What are the thoughts on using bass to catch bass? Saw a post on here from a person from S Florida that said this: TRUE STORY.

I grew up in S. Florida and have caught hundred's and hundred's of bass on wild shiners in may of different lakes and ponds.

I currently fish a private, closed down rock pit that is about 75 acres. I bought 4 dozen wild, large shiners at a 1.50 a piece and caught 4 bass on'em. I was in total shock at how unproductive the shiners were and figured it had to be the weather or some strange phenomina(sp) that I tried the shinewrs again about 2 months later. This time the result were even worse than before.

I decided to use bream and couldn't keep'em in the water long enough to take a leak before they got crushed by 5-10 pound bass.

Now here's the funny part... I caught a couple small infant bass, 3/4 - 1 pound, and they got SLAMMED faster than the bream.

Now hold on to your horses before you slam me for using bass to catch bass. I had caught the smaller bass on Senkos/lures and they got sucked up reeling'em in. Even the 3-4 pound bass would try annd eat the 1 pound bass and at times tried eating bass up to two pounds.

Never in my fishing career have I been skunked on shiners until I fished them in the rock pit.

There were huge bass busting top under a dock today, Idk what they were eating but there were a ton of small fish in the shallows, maybe baby bass. Here's one I caught today, maybe a good size to try using

Theres also crappie in there that would make good bait

I would check your state regulations to make sure that’s even legal to do.

If you catch a bass that size around here, you are expected to release it back into the water unharmed.

I just checked Florida law on this subject and its clear:

https://myfwc.com/fishing/freshwater/regulations/taking-bait/

Use of fish for bait

• Black bass, peacock bass or any part thereof may not be used as bait.

• No live nonnative fish, except variable platys and fathead minnows, may be transported to or between waters for use as bait. Live goldfish and carp may not be used as bait.

• 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.

That said, they do make great bait but it is illegal in Florida. But I read what the OP said: "I had caught the smaller bass on Senkos/lures and they got sucked up reeling'em in. Even the 3-4 pound bass would try and eat the 1 pound bass and at times tried eating bass up to two pounds."

The same has happened to me as well. One of the largest bass I have ever hooked into ate a 14" bass I was reeling in and had caught legally on a rubber worm. I had wondered why that small bass was acting strangely and kept trying to run to shallow water to hide as I reeled it in. I pulled it to me out over deeper water reeling him in, and on 3rd time a monster bass ate him and went straight to the bottom. My frayed 10 pound line was no match for what was on the other end of the line. A good learning experience for sure, but not something we can do legally.

Florida law does now allow us anglers to use bream and bluegill for baitfish but only if we caught them our self, but don't use a bass!

I wonder what the fine would be if caught?

Baby bass has been a proven color in lures for a long time. I have had caught bass spit up baby bass. I see no reason not to, if legal.

As 12Pound said - check your regs - here in MN, we can't even use bluegills/bream as bait.

Are Juvenile Bass Legal to Use as Bait?

No.

All bass species — largemouth, smallmouth, spotted — are classified as game fish, and Mississippi law prohibits:

Using game fish as bait

Possessing game fish for bait purposes

Keeping undersized bass except within legal creel limits

So even a tiny bass is still a game fish, and using it as bait is illegal.

Source: Micro Soft Co-Pilot

I'm assuming that the OP knows his state's regs and he did mention that he fishes a private body of water so I'm guessing the question is; would you use juvenile bass as bait?

Yes - if legal and in public waters. I personally don't know how the regs are with private waters or would that be up to the owner of the private water?

17 minutes ago, Jigfishn10 said:

I personally don't know how the regs are with private waters or would that be up to the owner of the private water?

I dunno about his state - but MN, private or public waters, use of panfish as bait is still illegal.

