Bass fishing with live bait

[Luke Barnes]

The local ponds are so pressured and I'll maintained and choked with grass, weeds, and algae, that its getting really frustrating and the bait monkey needs a serious break for me. 

 

With that, has anyone ever targeted bass with live bait? Bluegill, minnow, worms, craws? I dont know how to trap my own of any, can catch bluegill pretty easily and can buy worms.

 

Whats the best technique for targeting bass? I imagine with worms it would be hard keeping sunfish off them. Just wanting to change it up anx stop buying so many lures and catching one bass per outing. 

[WRB]

Fall transition to winter cold water period will reduce both fishing pressure and aquatic plant growth.
There isn’t any short cuts to consistently catching bass.

Ponds have a limited number of adult size bass. Why should we help you reduce that population?

Tom 

 

 

[Luke Barnes]

1 hour ago, WRB said:

Fall transition to winter cold water period will reduce both fishing pressure and aquatic plant growth.
There isn’t any short cuts to consistently catching bass.

Ponds have a limited number of adult size bass. Why should we help you reduce that population?

Tom 

 

 

I'm not keeping any bass.... When I have a very short time to fish its either drive an hour round trip and fish an hour or drive 5 minutes round trip and fish for an hour and 55 minutes. But the close ponds are hammered by every lure under the sun, so I wanted to try live bait to catch and Release some bass for something different than walking the bank for that hour and 55 minutes and catching one dink. 

[jimmyjoe]

  It's funny that you say, " ... I imagine with worms it would be hard keeping sunfish off them...." because locally I see a few live bait fishermen who target sunfish and get frustrated because they catch bass instead. Some target sunfish as live bait for flathead, and some target sunfish to eat. To them, bass are trash fish.        jj

[roadwarrior]

23 minutes ago, jimmyjoe said:

  To them, bass are trash fish.        jj

Sounds like walleye fishermen on the Great Lakes.

 

[OkobojiEagle]

9 hours ago, Luke Barnes said:

 has anyone ever targeted bass with live bait?

Not me... and I don't use the gutter bumper guards when I bowl either

 

oe

[DogBone_384]

9 hours ago, Luke Barnes said:

has anyone ever targeted bass with live bait?

Live bait’s not fishing... it’s waiting... ?

[TnRiver46]

I use live shad for bass often, it’s not as easy as people that never do it think it is. Netting shad and keeping them alive on board and constant rebaiting is far more action packed than any artificial bait I’ve ever thrown

 

To the OP, who seems a bit more open minded than some of the repliers, live bait typically doesn’t work in vegetation but I bet you could figure something out. Maybe get a bluegill and free line it (unless of course you are in Minnesota or California, which you aren’t). You will have to constantly steer it around the weeds but pond bass eat mostly bluegill and will attack them violently. I know a couple ponds where we have trained bass to do this, very fun to watch. With the vegetation, It would be EASIER TO FISH WITH ARTIFICIAL (did I just say that?? How is it possible because Live bait is easier than 2+2 according to those who don’t fish it?) I have a feeling you will be struggling to keep the live bait from burying up in the veg so my choice for ponds like that is typically a weightless plastic worm. Twitch it across the top of the thickest stuff and then let it sink freely into the gaps

 

guys: the man is asking for help with live bait, not to be made fun of for using it. If you don’t like it maybe just read some

other threads? Sheesh 

[ajschn06]

11 minutes ago, DogBone_384 said:

Live bait’s not fishing... it’s waiting... ?

This

[TnRiver46]

7 hours ago, WRB said:

 

Ponds have a limited number of adult size bass. Why should we help you reduce that population?

Tom 

 

 

It’s pretty much the opposite. Every pond I’ve ever fished is overpopulated with adult bass. The only trophy ponds with 8-12 lb bass are managed by killing anything under 2 lbs 

[OkobojiEagle]

2 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

It’s pretty much the opposite. Every pond I’ve ever fished is overpopulated with adult bass. The only trophy ponds with 8-12 lb bass are managed by killing anything under 2 lbs 

...so how do we limit this internet post to Knoxville, TN?

