Half of the seasoned fishermen I talk to tell me that by far they catch more with artificial, the other half say nothing beats live bait. Which is true??

[Ohioguy25]

I don’t understand how there can be such a disparity.

 

I catch by far more when I use live bait on the river.

[JWall14]

This may start a war...

[newriverfisherman1953]

Live bait. 

[greentrout]

artificial lures and plastics only ... haven't had a minnow below a bobber since the seventies ...

 

good fishing ...

[JediAmoeba]

Depends on the day.  Overall a person can cover more water with artificial baits so those warrant more fish...but once you find schooled up fish it is hard to beat THE RIGHT live bait thrown into their mix...

[WRB]

Bank or shore anglers are not mobile compared to boat anglers and tend to saturate a small area. Live bait anglers fishing form a boat are very similar to the shore anglers and tend to anchor in a small area. 

Lure anglers tend to be mobile fishing a wider range of areas putting lures in front of a lot more fish and higher numbers usually equals more strikes.

Tom

[Bird]

I catch WAY more fish with artificial simply because I don't throw live bait.

[JediAmoeba]

But today I caught 18 trout in 45 minutes with my 4 year old son reeling them in.  I was using an inline spinner.  He lost 6 fish in that time frame.  There is no way a person with live bait could have out fished me then and there...but there are days when they won't touch a spinner.  

[jimmyjoe]

   What are we talking about here? Are we talking large-and-smallmouth, or are we including sunfish, crappie, catfish and drum?  For bass and pike, it's artificials. For the rest, it's bait.      jj

[Spankey]

18 minutes ago, Ohioguy25 said:

I don’t understand how there can be such a disparity.

 

I catch by far more when I use live bait on the river.

All species of fish other than just bass? Are you just talking bass smallmouth/largemouths?

 

 

[F14A-B]

Well artificial bait is representing live bait so..

 

It's a toss up.

 

Should we discuss cutbait? 

[Bankbeater]

I think a lot of it depends on type of bait you are fishing with and what species you are targeting at any given time.

[Sam]

OMHO, live bait outfishes artificial bait.

[A-Jay]

What about combining live bait with an artificial lure ?

Like throw an A-Rig with one or two live minnows added to the spread . . 

That could be crazy . . . 

A-Jay

[JediAmoeba]

A better question would be: Are more fish inadvertently harmed/killed from live bait or artificial bait?  This is one of the biggest reasons I advocate against live bait use for casual fisherman.

[Glaucus]

Live bait catches more fish, just not always or even usually the target species or sizes. 

[Bird]

I don't know,

As kids we had great success with mad Tom's , crayfish and nightcrawlers but it's gonna fall short compared to today's artificial. 

 

Way to many repeat casts with artificial and reaction strikes you get with spinnerbaits, chatterbaits and buzzbaits.

 

Artificial has come to far in mimicking live bait anyway.....there's drop shots, Ned rigs, flukes and a zillion soft plastics.

 

In a tournament, artificial would prevail if that's what your asking. 

 

 

[TriStateBassin106]

50/50 growing up fishing some of the biggest bass I caught on my residental lake was with nightcrawlers and a simple red and white bobber. But I've also had to dealt with Bluegill and other species of sunfish before I could get that 2lb bass. 

 

As a Bass angler I will stick with what I know works 100% year round for my target species. 

 

Lures.

[Mobasser]

I havnt used live bait for bass for so long I can't remember the last time. When I think bass fishing I think lure fishing, and I like the challenge of catching bass on lures

[soflabasser]

A good bass fisherman understands that both live bait and lures have times they work best. My record for most bass I caught in 1 day, top 5 bass in 1 day, most species of black bass caught, and other personal best have been on lures. 

46 minutes ago, Alonerankin2 said:

Well artificial bait is representing live bait so..

 

It's a toss up.

 

Should we discuss cutbait? 

I have caught +7 pound bass on cutbait while fishing for catfish. Many bass anglers would hate knowing their favorite fish eats like a scavenger. Other predator fish eat cutbait as well.

[scaleface]

I think for numbers , more often a dedicated bass angler will catch more bass with artificials simply because they will present the offering to more fish . I've had numerous 70 fish  days with a few 100's.

[Spankey]

I'd rather catch (1) 10" river smallie on a beaver or 3" Power Grub than (15) rock-bass on a garden worms.

 

This is not a dis to anyone who fishes live bait exclusively. Go for it. Stay with it. I can only say that in my bass fishing I'll never fish with live bait again. I remember all to clearly back when i was a young guy trying to make that transition to all artificials. I'd fish with some lures awhile and maybe didn't like my results and would dig into some type of stash of live bait I brought on the boat with me. Same thing on the next outing, and the outing after that...... Than that day came and I said to myself no more, I'm making this stuff work. I did, it happened and a complete different mind set set in. I probably have not bass fished with anything live since '81 or '82. I feel that I've worked too hard at artificials and paid my dues of live and learn with different artificials. But if someone want to fish with it, use it.

[tkunk]

Depends on the mood of the fish. If fish are very active, you'll catch more with artificials, because you'll cover more water, and more fish will see and eat your bait. If fish are very lethargic, you'll catch more with live bait, because inactive fish won't hit artificials very often.

[Scott F]

2 hours ago, Ohioguy25 said:

I don’t understand how there can be such a disparity.

 

I catch by far more when I use live bait on the river.

If you catch more fish with live bait, use bait. Otherwise, the opinions of others don't really matter. I catch more on artificials because I never use live bait. Maybe the people who catch more on live bait don't use artificials very often either.

[Big Rick]

By the way, you win the prize for longest thread title...