Live bait doesn't get much press these days cuz crawlers picked from your yard and crawdads caught from a creek don't sponsor any pros or buy adds on the internet.

I use what might be considered "natural bait" for trout fishing: roe bags or spawn sacks from harvested hen trout.  Many fly fisherman look down on the practice, but I don't care.  I don't look down on anyone fishing with live bait, so long as they follow regulations.  In NY state, the rules can be particular about where your bait comes from, especially minnows.  You must have a receipt from the bait shop and the bait shop must use approved sources for live bait.  There's no shame in it, but for me it's more of a control issue.  I can't really control where craw goes, or a minnow swims.  I like to be the one that controls the action.  Much of the stigma trickles down from the top level tournaments that ban the use of live bait.  So, as the techniques that the pros develop are shared in press, TV, and the internet, live bait rarely appears.  There's more to it than just soaking a softshell crab or night crawler.  When I was a kid, we use softshell crabs for smallmouth out in Lake Ontario, and even then it more about location than just drowning baits.  You still have to find them.  I honestly don't know if I can come up with a more "finesse" method than live bait.  So in my opinion, is it sad?  Not at all.  Enjoy your fishing.

6 hours ago, HookRz said:

Live bait doesn't get much press these days cuz crawlers picked from your yard and crawdads caught from a creek don't sponsor any pros or buy adds on the internet.

 

Good answer!

 

There is nothing wrong in using live bait, as long as its legal in the area you are fishing in and you have a fishing license in the state you are fishing in.Catching your own live bait can teach you a great deal about what bass in the area are eating, what lures colors might work, and even teach you how to present artificial lures better. It takes a considerable amount of skill to be consistent at catching big bass in public waters, whether you fish with live bait, lures, or both. In the end of the day you still have to locate the big bass and convince it to bite, which can be a challenge regardless how skilled a bass fisherman is. Many bass fishermen are good at some particular bass techniques( frog, spinnerbait, senko, etc), but you will not meet too many that are well rounded in both artificial lure and live bait fishing!

On 7/8/2017 at 3:56 PM, ClackerBuzz said:

SM are notorious for  coming long distances for the right lure.  Speed up instead of slowing down.  Try fast moving spooks, burning spinnerbaits as fast as you can just subsurface, slashing hard/soft jerkbaits

 

A couple months ago I caught my first couple smallmouth bass and noticed what you said. The ones I caught where caught on small crankbaits and I fished at a faster pace that I usually use for largemouth bass. Smallmouth bass fishing reminds me of peacock bass fishing and I would assume that a good smallmouth bass fishermen would quickly adapt to peacock bass fishing if they where to travel and fish for them.

23 hours ago, J Francho said:

I use what might be considered "natural bait" for trout fishing: roe bags or spawn sacks from harvested hen trout.  Many fly fisherman look down on the practice, but I don't care.  

Are those the same fly fishermen using salmon egg imitation flies? Around these parts, guys who can't get or cant afford spawn use red Play Dough. 

1 minute ago, slonezp said:

Are those the same fly fishermen using salmon egg imitation flies? Around these parts, guys who can't get or cant afford spawn use red Play Dough. 

 

I don't know, but they look like fashion models for LL Bean.  They seem to do an awful lot of false casting, and no real catching.

16 hours ago, soflabasser said:

There is nothing wrong in using live bait...

 

Live bait is bad Trolling is worse. 

 

Trolling live bait bait is the work of the devil. 

 

Just ask the tackle manufacturers, or the fish. 

 

 

14 hours ago, J Francho said:

 

I don't know, but they look like fashion models for LL Bean.  They seem to do an awful lot of false casting, and no real catching.

 

LOL

On 8/3/2017 at 5:03 PM, soflabasser said:

 

A couple months ago I caught my first couple smallmouth bass and noticed what you said. The ones I caught where caught on small crankbaits and I fished at a faster pace that I usually use for largemouth bass. Smallmouth bass fishing reminds me of peacock bass fishing and I would assume that a good smallmouth bass fishermen would quickly adapt to peacock bass fishing if they where to travel and fish for them.

 

 

There is hope for me yet. 

I started out bass fishing with livebait. It was costing me $50 a week. I started using both livebait and lures, two rod setups. The lures started out fishing the livebait as I learned the patterns and presentations. I was fishing five to six times a week in the beginning. Then I started fishing everyday for three months straight till I got burned out.

 

beaware of using two rod setups. I almost lost the livebait setup when a 3lber tried to pull it in the water.

Just this morning, I stopped by my lake and saw an old couple fishing for Shad. I talked to them abit and they said, they alway use shad for everything from catfish to crappies to bass. They said they've been catching bass everyday 10-15 bass a day up to 4-5lbs. The biggest they caught was 12lbs. In the mean time, I've been catching bass too but most of them were 5-6" dinks, go figure.

 

Another thing, the guys said, bass fishermen are now into those of fishing tournament world with fancy lures. Fishing is fishing doesn't matter sport or recreation so why matter what type of bait to use. He even mentioned that he talked to some biologists and claimed that our lake is over populated with bass but he is afraid to talk to all bass fishingmen about keeping bass under 2-3 lbs.