Catching bait will always be more fun than store-bought

Finding a good place to buy live bait was once harder than finding a good place to use it.

Trying to make a living selling worms, crickets, crayfish, minnows, perch or any other wriggley critter to frugal fishermen would have been tough enough to make riding bulls appear to be a reasonable alternative.

Anglers have been using live bait for thousands of years. Until relatively recently, a rare fisherman  thought of live bait as something that could be purchased on the way to the lake or stream.

Catching whatever live bait the angler intended to use was an integral part of going fishing.

Catching bait is rapidly becoming a lost art. I blame citification for this sad state of affairs.

Unfortunately, I can use myself as an example.

When I moved inside the city limits back in 1989, I was an ardent bait-catcher. I brought a much-used,  nearly rusted out, oblong livestock watering tank to town with me, so I could continue to use it for short term storage of various species of aquatic live bait.

The bait tank saw less use — and more holes — with each passing year. Amber finally suggested that I get rid of it, because it made our backyard look like a hillbilly lived there.

Despite having my own storage facility, I followed the crowd and began buying my bait. For some species of fish, crappie, for example, store-bought minnows are a workable, albeit inferior option.

For catfish, even decent quality live bait is hard to find and, far more often than not, is more expensive.

Shad can be an excellent alternative to store-bought bait for reservoir catfish anglers, beginning in early summer.

Dense schools of shad swimming just below the surface are easy targets for anyone who has mastered the art of throwing a cast net. The problem is that shad can be impossible to find when you arrive at the lake with no other bait in the boat.

Green sunfish are the No. 1 choice for that other catfish bait. Green sunfish are present in unbelievable numbers in almost every sand- or gravel-bottomed creek in the state, including those that only run in wet weather.

Public access to these streams can be gained via the road right-of-way at bridges or low-water crossings, but remember that venturing above the normal high-water mark requires the landowner’s permission.

If bottom conditions permit, a seine is the most efficient way to gather nongame fish and crayfish, but game fish must be released immediately.

Green sunfish, other nongame species and crayfish can be caught on a pole-and-line, an alternative that has the advantage of being a lot of fun.

Green sunfish are exceptionally hardy. A couple dozen small ones will usually live for 24 hours or more in a 5-gallon bucket filled with water drawn from where they were caught.

Using a simple bubble type aerator will virtually guarantee survival.

Bait fish, including shad, can be frozen for later use. The trick is to place the fish on ice immediately and to keep them on ice until they’re placed in vacuum-sealed plastic bags and frozen.

To use frozen bait of any type, allow it to thaw in a refrigerator and then keep it on ice until it’s placed on a hook. Discard any remaining bait at the end of the day.

How much fun digging worms is is dependent on the number of worms per shovelful of dirt and the heat index at the time the worms are being dug.

Worms wrested from a garden or a creek bank are always more fun to use than store-bought worms because they’ll attract a lot more fish.

Crickets and grasshoppers are top-drawer baits for bluegill, and they’ll put a surprising number of crappie, bass and catfish on the stringer as well.

They’re easiest to catch early on a damp morning, but it’s a lot more sporting to chase them down after the sun has dried their wings.

The best thing about gathering your own bait might be the thrill of driving past a bait shop, knowing you’ve got a better chance of heading home with a stringer of fish than do the people whose cars are parked in front of it.