|
|
Volume 4, Number 4 |
| with "Big" Jim McLaughlin |
           
|
Live Bait
|
|
Crayfish:A hot live bait, not only for smallmouth bass but for walleye as well. Look for rock and sparse vegetation in less than 1 meter of water. A tag team approach works best. One person turns over the rocks while the other is at the ready with a small scooping net. If working by yourself, use a stick in one hand to lift the rock and the net in the other. Another way, which is usually less successful but requires less effort, is to place some fresh fish flesh into a minnow trap. Allow the trap to sit overnight, during their most active period.I can remember tossing a few pike remains. into the shallows by our fish camp. During a lull in the obligatory card game, a quick check with a flashlight, revealed an abundance of crayfish out for a midnight snack. It's been my experience that these nippers are less skittish at night and easy to pickup by hand. While crayfish obtain their oxygen supply directly from the water, they can also take in atmospheric oxygen if they are kept moist. Layers of wet newspapers in a container kept in the refrigerator will allow you to keep them up to a week. If you wish to keep them for a longer period, your upkeep requirements increase in that you will require an aerated livewell with plenty of space. In overcrowded conditions these guys are not opposed to be duking it out with the loser being consumed. Fishing with crayfish requires little in the way of terminal tackle. One of my favourite methods, when fishing rivers and streams, is to use a tail-hooked crayfish with a #2 or #4 beak style hook. Split shot is added one half meter up the line to keep your bait close to the bottom. Cast quartering upstream and let your bait drift. Don't worry if the flow is brisk and you think that your presentation tumbles unnaturally. A bass can't resist this mini-lobster, even if presented upside down. For still water presentations, I prefer a walking sinker one half meter from a floating snell. Retrieve the crayfish very slowly with frequent pauses. A word of caution, the rusty crayfish, an introduced species, is causing problems. They are displacing native crayfish populations and consuming large amounts of aquatic vegetation. If you purchase crayfish, please bring the unused ones home. Don't think that bringing crayfish home is a waste even if you don't foresee the need to keep them for the next trip. Not only could you grind them up in cod liver oil and use the liquid as an attractant to other lures, but you could prevent further introduction of an unwanted species. If you trap them yourself, try to use crayfish from the body of water you intended to fish.
Frogs:The Northern Leopard and Pickerel frog are the most commonly used species and the easiest to find. They vary in size from four to eight centimetres. Once past the tadpole stage many will migrate to meadows and others will be found among shoreline vegetation.If you wish to test your patience and hand-eye coordination, try the barehanded approach. This can be quite a task when frogs are found in numbers. What is the best way to catch them? Get the kids out with some fine mesh nets and watch them teach you a lesson or two, while enjoying themselves at the same time. Frogs require a little more care than just keeping them in your minnow bucket, if you wish to keep them longer than the next fishing trip. Convert and old cooler, bought for a few bucks at a garage sale, into an amphibian hostel. Keep the cooler in the shade and place some rocks inside allowing the frogs to rest above the waterline. Provide them with insects two to three times a week. Seek the coolest temperature you can find and you can keep frogs for an extended time. My minnow bucket with a spring loaded door makes an ideal container when I go fishing. The bucket is kept half full with water. In this way, the frogs won't get a good footing when they try to hop out as you reach in. Most people think of smallmouth and largemouth bass when frogs are mentioned as bait. Believe me, weed walleye and channel cats won't turn down a tasty frog either. Use a 3/0 to 5/0 weedless hook for thick cover or weededges. Let the frog do the work with some gentle prodding from time to time. Alternatively, fish a slip sinker with a #2 hook for deep water walleye or bass in clear water lakes. A stinger hook can help if fish are continuously striking short.
Leeches:I still can't handle those little fish catchers without a glove but can they catch fish. They aren't limited to walleye, Bass, perch, all panfish, and especially trout just love them. Minnows aside, leeches are probably the most versatile live bait around. Yet, I don't see many people using them. Leeches are commonly found in warm, protected, shallow (meters) areas where there is little wave action or current. These areas also have aquatic plants, stones and other debris that provide leeches with a hiding place. These aquatic members of the worm family are active at night. So place your trap in the afternoon and make it your first chore to collect the next morning. The do-it-yourself person is right at home in making a trap. All you need is an empty coffee can and its lid. Punch several holes around the perimeter of the can and tie a length of nylon string to a piece of styrofoam (marker). As for bait, visit your butcher and get some meat trimmings or internal organs.A storage can simply consist of a small styrofoam cooler placed in the fridge and don't forget a daily change of de-chlorinated water. Discard any sluggish looking leeches. Hooked lightly through the sucker, these critters work best during the warm water period of the year as they undulate seductively. During the cool water periods, they will tend to be sluggish and will even ball up when it gets colder. Slip bobber rigs or floating snells combined with walking-sinkers are favoured presentations. A deadly tactic for shallow water smallmouth bass is to use your ultra-light outfit with 4-lb. test line. Cast your lightly hooked (#10) leech towards or paralleling the shoreline. Keep the bail open and feed out line as the leech swims along. At the first sign of a taker, close the bail and set the hook.
