For me, nothing is catching more bass than live bait - shiners, and even better, live blue gill. I need some help from some people a little more familiar with tthe are than myself, though. Other than the fact that there is a decent sized lake with GIANT bass in it, I don't know of any other good fishing holes, or even tackle shops to find what I'm look for. I'll preface it with this though-

 

Ok, so I have my "secret pond" that I fish in Boynton Beach, Fl. I don't know if it was the weather, possibly pre spawn patterns or have any idea for that matter, but before I left for the holidays (around the 21st).... giant plastic worms were killing it for me. I was throwing worms no smaller than 12 inches and as big as 16 inches. The big guy caught in the pic I attached was caught on a 16 inch black plum worm. When I came back two weeks later (about 8 days ago).... absolutely nothing. I went to every trick in the book that always worked for me (plastic worms, I even dropped down to 6 inches rather than the normal 12-16", and swimbaits were always good too). I couldn't get a bite, and only caught one two pound bass in 4 days of fishing. I'm used to catching at least a couple pounder every twenty minutes or so at this particular location.

 

I've been doing a lot of reading online and I hear a lot of people swear that there is no better bait than a wild golden shiner for south florida bass. It seems that anyone who knows anything about them keeps it a secret because as hard as I've tried... I can't for the life of me find a bait shop that carries them... or even pointed in a possible direction of being able to catch them on my own. Any help in anyway that would lead me in the direction of those little fishies would be great. I'm not a huge fan of the farm raised shiners.... they do work great... but the ones I usually come across are relatively small, not that active, and they die pretty quickly.

 

I've been fishing this pond for about a year now. I've only ever seen one peacock bass (decent one too, took me 45 minutes to get in to bite while it was on its bed) and other than that just Largemouth bass. Yesterday for the first time ever though, I thought I'd try my luck with catching some kind, any kind of small fish that I could try and use as bait. I ended up catching a catfish, but that's irrelavant because I'm not gonna use it as bait and its not what I'm trying to catch.

 

What got me super excited though.... is I caught two little bluegill, or "sunfish" as I knew them growing up in MA. What excited me more, is what I caught using those little guys as live bait.

 

As a kid I hated catching them. I'd literraly be taking one off my line every two seconds whem I'm trying to catch something else, and I don't eat fish so they were really just a pain in the a**. I'll try to attach a pic of one of the little guys below. Bottom line is, when I cast them out I can see action almost instantly, and neither of the bluegills were in the water for more then two minutes before I had a big bass on the line.

 

Here's my dillema.... where I used to be able to catch about 5 bluegill a minute.... it took me foreevvvverrrr to catch two little ones. Now I can't catch one at all. I'm getting the feeling there's barely any bluegill in the pond. And I don't wanna fish five hours just to catch bait that can be used once. Does anyone have any good recommendations of somewhere nearby (from lakeworth to delray) that has great pan fishing? Or better yet anywhere that I can go and catch a decent amount of live bait without using up the entire day?  Any and all information would help.

 

Sorry about the long post... I'm new to the forum so I apologize in advance if there were any guidelines I didn't follow properly. it just seems like everyone that I talk to for fishing advice down here, even the bait shop owners, won't give much information. Any ways though, to make up for the bad post I'll leave you with a few pics of some of the nice bass I've been pulling outta here.

You must be fishing that pond just off congress. I can't remember the cross street. Big pond just behind the bank.

You must be fishing that pond just off congress. I can't remember the cross street. Big pond just behind the bank.

East of Congress, west of Lawrence

East of Congress, west of Lawrence

OK there is a pond just off congress on the right side just behind the bank. You might try that one. We caught several bass out of there.

OK there is a pond just off congress on the right side just behind the bank. You might try that one. We caught several bass out of there.

Thank you man I appreciate that. Any recommendations on locatiions and methods for catching my own live bait?

Sounds fun. Just be careful using the bluegill as bait . I can't be 100% certain, but I think it's considered illegal to use them as bait . Someone else on here may know for sure

I hadn't seen any gold shinners in Fl yet. But back in Ga we use to get them from almost any bait store. One of the best baits to catch big cat fish in the rivers.

