Live Bait

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Our live bait page is dedicated to those fisherman who love to fish with live bait. This website is also useful to you artificial bait lovers who know when the fishing gets tough you need to tip your artificial baits with some type of the live form. The page will include fishing information about fishing with leeches, crustaceans such as crayfish,scuds,freshwater shrimp,saltwater shrimp,mud shrimp and ghost shrimp. Our live bait page includes live bait information on salamanders such as waterdogs,spring lizards, mudpuppies as bait,and leopard frogs as bait. Our live bait page also includes good fishing information about fishing with insects. Our insect fishing information includes aquatic insects such as may flies, stone flies, caddis flies,crane flies, dragon flies. and dobson flies ( hellgrammites). We also have information about Terrestrial adult insect types such as crickets and grasshoppers as well as larva forms of catalpa worms, waxworms, goldenrod grubs, mousees, spikes, euro larvae, and meal worms. Please note to find information about fish species that are used as live bait visit our bait-fish web page by clicking here Also note to find information about any worm types that are used for live bait visit our nightcrawlers web page by clicking here

Fishing surveys have shown that live bait accounts for at least two thirds of fish caught on a hook and line. Even the staunchest artificial lure advocates switch to live bait or add live bait to their lures when fishing gets tough. Some of the most common and best live baits include minnows that you can read about on our website at our web page bait-fish. Another great live bait is nightcrawlers and we have a whole web page called nightcrawlers dedicated to this live bait.

Fishing With Leeches

Leeches are another excellent live bait that works great to catch a variety of species of fish. Using leeches effectively depends on the time of year and availability. Many anglers consider ribbon leaches to be the best live bait for walleye, or Pickerel for Canadian folks. The ribbon leech will also work great for other species of fish too. Ribbon leeches swim enticingly above 50 degrees Fahrenheit, so they are considered a a preferred late spring and summer live bait.

Leeches are one of the more favorite live baits of most gamefish. Leeches are a common food item in the diet of many freshwater fish species. Amazingly using leeches as a live bait in the past was not a very popular fresh live bait for most fisherman. Just recently in the past few years leeches have gotten some popularity with many anglers who are fishing for walleye, smallmouth bass and panfish. Leeches got a bad rap because the misunderstanding that they are bloodsuckers. Actual this is not true at all. The leeches that are used for live bait are not bloodsuckers at all. They actually feed on small worms and other aquatic organisms. When a bait leech attaches itself to your skin with there powerful suction cup on their tail section, it is not trying to suck blood but trying to hold on. The live bait leech’s head is actually on the other end.

Good Leaches And Bad Leeches

There are good leeches and bad leeches to use for live bait and we will identify them below.

Good Leeches

Ribbon Leeches

These leeches have a wide body and are between 2 to 6 inches in length when stretched out. They get their name because they look like a ribbon when they swim through the water. The ribbon leech may be brown,black or olive in color.

Tiger Leeches

Tiger leeches are not as common as the ribbon leech but they make excellent live bait because they are considered to be one of the most active leech and are always moving around on your hook. They measure in length from 2 to 4 inches. They get there name because they have 4 black stripes that run parallel along their backs.

Bad Leeches

Horse Leeches

Horse leeches range in length from 3 to 12 inches. These leeches are may be black or mottled brown in color. They have very distinct grooves and are very squishy to the feel, and they have a very powerful sucking disk.

Medicine leeches

These are the little critters that gave leeches a bad rap as a fishing live bait. They were once used to suck blood from sick humans. Medicine leeches can be recognized by the row of red spots down their back and a rust color on their belly. They are also squishy to the feel.

Leeches swim slowly through the water their bodies moving in a waving motion as they swim. That’s probably why they are so enticing to so many gamefish. It is very important how you hook leeches so you do not hinder the leeches natural movement when you use them as live bait.

How To Hook Leeches

There are three effective ways to hook leeches with disrupting their natural movement. If you are going to cast and retrieve leeches you will need to hook them in the tail about 1/2 inch above their powerful sucker. If you are fishing for panfish hook your leeches just below the head. Push the hook through the tough skin of it’s neck so the hook barb is pointing upward towards the head. If you are going to be using a bobber, or plan on jigging leeches hook them through the middle of their body so both half drape downward evenly. This is a great bait presentation when you are vertical jigging.

Fishing For Panfish, Rock Bass, And Yellow Perch With Leeches

Use ribbon or tiger leeches 1 1/2 to 3 inches long when stretched out. Our you can use can cut a leech up and use pieces. Here’s a list of rigging’s you can use:

Fishing For Walleye And Sauger With Leeches

You can use ribbon leeches from 2 1/2 to 4 inches in length, Tiger leeches 2 to 4 inches in length to catch either sauger or walleye. Here’s a list of rigging’s you can use:

Fishing For Smallmouth And Largemouth Bass With Leeches

You can use ribbon leeches from 2 1/2 to 5 inches in length. Here’s a list of rigging’s you can use:

Fishing For Trout With Leeches

You can use ribbon leeches from 2 to 4 inches in length. Here’s a list of rigging’s you can use:

Fishing Crustaceans As Live Bait

Most all game fish freshwater and some saltwater species have a steady diet of different types of crustaceans such as crayfish, scuds,Saltwater shrimp,grass shrimp or freshwater shrimp,mud shrimp and ghost shrimp Many gamefish feed off of tiny planktonic shrimp such as water fleas in the early stages of their life cycle.

Types of Crustaceans Commonly Used For Live Bait

Crayfish

There are more then 500 species of crayfish that a habitat that includes North American waters. Crayfish are fond in ponds,roadside ditches,natural or man made lakes, fast flowing streams and sluggish rivers. Just about anywhere there is standing freshwater you will find some kind of crayfish. Selecting crayfish depends on the size of the fish you plan to target. For example if you want to use crayfish to catch trophy largemouth bass you need to use crayfish over 4 inches long. If you were fishing for panfish then small crayfish in the 2 inch range would work fine.

Shrimp

Many times freshwater fisherman will use both freshwater and saltwater shrimp as live bait or frozen bait. Fisherman along the coast can purchase shrimp in bait shops or catch their own in the estuaries near their homes. They can catch mud shrimp and ghost shrimp in the mud flats, and saltwater shrimp in the estuary waters. Other fisherman through out the country can buy chilled or frozen saltwater shrimp at the larger grocery stores in their area. I personally use frozen shrimp when I go fishing for catfish on occasion.

Freshwater Shrimp Or Grass Shrimp

Grass shrimp are a favorite live bait of panfish anglers in Florida and other Southeastern States. Recently, the popularity of grass shrimp has grown. There are bait stores in other parts of the country who now offer grass shrimp as live bait selection. Grass shrimp are very small only 1 to 2 inches in length. The have a light green to tan color and they are translucent. Saltwater varieties are located in estuaries along the Atlantic and Gulf Costs. Freshwater types can be fond in ditches, ponds and small lakes in Southestern United States.

Saltwater Shrimp