2006-11-05T14:19:00.000-08:00

Curing Salmon Eggs
If you are fishing for large game fish, cured salmon eggs are the perfect bait. Largemouth bass, pickerel, muskellunge, salmon, lake trout and other large fish species love them. Here's how to cure salmon eggs to use as bait. When you remove the eggs from the salmon you are cleaning, keep the egg sacs, also known as skeins intact. Cover a large, flat, moveable surface with 1/4 inch of borax. Cut the egg sacs (skeins) across the membrane in sections of 3 to 4 inches. Lay the egg sac (skein) sections 1 inch apart on top of the borax. Sprinkle more borax over the top to create a light coating. Be sure all egg sacs are covered.
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Move the large moveable surface that the eggs are on into a sheltered area that has good air circulation all around. The eggs must not be in direct sunlight and must not get wet, so be sure they are protected from precipitation. Allow the sacs to dry for two to three days, being sure to turn them every 12 hours. Pick the egg sacs out of the borax and shake any excess off them. Place them in plastic bags or storage containers. The egg sacs are ready to use when they are completely dry and feel leathery, but flexible. If eggs are properly cured, they can be saved in the plastic bags or containers to be used on your next fishing trip.

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Cheese Bait
Cheese bait can be used to catch bream, catfish, chub, and carp. In fact carp especially love cheese bait. So if you're looking to catch any of these species or a huge carp that's been lurking around your fishing hole, here's how to make your own cheese bait. Use 10 ounces (284 grams) of pie pastry and roll it flat on a cutting board or counter top. Smear the pastry with mature cheddar flavor. Add 6 ounces (170 grams) of grated mature cheddar cheese and 4 ounces (115 grams of crumbled Danish blue cheese. Make sure it's crumbled to fine grains. Fold the pastry over the cheese so it is completely covered and roll again. Continue this process until the pie pastry and the cheese are mixed thoroughly and the cheese is absorbed by the pastry.

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Form the paste into a large ball and knead by hand. Add ten drops of the mature cheddar flavoring to a freezer bag and place the cheese paste ball into the bag. Place in the freezer. When it is thawed, this bait has a very appealing consistency and texture, and a very powerful cheesy smell. Roll the thawed paste into cheese balls and place into a container for your next fishing trip. When you place a cheese ball onto your hook, set the hook's point into the center, cast and wait patiently for the fish to bite. Optionally you may add a few drops of red food coloring to the paste if you wish, but it isn't necessary.

2006-08-17T08:27:00.000-07:00

Fishing Bait Basics

Bait is something, either live or artificial that attracts fish. When the fish 'takes the bait', you set the hook and skillfully bring the fish to shore.

Live Bait
There are many live types of bait that can be used to catch fish. These include earthworms, also known as dew worms and night crawlers. Insects that can be used include grasshoppers, flies, insect larvae and crickets. Other live baits are minnows, chub, shad, crayfish and frogs. Live bait can be purchased at fishing bait and tackle stores, at some variety stores in popular fishing areas, on a dewy lawn after dark (use a flashlight to find dew worms), compost piles, around piers and boat launches as well as around campsites.

Prepared Bait
Prepared bait is bait that has been previously prepared. These include kernel corn, bread balls, cheese balls, stink baits, salmon eggs, cereal balls, baked potato pieces, chicken entrails and hotdogs.

Artificial Bait
Artificial bait is bait that is manmade. These include plastic worms and insects, flies, lures, small jigs, streamer flies, spoons, streamers and spinners.

Fish and Bait
There are certain types of bait that work better for specific fish species. A few suggestions of bait to use for fish species are:

Bluegill
maggots, grubs, worms, crickets, grasshoppers, small flies, ice spoons or jigs.

Bowfin
worms, minnows, crayfish, frogs, spinners, spoons and streamers.

Bullhead
leaf worms, night crawlers, insects, insect larvae, crayfish and stink bait.

Carp
dough balls, angle worms, peeled crayfish tails, corn, cheese balls and cereal or baked potato pieces.

Catfish
night crawlers and prepared baits such as bread balls, hotdogs and chicken entrails.

Crappie
minnows, worms, insect larvae, insects, small flies, small jigs and small spinners.

Gar
minnows, suckers and frogs.

Perch
minnows, worms, crayfish, insect larvae, insects, small flies, ice spoons and small jigs.

Pickerel
minnows, chub, crayfish, worms, spinners, spoons and streamer flies.

Rock Bass
minnows, crayfish, insects, insect larvae and worms.

Striped Bass
shad, worms, shad, spinners and streamers.

Sunfish
maggots, grubs, leaf worms, insects, small flies, ice spoons and small jigs.

Trout
salmon eggs and lures.

There are several different types of minnows and some are better than others for specific fish species. A few specific fish that can be caught with different types of minnows are:

Chub
northern pike and bass.

Golden Shiner
northern pike and bass.

Fathead Minnow
bass, crappie, panfish and walleye.

Bluntnose Minnow
bass, crappie and walleye.

Bait is placed on the end of your fishing line. If you wish to change bait with ease, use a fishing knot to attach a swivel and/or leader, which you should carry in your tackle box. A hook or lure is attached to the swivel/leader with a pin-like clip. If you are using lures, you attach the lure, cast and work or troll it.

If you are using live bait, you attach it to the hook. When hooking worms, you can either start the hook near the head and thread it about three quarters of the way through the center of the body and exit near the tail, or hook it twice, about a half inch from the head and again about a half inch from the tail. Hook maggots through the blunt end very lightly to ensure it remains lively. If using slugs, use a large hook, about a size 2, and nick it through the body.

Prepared bait is also used on a hook. To bait a hook with cheese, bury the point of the hook inside the cheese. Sweet corn is slide through the end of the kernel. Bread can be mixed with a bit of water and made into balls. When using bread balls as bait, bury the point inside the ball.

What Not to Use as Bait
Salmon and trout should never be used as bait, as these fish can promote the spread of whirling disease, which is a type of parasite. If you don't know which bait to use for specific fish, or how the bait should be attached to the hook, ask a family member or a friend who is an experienced angler to help you determine which is best to attract the fish species you are hoping to catch. The staff at the local bait and tackle shop will also be happy to suggest certain kinds of bait.

Bass Basics 101