I had a similar experience. I had been fishing a favorite tree on and off all day with zero bass. At the end of the day, hooked a 14 inch bass on a plastic worm, and a true giant inhaled the whole bass while I was reeling it in. The giant bass didn't just grab it, and simm off with half the bass hanging out of it's mouth, the smaller bass in an instant completely disappeared into the gullet of the bigger bass. I gave the line slack and waited, but failed to hook the bass. When I reeled in the small bass the giant took one more swipe at it right next to my kaya. I won't say how big I thought the bass was, because I don't want readers to doubt my ability to estimate the size of bass, or wonder about my fish story skills, but I will say for sure it would have shattered my current PB. After the incident I asked this same question on this site. I live in Mexico and it would be legal, but I was wondering what members thought if it was ethical or not. The answers varied, but most thought as long is it was legal, and the bass population needed culling, why not.

I have yet to try and fish a small bass as bait. Since then I have often cast to the same tree, and have pulled 9 to 10 pound bass from it's limbs. I occasionally catch a smaller bass and think about hooking it up, but I am usually moving around, and taking the time to rig and slowly fish a live bait is something I have not wanted to do.

If a person were to try and fish a live bass. How would you rig it? What gear would you use? How would you fish it?

Some time when I have a few days to fish the lake, I will not be in such a hurry and may give it a try. I do know for sure I giant bass lives there that is capable, and likes to eat 14 inch bass.

13 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

I dunno about his state - but MN, private or public waters, use of panfish as bait is still illegal.

I guess not so surprising

These threads usually turn out to be a test in morals. I personally don’t care what you use for bait. Just match the legal hatch

Don't most fish species cannibalize the young of their species? For sure the Micropterus and Salmonidae do.

I once hooked a small bass and when I was reeling him in , a much larger bass swallowed him. I didn’t hook the bigger bass, because the hook was buried deep in the little basses mouth.

More than likely you aren’t catching anything on shiners because they are commercially raised ones. Those often have a silver color.

Wild golden shiners are like fillet mignon to a bass !

12 hours ago, Harold H said:

What are the thoughts on using bass to catch bass?

32 minutes ago, HawkeyeSmallie said:

What if it meant catching the biggest bass of your life?

33 minutes ago, HawkeyeSmallie said:

Im in NC, fortunately we can still use sunfish as bait, but its kind of a grey line when you read it:

• It is unlawful to unnecessarily destroy any inland game fish taken from public fishing waters.

• Inland game fish may be used as bait if they are legally taken and meet the size and creel limits of the waters being fished and other regulations.

So it says we can use bass as bait, but also says unlawful to unneccessarily destroy inland game fish, so idk, ill probably stick with bluegills

Here's a comment from a renowned NC catfisherman, Mac B:

Bro., for some reason we go thru this every year. The NC Fishing Regulations says that you can not use a live game fish for bait that has a limit set on it, same goes for catching then in a throw net. You can use the side meat of a game fish if you keep the carcass intact, so that the Wildlife Officer can inspect it if he happens to stop you. Every other year we have a Wildlife Officers to come and talk to the cat fishermen in this area and they go thru the Regulations with us and this issue comes up at each session and what the Wildlife Officers tell us is what I have stated previously.

Falls lake does not have a limit on crappie, and I dont think theres a limit on bluegill, so they would be okay to use, but probably dont use bass. But this pond is so overrun with dinks, nobody eats them, so what to do about the overpopulation

29 minutes ago, Harold H said:

What if it meant catching the biggest bass of your life?

If a person were to try and fish a live bass. How would you rig it? What gear would you use? How would you fish it?

I use a Thill 4" Big Fish slider and a medium HEAVY rod with 15 lb big game mono with an 18 inch leader and a spinner bait trailer hook snelled, thats how I hooked that monster twice on a little bluegill and a black salty. I think the best size bluegill is about credit card sized, saw a huge bass, probably the most beautiful Ive seen with my eyes, come up one day while I was crappie fishing and a little bluegill was following my lure on the surface, she came out of nowhere, inhaled the bluegill from behind, and disappeared to the depths, just as quick as she came. Looking at a bass compared to bluegill, a bass has a longer, narrower body with less spiny fins, so probably an easier meal to digest. Also crappie, has a narrower body with less spiny dorsal fins.

