I once caught a large Cobia in the Gulf while vacationing and ate steaks out of him. Man was that ever good.

[Ranger99]

I hadn't thought,  but they might have
tasted so good because of the really
clear mountain water.  You could see
a dime on the bottom in 8 feet of water

I've never seen those fish anywhere else though

[Ranger99]

My 4 Catalpa trees supply me with a lot of the best bass bait in the world. . .

They're a fantastic all-around bait if you can
get them. At one time, there was a commercially
produced paste you could buy made from
mushed up catalpa worms that worked pretty
decent.  My buddy has a huge catalpa tree,
but there's never been any worms on it

[DDZ]

I have used bait since I was a kid, and still use night crawlers for bluegills, which I think are one of the best tasting fish there are. I also use minnows for catching crappie bass.

[Ranger99]

Been thinking hard myself about
trying to fix me a small worm bed
if I can figure out how to keep the
fire ants out of it and not kill the
worms

[Doublebass73]

Been thinking hard myself about
trying to fix me a small worm bed
if I can figure out how to keep the
fire ants out of it and not kill the
worms

You could always use a couple 5 gallon buckets. I used a couple to make a worm composter for my garden.

[Doublebass73]

I have used bait since I was a kid, and still use night crawlers for bluegills, which I think are one of the best tasting fish there are. I also use minnows for catching crappie bass.

X2 on bluegills, I might have to bring a camp stove to the pond next time and cook them straight out of the water.

[Ranger99]

Well the thing is that worms need a
small amount of ventilation, which is
where the fire ants invade your bed.
Back when I was a kid and my dad
and grandpa had worm beds, there
weren't any fire ants here at all.
I had one built of lumber that worked
well until the ants got in.
My grandpa had 2 large ones,  one
an old refrigerator, and one built from
old barn tin. We had a pretty much
endless supply. You could dig through
at any time and there'd be tens of
thousands of those little yellow eggs.
We always each had our own gallon
can of worms when fishing,  and I
could never tell any shortage at any
time.

Oh, and a toad can wipe out a small
worm bed if it gets inside

[geezerbiker]

There are no good catfish up here in the NW.  When my daughter was little I'd take her to a pay to fish place that had channel cat and they were good eating.

Back when I was fishing with worms for trout, I caught and tossed back a lot of bluegill because I didn't know they were good eating.  From my discussions with other fisherman, some of the ones I caught were pretty good sized.  There's an artificial lake near here where they dammed up a small valley for flood control and I used to hike out on the dam and fish off the big rocks.  I can get out there any more.  If I regain my mobility with a new hip, I might be able to launch a boat again... 

What I really want is one of those inflatable pontoon boats.  I could slide it out of the back of the truck, plug in the pump and be fishing in a half hour...

Tony

[Ranger99]

Get a decent quality tube boat.
Me and a buddy used to do that
pretty often.  Here some years ago,
they had some available with a
small trolling motor on the front
designed for people with leg difficulties.
I always used the paddle fins though.
We used to really stack up the bream

[Ranger99]

I neglected to post to just fish
from the bank.  I've caught as
many from the bank as from a
boat.

One of the hosts of one of those
outdoor shows they had a couple of
decades ago before they turned
into a big commercial was once
talking about bank fishing.
He said bank fishermen were always
trying to get away from the bank, and
boat fishermen were always trying
to get close to the bank.
Very true and interesting

[oldandslow]

I'm lazy and buy either night crawlers or frozen shrimp. I found that the stocked trout in the little city lake go crazy over shrimp and it's easy to keep. Just throw it in back in the freezer after every trip. The channel cat don't turn up their noses at it either.

[DDZ]

I have used bait since I was a kid, and still use night crawlers for bluegills, which I think are one of the best tasting fish there are. I also use minnows for catching crappie bass.

X2 on bluegills, I might have to bring a camp stove to the pond next time and cook them straight out of the water.

Yep gills can't be beat if their cooked shortly after being caught. I have frozen them, and they are still good, but not as good as eating them unfrozen.  Lightweight rod, with a piece of night crawler as bait, catching big gills is a lot of fun. 

[Ranger99]

I'd made some of the highly touted
hotdog slices " marinated " in the
strawberry jello to try.

Nothing
A few nibbles and teeny tiny bites
out of the bait, but no real bites.
Didn't have a way to check the
water temperature, but I suspect it
hasn't ever come up to the normal
for the season of the year.

[Ghosth]

in some 50 years of river fishing my best bait was.

A Nightcrawlers. I prefer a smaller hook, size 4 but I do go both ways from there. Half a nightcrawler on a small hook is a mighty tempting meal for most fish that live in the river. Catfish, carp, Redhorse, Suckers, white bass, rock bass, creek chubs, walleye I've caught them all.

B For big channels its hard to beat cut bait. Prefered fish is a goldeye or sucker, possibly a small carp.
Open it up down the back and let the blood flow and pool there. Then cut 1 to 2 inch wide strips 2-4 inches long. Scale or not your choice.
We can't use bluegills as bait up here. They are a game fish. They are one of my favorites to eat.

C I have never had a doughball bait that worked well, until this year.
Half a package of strawberry Jello, Cup of boiling water. Add the jello, mix well, add half cup of cornmeal. It will basicly make it into cornmeal mush.
Then start working in half a cup of flour. I added a shot of Karo Syrup as sweetener. Grab a piece of parchment paper. Turn it out of the pot onto the paper and use the paper to kneed it well. Fold it flatten it fold it again a different direction, flatten it again. Keep working it till it is consistent color and consistancy.

I put mine in a small container with a snap on lid. Pull off a pinch bigger than a marble. Roll it around my hands to warm it up then mold it around my hook so no part of the hook is showing. Mend any tears or breaks you see then plop er into a good spot.

I've had all kinds of action on that. Did not always hook up but that is fishing.

[Ranger99]

I'd made some of the highly touted
hotdog slices " marinated " in the
strawberry jello to try.

Nothing
A few nibbles and teeny tiny bites
out of the bait, but no real bites.
Didn't have a way to check the
water temperature, but I suspect it
hasn't ever come up to the normal
for the season of the year.

Well I tried the slices again yesterday,
and ended up with a decent channel cat
about 2 maybe 2 and a half pounds.
I missed a couple of other bites, but
the heat started coming on pretty
hard, so I took that as a sign and went on
back. It was enough for Friday supper
so I'll not moan and groan about it

[BUGEYE]

If you like to cast ultralight, here's what I recommend.
Put a very tiny piece of worm on it because it's a size 14 hook and the jig head weighs 100th of an ounce.
You need to use a bobber for casting weight or you won't be able to cast more than 10 feet.