Fishing Natural Baits

Fishing natural baits has its time and place. There are times when bait is the only answer to the consistent taking of fish, while other times, flies, spinners, and small plugs will account for more fish creeled.

Through the years, more fish are caught on some form of bait. Insects, frogs, cheese, catfood, and even marshmallows have been used, but probably more fish have been taken on the lowly worm than all other methods rolled together.

Fishing Worms & Nightcrawlers

Although the use of earthworms is at its peak during the initial portion of the season when waters are murky and roily, they will account for fish right through the season. Worms prefer rich, fertile soil that is moist. Look for them there. A sprinkling of water over the area where you intend to look is a great aid to bring earthworms to the surface where they can be easily picked up.

Look for large nightcrawlers in the evening hours, especially during a damp or wet evening. Golf courses are especially fertile grounds to seek worms creeping to the surface during the darkness of night. With the aid of a flashlight and a few helpers, one can find enough "crawlers" in an hour or two to last for a week's fishing. To keep earthworms alive, place them in a box with rich soil and store in a cool, dry place. From time to time add cereal, corn meal, or coffee grounds to the earths surface for food.

When fishing with an earthworm, hook it through the collar, then again through its head or body, leaving the ends to dangle and squirm. Never fix a dead worm to your hook; a lively worm accounts for many more fish. Most fish take worms off the bottom, so make certain, when worming, to get it to the bottom.

Worms are fished like wet or streamer flies by basically lobbing or casting them up and across stream, allowing them to naturally bounce along the bottom as they drift downstream. As the worm makes its final downstream arc, the strike will occur. Often times fish will gulp a worm in one bite, but more often they will nibble at it, particularly during periods of cold water. Worms can also be used for still-fishing in lakes and ponds. When fish are just nudging worm baited hooks, allow them time to take before setting the hook.

Fishing Salmon Eggs for Bait

When properly fished, the salmon egg is a deadly fish producer, particularly with rainbow trout. Although brown trout and brook trout will strike eggs, eggs are a rainbows first love. Perch and sunfish will take them as well.

Salmon egg fishing closely resembles nymph fishing. Anglers shoulod fish with a relatively short line and use the up and across stream cast, allowing the egg to make a natural drift. Here, too, salmon eggs should be fished just off the bottom.

For most fishing situations, fishermen prefer the small, gold-colored single egg hooks. A single egg will cover it. Except in extreme cold waters when fish nudge eggs, by and large most fish will smash a salmon egg as if it's their last morsel of food. You'll either hook the fish or it will steal your egg. So, fish a short line, and be instantly prepared to strike when a fish smashes it.