<p>I've tried the Marukyu bait sold by TenkaraBum but it would fall off the hook half the time. I've tried soft white bread but it's kind of a pain to make a tiny enough ball that it will leave the Tanago hook point uncovered and stick to the hook. I tried some menhaden gel from the tackle store but was even thinner bodied than the Marukyu stuff. I'm thinking about looking into something like anchovie paste. I'd really like the convenience of something in a tube like the Marukyu but heavier bodied so it would stay on the hook. What's your favorite bait?</p>
I likes to keep it simple. A little chunk of redworm or garden worm will catch just about anything with fins.
A fleck of worm. For the smaller fish, I take out my fly snips and trim the fleck to the right size. I've also tried a fleck of waxie before too. If you can find those small baby worms, they work great.
The good thing about a fleck of waxworm is that it is almost white. Much easier to see when sight fishing than a fleck of earthworm.
TenkaraBum
I am just starting out but as an avid fisherman I have done some "doughbait" fishing and to be honest there is nothing like making your own. Now the pieces of worms as mentioned are good I am thinking about making up a dough or rather a paste and putting it in a syringe (I have a few) but you could use a turkey injector. Then you squeeze some out and run your hook through it. Now this is not my idea as I saw it on a video but so far I have zero information as to what it actually was as the video was in Japanese.
DOFishbuster, that's about what my supplier suggested when I mentioned that the minnow bait (which comes in a tube and you squeeze out onto the hook) doesn't stay on the hook if you have to cast it. She suggested mixing it with flour to make a thicker paste and then putting it in another squeeze tube.
I was wondering if anyone ever used bits of meat as opposed to bits of worm or waxworm. The reason I ask is a month or so ago my local grocery store had a sale on pork chops for $1.99 a pound. Where I live there is only one bait shop that I know of, and it sells night crawlers for $4 per dozen. For a whole day I use less than one nightcrawler but I can't keep the rest of them. Would it work to just take a slice off a raw pork chop and cut tiny pieces of it instead of tiny pieces of worm? Anybody tried pork or chicken or whatever?
TenkaraBum
I haven't used actual meat except for big chunks of liver or chicken necks, but I swear by tiny pieces of squid tentacle. They are tough as hell, staying on the hook as well as worm, and fish gobble them up. Really cheap, too - if your bait shop doesn't carry squid you can find it at Asian specialty grocery stores. I just slice the squid tentacles into tiny pieces with a single-edged razor blade and keep them in a little plastic bag while fishing. In any case, you can buy them, seperate them out, then freeze them so they can be used one squid at a time.
Our Fearless Leader is right about the squid! I've done pretty well with squid myself, and also chunks of shrimp from he grocery store deli. Chunks of chicken and turkey have worked OK for me, but it's difficult to keep it on the hook. Tattoos & Fish has also been catching some nice dace & shiners on honey wheat bread lately, which has me going back to something that's worked for me in the past. I've also heard semi-credible reports involving Spam or Treet "meat", though they've never worked for me.
Let there be fire!
well, one of the tastiest, most nutritious treats for ANY F/W species is bloodworms (midge fly larvae) -- 40-lb. carp will patiently suck the tiny things out of the mud; trophy SM will follow the carp, just in case a few get kicked up & overlooked; and diehard old-world ice fishermen store them in a little wet rag between cheek and gum, so they don't freeze ...but good luck finding live bloodworms, or getting them on your hook without leaking out -- maggots are much more practical.
for squeezable dough (aka, wet paste), don't waste your money -- just make DOUGH!!!
OK, was my first post interesting/informative? Can I get an 'attaboy? (LOL)
P.E.T.A. sucks!!! Plants are living things, too -- they're just easier to catch!
I don't know if it's legal or not, but what about clams from the lake/river? The kids used to crack some open and the minnows and the micros would go nuts over them, I used to bait minnow traps with them too, they are also very tough and should stay on a hook. One small clam would last pretty much as long as you could handle the smell, if you just cut off little tiny pieces of it, fish go crazy over it too. I'm an avid scuba diver as well, and have broken them open just to get a better look at the fish, brings them right in. Thanks all for the tips.
I have found that cat fish dough bait works well. It's also convient to have it in the tube.
I also like to use small pieces of earth worms or crawlers. Seems to work for everything. But I like the clam idea. You can buy clam meat in a can too. Squid sounds good as well.
"There's always a bigger fish"
I had good luck with fish bites when I was surf fishing. I am planning to try cutting small strips for my creek chub fishing this spring. There is a woven component that is really hard to get off the hook that I think would help keep it from getting taken by short biters.
this is the flavor I am going to use http://fishbites.com/store/fishbites-baits/fishbites-saltwater-baits/bag-o-worms-bloodworm-long-lasting-lures.html
I like using a bit of the segmented soft plastic worms soaked in gulp juice. Stays on the hook and scented, the bait rides up the shank so it exposes the hookpoint for easier mouth hook ups. I've scavenged bits of random bait like squid, clams, minnows and crab. Works great as well, would try dough in the future.
I had been using small chunks of waxworm and having decent results. A few year ago a buddy gave me a jar of Berkley powerbait maggots. Carried them ice fishing as backup bait but never tried them. I recently tried them for mirco fishing. They work great!! Easy to pinch off a small piece and it really stays on the hook. Caught up to 10 fish before having to rebait. And the fish love it!
Marc Ohms
I use tiny bits of redworm. Sometimes I'll find a riffle and flip a rock. The undersides are usually covered in tiny invertebrates of one kind or another.
Worms work for most things for me, but Tom hit the nail on the head with the insects under a rock.....I've found no better option..... like live bait for minnows
Maggots are smaller than worms, and wax worms have a hard outer shell. Maggots are small and very soft. I also use punched bread, which is a small disc of bread punched out using a drinking straw. Use either one on a size 20 or smaller hook, and it's easy for them to eat it.
A fleck of worm, but a fleck of berkeley micro grubs seems to do the trick for most species too!