[galyonj]

1 hour ago, roadwarrior said:

Sounds like walleye fishermen on the Great Lakes.

 

Or salmon fishermen in the PNW.

[TnRiver46]

6 minutes ago, OkobojiEagle said:

...so how do we limit this internet post to Knoxville, TN?

OP is in Oklahoma, ask any small pond management company there. He’s also catch and release so it doesn’t really matter 

[galyonj]

48 minutes ago, DogBone_384 said:

Live bait’s not fishing... it’s waiting... ?

 

Honestly fishing with live bait feels like more work to me.

 

As @TnRiver46 explained, simply keeping minnows alive to fish with is a big chore because they're so dumb and fragile.

 

There's generally less to do after the cast, but it's not a lot different than soaking a ned rig or drop shot, and there are a whole mess of people here that happily do that (including me).

 

10 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

OP is in Oklahoma, ask any small pond management company there. He’s also catch and release so it doesn’t really matter 

 

I think he just doesn't want the word getting out that ponds are magical places.

[Jig Rookie]

2 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

I use live shad for bass often, it’s not as easy as people that never do it think it is. Netting shad and keeping them alive on board and constant rebaiting is far more action packed than any artificial bait I’ve ever thrown

 

To the OP, who seems a bit more open minded than some of the repliers, live bait typically doesn’t work in vegetation but I bet you could figure something out. Maybe get a bluegill and free line it (unless of course you are in Minnesota or California, which you aren’t). You will have to constantly steer it around the weeds but pond bass eat mostly bluegill and will attack them violently. I know a couple ponds where we have trained bass to do this, very fun to watch. With the vegetation, It would be EASIER TO FISH WITH ARTIFICIAL (did I just say that?? How is it possible because Live bait is easier than 2+2 according to those who don’t fish it?) I have a feeling you will be struggling to keep the live bait from burying up in the veg so my choice for ponds like that is typically a weightless worm. Twitch it across the top of the thickest stuff and then let it sink freely into the gaps

 

guys: the man is asking for help with live bait, not to be made fun of for using it. If you don’t like it maybe just read some

other threads? Sheesh 

This all the way. I don't use live bait for bass, but it's still super disappointing reading the responses in this thread, way to make a guy (OP) not wanna come around here again looking for "help".

Kudos @TnRiver46, hopefully you recouped this place's rep some. 

[jimmyjoe]

   I'm not condemning the OP's use of live bait. Sorry if it came off that way. I'm saying that using live bait for bass is VERY effective, even extending to fishermen who don't target bass and don't want them at all.

   Most of the guys I see doing this are using worms. I would have thought that if I were to fish for bass with worms, that bluegill would get in the way, taking the worm first. But evidently that's not the case. It depends on which fish happens to be the predominant specie in your particular place, and  how aggressive each specie is at that particular time.        jj

[WRB]

High pressured ponds are usually over harvested no issue with over populated.

Using live bait like big Canadian night crawlers, crayfish ( crawdads) larger size minnows and juvenile  Bluegill ( if legal) required knowledge of the bait habits and time to catch them. If sold in local shops then it’s easier and less time consuming. 
Simple presentation is fly lining , no weight, with a circle hook. 
Did anyone take time to read my 1st post or the OP’s?

Tom

[the reel ess]

5 hours ago, OkobojiEagle said:

...so how do we limit this internet post to Knoxville, TN?

It's the same way here in SC. The smaller the pond, the worse the overpopulation gets. You either take a lot of small bass out or you pay someone to shock them up. I guess you could drain it and start over if you owned it. But public fisheries aren't in our control.

[soflabasser]

I can tell it is Winter when threads like these come up.

[GaryH]

4 hours ago, Jig Rookie said:

This all the way. I don't use live bait for bass, but it's still super disappointing reading the responses in this thread, way to make a guy (OP) not wanna come around here again looking for "help".

