Fishing Bait Basics

What Do Fish Want?

You've found the right fishing rod and reel, and filled a tackle box with everything you could possibly need. The next step is finding fish bait. Bait can be anything, either live or artificial, that attracts fish.

Imagine yourself heading out for a few relaxing hours of fishing. With rod, reel and tackle box in hand, you descend a hill and come to the edge of a swiftly moving stream. The sun reflects off the crystal clear water as you set down your tackle box and rig your bait. You cast into a tranquil pool or eddy and your bobber floats on the water surface. Suddenly, it disappears. The fish has "taken the bait." Your reflexes set the hook, and you skillfully bring the fish to shore. 

Using Live Bait

There are many types of live bait that can be used to catch fish. These include earthworms (also known as dew worms and night crawlers) and slugs. 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. You can also find your own bait on a dewy lawn after dark (use a flashlight to find dew worms), in compost piles, around piers and boat launches, and around campsites.

Finding Prepared Bait

Salmon eggs and stink baits are prepared bait that can be bought at fishing bait and tackle stores. Prepared bait can also include a variety of food items found in most homes, like kernel corn, bread balls, cheese balls, cereal balls, baked potato pieces, chicken entrails and hotdogs.

Types Of Artificial Bait

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

Bait For Specific Fish

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, insects, insect larvae, 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.

Using Minnow Baits

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 Minnow: northern pike and bass
• Golden Shiner Minnow: northern pike and bass
• Fathead Minnow: bass, crappie, panfish and walleye
• Bluntnose Minnow: bass, crappie and walleye

Baiting Your Hook

If you are using live bait, you will 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 slid 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.

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.

What Not To Use As Bait

Because they can promote the spread of a type of parasite called whirling disease, salmon and trout should never be used as bait. If you don't know which bait to use for specific fish, or how best to attach the bait to the hook, get help. Ask a family member or a friend who is an experienced angler to help you determine which bait is best to attract the fish species you are hoping to catch. People at the local bait and tackle shop should also have good suggestions about what kinds of bait to use.

There are many types of live bait that can be used to catch fish. These include earthworms (also known as dew worms and night crawlers) and slugs. 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. You can also find your own bait on a dewy lawn after dark (use a flashlight to find dew worms), in compost piles, around piers and boat launches, and around campsites.