Live Fishing Bait: Anglers Choice

Everyone who fishes has a preferred bait. But some anglers would never consider a synthetic bait. For them it's live fishing bait
or nothing. Now most of us will agree live fishing bait is the best bait for trout, bass-both small and largemouth, crappie and also catfish.

Now using live bait is fairly easy especially if you follow some of the tricks my Grandfather taught me years ago when I was very young. Fish are picky. They smell their food before they eat. They don’t like food/bait with ‘human’ smells like cigarettes or gas or just sweaty hands. When fish check out live fishing bait, if they smell these human smells odds are, they’re going to look elsewhere. Which means you don’t get a bite.

How do you get rid of hand smells? Don't pull out the hand sanitizer. I know some of you who are experienced are saying, “He’s got to be crazy saying that.” Only reason I brought it up is couple weeks ago I was out and saw this guy take this little bottle out of his pocket. I thought he was getting out bug repellent. But then he rubbed it over his hands and then baited his hook. Some time later I asked him what he had used. The guy told me he had heard you needed to clean your hands before baiting. Since he seemed like a nice guy and gave me a cold one, I suggested he wash his hands with a handful of grass. I mentioned ‘washing’ was to get rid of people smells, not wash his hands of germs.

If you want to have your hook grab, it's going to have to be sharp. I always carry plenty of hooks and a sharpening stone as well. Hooks get dull real quick and with a sharper hook your chances of getting the fish you want increase.

Plan on changing your hooks frequently. Change them after a couple of catches, or if you get snagged or are just casting a lot. I change at least every couple of hours.

If you don't know how, learn to bait a hook correctly. Many people either try to place the hook just inside the mouth of the bait. You end up looking like the bait is hooked, which is a warning not a tasty looking treat to your catch that is unless you’re trolling. Instead thread the hook through the mouth and up through the top (try to avoid the spine). This way you’ll still have some wiggle left.

A great choice for worms is a gang hook. Gang hooks help you set up the worm to look and hang naturally. All gang hooks are two hooks tied together.

Live fishing bait is a good way of attracting your catch. Keep the hand sanitizer in the car for after you clean the fish, not before you catch them.