Kudos @TnRiver46, hopefully you recouped this place's rep some. 

 

I agree. I don't use live bait but I hope the Op doesn't get discouraged. Fishing is fishing as long as it's done legally and ethically. I know alot of folks in Florida that use shinners all the time. Good luck in your quest Luke. tight lines

[Luke Barnes]

Wow that went somewhere I wasnt expecting. 

 

To be clear, im not talking I'll managed size and population wise. I have no idea if people keep the bass they catch. I don't. Thats all I know and care. I mean a few really good ponds are so chock full of weeds and vegatation, weedless and topwater are about the only things that wont require an hour of picking crap off lures. 

 

But I digress. Ones that are clear enough are so heavily fished that its finesse or nothing anymore. But when they were still sort of hidden i caught some good bass in them. I saw videos on you tube of people using live bluegill for bass and i thought it might work and looked fun and challenging. I like trying new things and new ways to fish. I'm the guy who wants to catch a carp just because I never have and want the experience. But I imagine there is better and worse ways to fish with live bait to specifically target bass and thats what I'm asking. 

Man that took alot of self restraint not letting my mouth fly off! I remembered this is family friendly. Thanks to those that actually contributed. To those who didn't, move along. 

[TnRiver46]

If you do happen to fish some live bluegill, the hardest part is getting the hook to transfer from bluegill to bass. This is a low percentage landing endeavor. Almost guaranteed to get bit but the bass spits the bluegill probably well over half the time when it jumps. Two

techniques have worked for me: 1) circle hook and let them swim across the pond with the fish in their mouth, taking it away from competitors. Then the bass will try to swallow the bluegill head first, usually repositioning the bluegill in its throat. The bass comes off during this stage a lot! Method 2) big ole regular hook and attempt to jack the hook set as soon as the bass engulfs it. I haven’t necessarily kept track but I feel like this works better. We have successfully transferred #20 size zebra midges from bluegill mouth to bass mouths with 5 weight fly rods, wouldn’t recommend that method! 

[the reel ess]

2 hours ago, GaryH said:

 

I agree. I don't use live bait but I hope the Op doesn't get discouraged. Fishing is fishing as long as it's done legally and ethically. I know alot of folks in Florida that use shinners all the time. Good luck in your quest Luke. tight lines

I'd be more likely to use shiners if I were to use live bait. They're in my local small lake. .

[Luke Barnes]

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

If you do happen to fish some live bluegill, the hardest part is getting the hook to transfer from bluegill to bass. This is a low percentage landing endeavor. Almost guaranteed to get bit but the bass spits the bluegill probably well over half the time when it jumps. Two

techniques have worked for me: 1) circle hook and let them swim across the pond with the fish in their mouth, taking it away from competitors. Then the bass will try to swallow the bluegill head first, usually repositioning the bluegill in its throat. The bass comes off during this stage a lot! Method 2) big ole regular hook and attempt to jack the hook set as soon as the bass engulfs it. I haven’t necessarily kept track but I feel like this works better. We have successfully transferred #20 size zebra midges from bluegill mouth to bass mouths with 5 weight fly rods, wouldn’t recommend that method! 

Ive thought about this. I have 5/0 and 8/0 circle hooks I use for catfishing and caught plenty on them but for bass wasnt sure. I saw a guy use a big ol flipping hook and some use Kahle hooks. To me a large Kahle hook seems like a good option then when they swallow the gill Jack the hook like its a jig. I would probably use my 7'2 H with 60lb braid if I did that. Circle hook i would use my catfish setup.. 7' M with 50lb braid and its spinning. 

[Bankc]

The only good way to target bass over bluegill, is to fish in locations where bass will be, but bluegill won't, or use bigger live bait.  So if all you have available is stuff like minnows and worms, then I'd fish an area, and if you're getting bit by bluegills, try a different area.  

 

And guys, it's a pond.  Overfished, underfished, it doesn't matter.  A suburban pond is basically an outdoor aquarium.  It's a totally different scenario from a lake or river.