Two weeks ago my fishing partner and I were fishing a small lake in Orlando.A bait supplier was putting into the lake as were we.He said that the golden shiners were going for 22 dollars a dozen and the guides on Toho were snapping them up to please their clients.You can catch your own by baiting next to weed patches with oatmeal.Try several places and wait for about an hour to bring the bait into the area.Next, creep up silently with trolling motor on low setting and cast net them.The bait  salesman had about two dozen poles in the water marked with flags and said we could fish by them if he was not working them.We were fishing for specks and didn't need them,but was a great offer from a very nice guy.Hope this helps you out.

Thanks everyone for the tips. I caught one pretty big blue gill (seemed like a different species.... same shape but almost had stripes on it with a dot near its head?) with a worm and bobber, almost to big to use as bait, and I use really big baits, lol. Anyways though I freelined it for a few minutes and had a massive follower right behind my bait. Basically came right up and gave my bait a kiss, but wouldn't bite. Unfortunately by time I see the bass though they usually see me (no boat so I can only shore fish).

 

I had my little brother down for a vacation and he pulled a 12.4 oz bass out of the same pond. I literally can't stop fishing this pond, just knowing there is at least one 12 lb bass. Its a small pond but I have a strong feeling that 12 lb'r isn't the biggest one in there.

 

Also if anyone knows the laws regarding using blue gills, or the other species in the same family please let me know. I read elsewhere that as long as it is caught on your own line and hook, you can use it. As long as you're not purchasing it or catching them with the intent to sell, I think its okay. Can anyone verify that because I could be totally wrong.

 

EDIT: This is copied from Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commision.

 

• Whole pickerel or panfish (e.g., bluegill, redear sunfish, redbreast sunfish, spotted sunfish, flier, warmouth) or parts thereof may be used as bait for sportfishing by the angler who caught them. Whole pickerel or bream or parts thereof may not be used as bait for trotlines or bush hooks or any method other than by rod and reel or pole and line.

• Panfish less than 4 inches in total length raised by a licensed aquaculture facility may be purchased and used for bait.

source - http://myfwc.com/fishing/freshwater/regulations/taking-bait/

Sounds fun. Just be careful using the bluegill as bait . I can't be 100% certain, but I think it's considered illegal to use them as bait . Someone else on here may know for sure

Thanks for bringing that up Rob. I was pretty confident it was okay that I was using them, but not 100%. You're comment prompted me to look it up. I feel a little more comfortable now, lol. You can see the laws and source link above.

Thanks everyone for the tips. I caught one pretty big blue gill (seemed like a different species.... same shape but almost had stripes on it with a dot near its head?) with a worm and bobber, almost to big to use as bait, and I use really big baits, lol. Anyways though I freelined it for a few minutes and had a massive follower right behind my bait. Basically came right up and gave my bait a kiss, but wouldn't bite. Unfortunately by time I see the bass though they usually see me (no boat so I can only shore fish).

 

 

 

Big bluegill with stripes could be Tilapia or Mayan Cichlid. Tilapia are blue/gray with red fins. The mayans are a gold/yellow/orage color with black bars on the body and red fins. Google image search each. One should be it...

East of Congress, west of Lawrence

Not quite right.............Lawrence is 1 mile west of Congress.

Haven't noticed the bank in question, I'm in that area most days coming home from the inlet.

People catch shiners by my home all the time, bass too and that may be why the fishing hasn't been like it was a few years.   Maybe progress will be working in my favor, a new sub is going in that road will be blocked.  I do know of a few places to buy shiners around here, so people have told me, I only use artificial.

Not likely 1 peacock in a Boynton pond unless some one put it there.  If the pond had a canal flowing into it there would be more than 1.

Not quite right.............Lawrence is 1 mile west of Congress.

Haven't noticed the bank in question, I'm in that area most days coming home from the inlet.

People catch shiners by my home all the time, bass too and that may be why the fishing hasn't been like it was a few years.   Maybe progress will be working in my favor, a new sub is going in that road will be blocked.  I do know of a few places to buy shiners around here, so people have told me, I only use artificial.

Not likely 1 peacock in a Boynton pond unless some one put it there.  If the pond had a canal flowing into it there would be more than 1.

 

That pond was just south of a apartment complex I used to work at. It was called Clipper Cove. (Name may have changed) but we used to ride our bikes there.

That pond was just south of a apartment complex I used to work at. It was called Clipper Cove. (Name may have changed) but we used to ride our bikes there.

I've fished there several times.  The pond across the street can be pretty good, the one with no fishing signs, lol.  It's just north of Woolbright on the west side of Congress.  Up near Sears (north of Old Boynton) there is a bank and a few ponds and the Weaver Canal which has peacocks.