Live Minnows Or Artificial Bait

[Hyrule Bass]

Come on Snakehead, when you put Necessarily in front of any argument, you are admitting that I am right 99% of the time.  Yes, I suppose there may be some rare circumstance at some particular moment in time when what you say is true.  But I say if they are feeding on Blugill and I drop a live minnow and you drop whatever you want, I am still going to catch a fish before you do.  Almost every time.

 

Your stretching.

 

Come on snakehead.  you know that I am right in nearly ever situation.  Right?  Come on, you can admit it.  if you and I were net to each other for a million dollars, you woudl drop a night crawler in a heartbeat, right?

 

its just not true. i fish a pond that the fish totally prefer artificials. they would not touch a minnow, and ive seen them swim up to a nightcrawler, look at it and swim off. but when i throw a weightless plastic out there, they crush it. white spinner bait, they crush it. and various other lures. and ive outfished a guy there using live bait vs me using rage tail plastics. he caught one bass to my 11 in an hours time. i even caught more bass then he caught bluegill using nightcrawlers...

 

also, ive seen a bass at Smith Mountain Lake, had been seeing this same bass for 3 years before i finally caught it. i know it was the same bass because it was on the same pattern. it had 3 stops it made on a "route" it would follow all day long almost. i could walk down there and see this bass in one of the 3 spots an any given time. ive tossed minnows out in front of it, i tossed nightcrawlers right in its face and it would ignore them completely, act like it was offended and swim to one of the other two spots it sat it. i finally got it last year on a weightless t-rigged baby rage craw in summer craw color. i spent a little over 2 years throwing live bait at this bass because i thought it would be easier, only to catch it on artificial when i finally tried it...

 

you can put down live bait all you want, but it isnt always easier. at the same time youre forgetting artificial baits cover a lot more water than live bait fishing.

 

but really, if you only fish artificial baits, then you have no basis for comparison.

[Snakehead Whisperer]

Come on Snakehead, when you put Necessarily in front of any argument, you are admitting that I am right 99% of the time.  Yes, I suppose there may be some rare circumstance at some particular moment in time when what you say is true.  But I say if they are feeding on Blugill and I drop a live minnow and you drop whatever you want, I am still going to catch a fish before you do.  Almost every time.

 

Your stretching.

 

Come on snakehead.  you know that I am right in nearly ever situation.  Right?  Come on, you can admit it.  if you and I were net to each other for a million dollars, you woudl drop a night crawler in a heartbeat, right?

Really what I am trying to say is that it's what I know to be true (mileage may vary for you or others.) If your experience leads you to a different perspective, then so be it. I'm just happy that you're enjoying the environment and the sport as I do. 

 

There are several instances when bass feed on a particular forage base and will not eat much else. Crawfish for instance. Sure during this time a live craw will most likely outfish a jig-n-pig or soft plastic in the same color; but the jig-n-pig in similar coloration to a natural craw will likely outfish a live shiner or a crawler in the same waters if presented well. In the waters I fish it is not legal to use a live crawfish as bait, so even if I wanted to use live bait I still must simulate it with artificials to get that crawfish strike.

 

I simply do not believe that live bait will outshine artificial if the person fishing just uses any old live bait. If one is calculating and knowledgeable of what the bass are eating then throws a live specimen of it in the bass' face, then sure it will catch more fish. But to assume that a bass will eat any old minnow or worm on any given day is just not true. How many times have you seen bass swimming within a few inches of baby bluegills or other minnows completely ignoring their presence? I've seen it more times than I can begin to remember.

[shimmy]

its just not true. i fish a pond that the fish totally prefer artificials. they would not touch a minnow, and ive seen them swim up to a nightcrawler, look at it and swim off. but when i throw a weightless plastic out there, they crush it. white spinner bait, they crush it. and various other lures. and ive outfished a guy there using live bait vs me using rage tail plastics. he caught one bass to my 11 in an hours time. i even caught more bass then he caught bluegill using nightcrawlers...

 

also, ive seen a bass at Smith Mountain Lake, had been seeing this same bass for 3 years before i finally caught it. i know it was the same bass because it was on the same pattern. it had 3 stops it made on a "route" it would follow all day long almost. i could walk down there and see this bass in one of the 3 spots an any given time. ive tossed minnows out in front of it, i tossed nightcrawlers right in its face and it would ignore them completely, act like it was offended and swim to one of the other two spots it sat it. i finally got it last year on a weightless t-rigged baby rage craw in summer craw color. i spent a little over 2 years throwing live bait at this bass because i thought it would be easier, only to catch it on artificial when i finally tried it...

 

you can put down live bait all you want, but it isnt always easier. at the same time youre forgetting artificial baits cover a lot more water than live bait fishing.

 

but really, if you only fish artificial baits, then you have no basis for comparison.

 

 

Yeh, just reading this you can tell that the mere fact that people are trying to force an argument about how artificials are just as good if not better than live bait is mind boggling. Fish are as big as they are because...they are eating live bait. That is what they eat. That is what they are looking for. That is what their instincts tell them to eat. That is what their little pea brains are programmed to do. Yes you can switch the ACTION of live bait. Make it very fast, very slow, eratic, tail hook em, side fin hook them, or just put on a big blue gill and catch a world record. I have just seen it personally too many times where live bait has caught the biggest fish i know of in a particular lake. I understand it that it may seem like in some instances that artificials may out produce live bait but you have to consider that a seasoned angler would tailor his live bait fishing to that which the fish want in a way that would catch just as much if not more than someone fishing artificials. The thing is, how often do you see an elite type fisherman apply the same theory of artificials with livebait? Very rare. I know a few on this forum that do so. It just seems like the artificial standpoint is too strained and that alone should tell you that you are probably just trying to make an argument for it, not necessarily being combative, but kinda reminds me of an old high school debate class we had to take. Live bait, that is what fish eat; are we really having a discussion that anything other than their 100% diet will catch more of them? I feel like i am taking crazy pills. 

[MichiganFishing1997]

I think there's places for both techniques in the great worl of fishing. Peeaonally I get more satisfaction out of using artificial baits. And even more satisfaction when I made it myself!

[Jolly Green]

Fishing is fun. Fishing with artificials is fun for me; fishing with live bait is boring to me. Fishing with artificials is boring to my kids; fishing with live bait is fun for my kids. Fishing is fun.

[SirSnookalot]

Live bait or artificial is a personal choice, my observation and own experience lead me to believe live bait catches bigger fish.  Sometimes it's more time consuming and difficult to catch bait than it is to toss a lure and score, being a bait fisherman can have it's challenges too.  I probably have not used live bait for bass in about 50 years and don't care to.   Fishing for snook nearly everyday of the year I may use live bait 4 or 5 times a year, haven't done it yet this year.  I do it for "sociable fishing" just hanging on the jettie and shooting the bull my buds, my serious fishing is casting, I do find it more fun and rewarding.