Minnows:Minnow is a catchall word for anglers who use small fish. Technically, carp, suckers and sculpines are not members of the minnow family. The correct term would be baitfish, but since I hardly hear this term, I'll stick with minnow for this article.The two most successful methods in gathering minnows are trapping and seine netting. A commercially sold minnow trap is easy to work and use. For bait try using that piece of bread crust that no one from your family wishes to make a sandwich with. Place your trap in shallow water (I meter). If placing in a lake, lay it parallel to the shore and in the same fashion in flowing current to catch minnows as they move past the trap. Minnows will frequent the shallow areas in early morning and evening. Therefore, set your trap accordingly. Don't let it sit for more than 24 hours to get fresh unstressed minnows. Seining is also very productive. Two people work the end poles to which the net is tied. Get the right area and in one pass you will have enough minnows to last several outings. While trapping and seining can provide you quite a bonanza of minnows, they will only serve you well if you keep them cool and in uncrowded conditions. During the spring and fall, when I .find minnows work best, I use my garage sale bought cooler and place it where the sun won't warm it up. Without any aerators, I can easily hold 5 dozen large sized minnows by simply changing the water each day. Many commercial aerators are available depending on your proposed setup. When fishing, a floating minnow bucket placed in the water will allow for the continuous circulation of oxygenated water. Otherwise, you must change the water frequently to maintain lively bait.
Worms:Ah yes, the lowly earthworm. I say lowly because how many of you cut your teeth on fishing with worms but have since forgotten them in favour of artificial lures. Artificials have their place, as do worms. At certain times, a wise angler will use a piece of worm to enhance their artificial presentation. The two most common worms available for the domestic wrangler are the dew worm and garden worm. Since worms breathe through their skins, dew worms will come to the surface when water fills their tunnels. Being more active in darkness, because of their natural habitat, allows one to harvest their supply most readily at night.Quick hands, a flashlight and a quiet approach will serve you well. Once you've grasped your quarry by the head, go on with a firm, slow, steady pull. The worm will use the bristles along its body to resist your efforts to withdraw it from its den. Any 'strong like bull' motion will result in only part of the worm in your hand. The worm becomes the winner-as it has the capability to regenerate either end of its body. While dew worms are the most widely used and sold, garden worms, because of their smaller size, are favoured for certain applications. Those who fish small trout streams know what I'm talking about. During my fall steelheading trip, you can find my partner and I skulking around our riverside cabins. We roll cedar logs looking for those small offerings that pay dividends when too many roe bags have been floated by. Another good location, are the empty rows of your vegetable garden. Turn the soil over a few hours after a good watering and you should be able to collect an ample supply. Again, a cool storage area (4-16 degrees C) will allow you to keep your worms for an extended period. Commercially available worm bedding, slightly dampened, makes a good soil substitute. If you do use soil, remember that moist and not wet is the key. A layer of dampened sphagnum moss will keep the soil from drying out. When the soil seems dry, take out the moss and wet it, wring out excess moisture and place it back on top of the soil. Live bait will be most effective for you if it is in the best condition possible when you take to the water. Resist the urge to over harvest. Besides wasting a natural resource, overcrowding will stress your bait, making them less appealing to the fish, if not cause a complete loss of what you collected. Chlorine in water supplies can be a problem. Some tackle shops will carry de- chlorination supplies. De-chlorination is accomplished by allowing your next change of water to stand for 24 hours before introducing it to your bait. Fishing with bait that you have caught and kept alive gives you a satisfactory feeling similar to that of catching a trout on your own hand-tied flies. Catching your own bait sometimes allows you to relate and better understand your quarry. Catching and using your own live bait will also allow you to save a few bucks - for that new-fangled lure you've been dying to try!
|
aise your hand if your tackle box (a) has changed to a bigger model in the last five years, (b) is your weight of choice in your exercise routine, or (c) is permanently nestled on the deck of your boat for fear that lifting it might result in a hernia. The myriad of colour schemes and signature series plugs in a variety of sizes available makes it easy to overdose on artificial lures. I'm usually game to give some new lures a place in my tackle box. What about those advertising claims? Sure under the right conditions, they will pay off. Live bait, however, will under many, if not most conditions, outproduce artificial lures. Live bait has the advantage of being a natural presentation. It has its own prepackaged scent, action and feel besides frequently being part of your target's regular diet.
I will provide you with techniques in catching maintaining (along with a few rigging suggestions) some of the most popular live bait. Many of these tips can also be applied to bait shop purchases which you may have left over from your last trip. Before we go any further, make sure you read the most recent Ontario Sportfishing Regulations Summary. They are avail-, able (no charge) at most bait and tackle shops and District Offices of the Ministry of Natural Resources. Your sportfishing licence allows you to collect bait but with certain restrictions that are listed in the publication.