Live Baits for Freshwater Fishing

What are the common types of live baits for freshwater fishing?

crayfish
goldfish
grasshoppers
grubs
maggots
minnows
nightcrawlers
small salamanders or frogs

What are the Best Ways to Use Live Baits?

Keep your bait alive. Find a small habitat for your live bait to keep them alive until you’re ready to set out fishing.

Make sure there’s enough moisture and air circulation, and any leaves or bits of grass for them to feed on until you’re ready to fish.

Try not to keep them in there for more than a day or two, or they may die.

Worms will be fine in some fine moist earth for a longer period.

Wait to rig your bait until you are about to cast.

The whole point of using live bait is to keep it alive as long as possible into the fishing process, so the wriggling attracts fish.

If you rig your hook too early, your bait will be dead by the time you get it in the water.

Keep it close by and get your hook on the line, get set up, and get ready to fish.

Rigging Live Bait

Remove your bait from the habitat securely. This is easier said than done with baitfish.

If you’re fishing with minnows, getting a hold of one is more than half the battle.

Pull bait-fish from the bait tank by grasping it firmly and preventing it from squirming.

Get a good grip on it with one hand and bring your hook in with the other.

Hook bait-fish through the body behind the dorsal fin.

You can often insert your fish hook in one smooth motion either just behind the dorsal fin, then cast immediately and gently, letting the bait fall into the water as easily as possible to keep it alive.

Alternatively, hook bait-fish through the lips and jaw so they’ll live longer.

The position behind the dorsal fin is often most secure but causes the bait to tire out quickly and die fast.

Inserting the fish hook through the lips makes it more likely that the fish will not drown quickly, but will cause it to move more awkwardly through the water.

Inserting the hook through the nostrils will keep the bait alive as long as possible, but is riskier, as the fish may escape.

Hook crayfish, salamanders, and frogs through the tail or the head.

Like bait-fish, crayfish give you several options for hooking them.

Make sure you go deep enough into the tail and close enough to the torso to get a good grip on the crayfish, to avoid losing the bait to wriggling.

If you go through the head, you’ll get a secure grip but the bait won’t last as long.

For salamanders and frogs, go through the torso near one of the back legs.

They’ll still put up a good amount of wriggling, but it’ll be difficult for them to wriggle off the hook.

Attach worms, caterpillars, and grubs by bunching them up.

Start close to one end of the worm, folding it back over on itself multiple times at least 3 to secure the worm or other wriggler snugly on the hook.

Hold the bait firmly while preparing to cast.

Make sure you don’t lose your bait before you get it in the water.

Hold onto it gently as you prepare to cast, and cast gently into the water where you want it to go. Do it quickly, but gently.

Alternatively, grasshoppers and other lighter insects might be more appropriate to let float on the surface, depending on what it is you’re fishing for.

If you want it to float, leave the sinker off.

Keep a light touch on your line.

Remember not to tug too strongly on the fish hook.

Proper rigging requires you to keep the bait as healthy as possible before casting it in the water.

Remove dead bait if you are not successful and rig again.

Try to troubleshoot any problems you may have had with the last bait and adjust the hook position accordingly.

Fishing With Live Crayfish

Crayfish

Bass, panfish, trout, and catfish have a hard time resisting the scurrying action of crayfish.

Few gamefish can resist the scurrying action as well as the taste and scent appeal of these crustaceans.

After all, they’re the gamefish equivalent to lobster! They’re good baits for bass of all species, plus panfish.

How to Fish Crayfish

Pierce crayfish through the tail.

Fishing With Live Minnows

One of the central facts of life in the aquatic world is that big fish eat little fish.

Pike, bass, stripers, crappies, catfish, walleyes, white bass, rock bass, trout, and pickerel are notorious for their fish-gobbling tastes.

But even fish like bluegills and redbreasts will grab minnows at times.

How to Fish Minnows

Impale minnows through both lips from the bottom up, or through the back, using size #2/0-6 hooks, depending on the size of baitfish and quarry you’re going after.

One of the cardinal rules of minnow fishing is this: if the bait becomes lethargic, replace it with a fresh one.

Minnows can be fished in a variety of ways.

Floating them beneath a fishing bobber is an effective tactic in spring because so many fish are in the shallows and you can allow the bait to swim suspended near cover with this rig.

This is a great technique for pickerel, bass, crappies, and catfish.

Drift fishing with minnows using a couple of split shot fishing weights works well, particularly for crappies.

Tip: Don’t wait too long before setting the hook. If you give a fish too long before setting up, it may swallow the bait and hook and be more difficult to release if you want to let it go.

Shad fish

Shad is your best bet for larger fish in open water, such as striped bass.

Fishing With Live Shad

Certainly, minnows are the indisputable best bait for shoreline-oriented fish like largemouths.

But shad are the number one offering for larger quarries that roam the open water, such as striped bass.

They’re also excellent for largemouths and walleyes with these baitfish as well.

How to Fish Shad

Shad can be fished in many ways. If gamefish are shallow, drifting them beneath a cork in 4-10 feet of water can be very effective.

Position this rig so that it’s either a few feet off the bottom or just above where you’ve located fish on the depth finder.

Stripers, catfish, and the occasional largemouth bass will do the rest.