14 hours ago, king fisher said:

15" would be just the right size for bait on my lake.

I had a bass at one of my two bogs try to eat a 15-incher that I was about to land. I don't know how big the bass was even though it was right beside my canoe. All I saw was froth and fury. Here's a sample of the bass I catch in that bog, but I expect the one trying to eat my 15-incher was bigger than the bass below based upon the amount of water it was moving:

Thats a chunky nice bass, I certainly would never hook a bass like that to fish with. There are videos of people pulling bass apart where one tried to eat the other but it was too big. Largemouth in particular are vicious, predatory creatures, as we know they will eat anything that will fit in their mouth, and even go for more

Here are some other bass from the same bog. The second one was 6.75 pounds. I didn't weigh the others, but they're all similar in size. I use the lower jaw to tell me when a bass is heavy. Their weight distends their lower jaw:

"You must remember that some things legally right are not morally right" - Abraham Lincoln

I'm not suggesting that using bass to catch bass is morally or ethically wrong. I will say that regardless of the legality of it, I don't feel comfortable doing so. Maybe the bass that I'd use for bait might grow into a trophy bass if I hadn't used it for bait. I do enough damage to the fish I catch despite all my efforts to minimize them. I don't feel the need to kill a fish that I respectfully target in order to catch a larger bass. I'm not that driven to catch trophy bass. I do so on my terms and the ends don't justify the means. I'm comfortable with this.

This is just MY opinion. I'm not being judgemental towards those who feel otherwise. This is just how I roll which may not be popular.

9 minutes ago, Crow Horse said:

I don't feel the need to kill a fish that I respectfully target in order to catch a larger bass. I'm not that driven to catch trophy bass.

You said it well and I agree with you.

I can't stand to read catfisherman comments about using 10 lb bass for cat bait, don't know if theyre joking or not but wouldnt surprise me. I know one guy uses big crappie live as cat bait, seems like a waste of good fillets to me

Well plenty of other live bait to use. Shiners, Shad and big old night crawlers. Plus those Smallies love crawdads

5 hours ago, bowhunter63 said:

Well plenty of other live bait to use. Shiners, Shad and big old night crawlers. Plus those Smallies love crawdads

Im growing some European nightcrawlers, theyre getting bigger and reproducing. Need to get some sifters for the castings. I plan on dropshotting them on a little circle hook at sunset to try and keep the gills off

I've had the fortune of catching a bass that chased down a super dink I was reeling in. I've never seen a bass move so fast as this one did when its predatory instincts kicked in. That little flailing fish was simply irresistible.

1 hour ago, 4n2t0 said:

I've had the fortune of catching a bass that chased down a super dink I was reeling in. I've never seen a bass move so fast as this one did when its predatory instincts kicked in. That little flailing fish was simply irresistible.

That's crazy, yeah, bass can swim way faster than what most think, if they really want it, they're going to get it

These are the hooks I'm going to try using with the nightcrawlers, I'll probably try hooking it in the middle like a wacky rig and see what happens. #8 Gamakatsu circle hooks, dont let the size fool you. Theyre very sharp, stay sharp, and Ive landed 7 lb channel cats with this hook. Theyre also great for catching bluegill for live bait rigging, its so sticky sharp, Ive caught 2 inch bluegills with it

The nightcrawlers are doing good, I have a bunch of baby worms and cocoons, and the castings are near needing sifting. Looking forward to seeing if I can catch some nice bass on these this year