With that said, we know bass LOVE eating bluegill/sunfish, and the reason they jump out of the water is a survival mechanism to try and throw a backwards swallowed bluegill. Im going to play around with a c rig and circle hook and try to keep em swimming in one area, and lose the bobber and see what happens. If you just freeline them they can get into stuff, but some people just throw em out on a hook.

And for those that might look at live bait fishing as unsporting, its not as easy as it might look/seem, but probably the QUICKEST way to get the bass of a lifetime, if theres trophies in your waters. So even if bass makes good bait, for sake of not getting anyone in possible trouble, ill advise not to use them. Bluegill and crappie should work fine, and if you have access to black salties they work well too. Also big goldfish make good bait, which is what ablack salty is except bot gold, but may not be legal in some places

I never have, and it's Illegal in MO to use any game fish as bait anyway. Now, if there was a 10lber behind a 1-pounder I was reeling in, I might just let him fight a little longer, haha.

13 minutes ago, Flukeflicker said:

I never have, and it's Illegal in MO to use any game fish as bait anyway. Now, if there was a 10lber behind a 1-pounder I was reeling in, I might just let him fight a little longer, haha.

Lots of lobbying behind certain efforts to make some things illegal, or vice versa. And is it actually about protecting the fish population/anglers, or $$$. And whose doing the lobbying

3 hours ago, king fisher said:

I had a similar experience. I had been fishing a favorite tree on and off all day with zero bass. At the end of the day, hooked a 14 inch bass on a plastic worm, and a true giant inhaled the whole bass while I was reeling it in. The giant bass didn't just grab it, and simm off with half the bass hanging out of it's mouth, the smaller bass in an instant completely disappeared into the gullet of the bigger bass. I gave the line slack and waited, but failed to hook the bass. When I reeled in the small bass the giant took one more swipe at it right next to my kaya. I won't say how big I thought the bass was, because I don't want readers to doubt my ability to estimate the size of bass, or wonder about my fish story skills, but I will say for sure it would have shattered my current PB. After the incident I asked this same question on this site. I live in Mexico and it would be legal, but I was wondering what members thought if it was ethical or not. The answers varied, but most thought as long is it was legal, and the bass population needed culling, why not

If a person were to try and fish a live bass. How would you rig it? What gear would you use? How would you fish it?

3 hours ago, king fisher said:

Probably rig it like a sucker for musky with a quick set type rig. And like a musky, wait for the fish to start swimming away from you before you hit it. That being said, I personally would not regardless of legality. It would like using puppy on a rope to attract an gator.

Private water, I'd do as I please and keep my mouth closed.

I would do it if it was legal in Wisconsin.

27 minutes ago, GreenPig said:

Private water, I'd do as I please and keep my mouth closed.

Florida law is kind of like that. The law says you don't need a fishing license on private land and a private pond under 20 acres where the private land completely surrounds the pond, and there is no navigable water to public water.

The law also specifies that if a pond is manmade on private land then you can pretty much do as you please. The laws are designed to regulate fishing on public bodies of water more or less. The state knows they can't step onto private land to tell land owners what they can or cannot do on their own private property so in that situation you can get away with fishing how you please.

Even if the law applied, there is no way to enforce it on private land because the state cannot step foot on private land without some sort of probable cause or a warrant so I'd bet they ignore it and stick to public waters.

I would also consider that the fish in a private pond on private land would also mean the fish are privately owned and the owner can pretty much do as they please.

So maybe there is a way.... I don't see anything wrong with it really. We use other species, so why not bass?

I use spotted bass for catfish bait on the Catawba chain in NC. It works better than anything and futility works to control their population.