Bass Fishing with Live Bait Tips and Techniques
The best way to catch bass with live bait is to fish the bait under a popping cork near the structure where the bass are hiding. A live bluegill or shiner with a 3/0 circle hook will be your best bet most of the time. You can use a J hook too but J hooks do a lot of harm to the bass if they swallow it and the circle hooks rarely get swallowed.
Bass are probably the most sought after game fish in the United States of America. I know for sure that they are the most sought after in Florida. Anglers spend over a billion dollars a year chasing bass in Florida waters.
In my opinion, live bait is the best way to catch really big bass. Really big bass got really big by being a little smarter than their friends who ended up on dinner plates.
I am a FISHING CHARTER CAPTAIN on the Treasure Coast of Florida and I have been catching bass in the lakes, ponds and canals all over Florida for more than 40 years.
Most of my bigger bass (more than 5 pounds) were caught using live shiners, shell crackers or bluegills. The bottom line is that it is easier to get a bass to bite your hook if the angler doesn't have to make the lure move and smell the right way. Live bait does that for you.
Makes sense. Right?
In the article below I will give you all of my tips and techniques to catch bass with live baits.
The best way to catch bass with live bait is to fish the bait under a popping cork near the structure where the bass are hiding. A live bluegill or shiner with a 3/0 circle hook will be your best bet most of the time. You can use a J hook too but J hooks do a lot of harm to the bass if they swallow it and the circle hooks rarely get swallowed.
Bass are probably the most sought after game fish in the United States of America. I know for sure that they are the most sought after in Florida. Anglers spend over a billion dollars a year chasing bass in Florida waters.
In my opinion, live bait is the best way to catch really big bass. Really big bass got really big by being a little smarter than their friends who ended up on dinner plates.
I am a FISHING CHARTER CAPTAIN on the Treasure Coast of Florida and I have been catching bass in the lakes, ponds and canals all over Florida for more than 40 years.
Most of my bigger bass (more than 5 pounds) were caught using live shiners, shell crackers or bluegills. The bottom line is that it is easier to get a bass to bite your hook if the angler doesn't have to make the lure move and smell the right way. Live bait does that for you.
Makes sense. Right?
In the article below I will give you all of my tips and techniques to catch bass with live baits.
Watch the video below and catch more bass.
Bass Fishing with Live Shiners, Shad and Small Pan Fish
In Florida, bass go bonkers for live shiners. It is as simple as that. I assume that they go bonkers for them everywhere that shiners live.
A live shiner under a cork near some sort of structure will get crushed by bass. So if your local bait shop has live shiners, then get yourself some live shiners.
I have found that the bigger shiners will catch the bigger bass so make sure that there are a few of the really big ones in your bait bucket. Get some medium sized and some smaller ones too.
If you can't buy them at your local bait shop, then go catch them yourself. A small long shank hair hook with a bread ball will catch shiners, big minnows, sunfish, shell crackers, bluegills......
My favorite way to fish with live shiners or small pan fish is under a bobber. Most of the ponds, lakes and canals that I fish are 8 feet or less so you don't have to get the bait down very deep. If you are fishing in deeper lakes, then you might have to free line your live bait or add a small split shot to your line to get the bait deeper.
Hook placement is a big deal when it comes to fishing with live bait. A nose hooked with will tend to swim deep. So I like to nose hook a live bait when I am fishing it under a bobber. That way you can decide what depth you want your fish to swim at.
I also like to nose hook them and add a split shot to the line if I want them to swim down into deeper water. That's the best way to get to those deep bass.
When I am fishing them in shallow water without a float, a hook towards the tail is the way to go. A tail hooked bait will tend to stay in the upper part of the water column. This is great for seeing those amazing hits when a big lunker swamp donkey slams your bait at the water's surface.
WARNING: In Florida, you can use sunfish, bluegill, warmouth, shell crackers....... for bait as long as you caught them. In some states it is illegal to use pan fish for bait unless you bought them from a licensed dealer.
You can use invasive species like the various tilapia and other ciclids that are in Florida waters. BUT you cannot bring them from one body of water to the next. You can only use them where you caught them.
It is illegal just about everywhere to use goldfish for bait.
Make sure that you check all of the local rules for where ever you are fishing with live bait.
Watch the video below for tips for catching swamp donkeys with crawdad lures.
Bass Fishing with Live Crawfish a.k.a Crayfish a.k.a. Crawdad
A live crawfish is a great bait for bass. If you can find them or set traps for them, then do it. Bass love them. That's why when I can't find any live bait one of my go to lures is a Texas rigged crawfish.
Look for them under any debris in the water that you are fishing. They will hide under a fallen log or in rocks. They will also burrow in the mud and sand. It is definitely worth putting some effort into finding them if you want to slay the bass.
A great way to fish them is with a 1/0 or 2/0 hook in the end of their tail. You can then cast them to where you think that the bass are lurking.
I wrote a series of article on this website that cover in detail how to fish the different seasons for bass. You can read those articles by clicking on them below.
Winter Bass Fishing
Spring Bass Fishing
Summer Bass Fishing
Fall Bass Fishing
Let's say that you are fishing some docks along a lake. Just pitch the crawdad under the dock and let it slowly sink to the bottom. Try 4 or 5 casts and move to the next dock. If the water is really deep just add a split shot to the line to get the crawdad down deep.
I like to use a bobber to fish with them in shallow water for bass. That way I don't have to worry about them getting tangled up in weeds and lily pads as much. You will keep them suspended in the strike zone waiting for a hungry bass to come your way.
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Bass Fishing with Live Minnows
Most of the bass that I have caught using live bait is with minnows and a cane pole. That was my go to set up for the first 10 years of my bass fishing adventures when I was a kid.
I would go over to the canal across the street from my house and use an old window screen to net a bunch of minnows. Step two was to keep a dozen or two of the biggest ones and send them out with my cane pole.
The key to cane pole bass fishing was to find holes in the duck weed and cat tails where a bass might be hiding. I would put my minnow in the hole and SLAM I would catch a bass. They were all 3 pounds or less but I could catch a dozen or so in 2 hours. So that's how bored kids use minnows to catch bass.
Let's talk about how grown ups use minnows for bass fishing. The best way to use a minnow is under a bobber because they will tire quickly with a hook in them. If you want to keep them swimming, then this is the best way.
If you just want them to wiggle some on the bottom, then use a small split shot to get them down deep. A bass cannot resist a dying or fresh dead minnow on the bottom.
I think that minnows are your best bet for shoreline oriented bass. You know those bass that stalk the shallows around shorelines in 2 feet or less water. Minnows are an amazing bait for those bass. Just make sure to be stealthy when approaching a fishy looking shoreline. Bass have excellent eyesight and will spook if you aren't quiet.
Bass Fishing with Live Worms
A plain old live worm will catch tons of bass. I have caught countless bass that were 2 pounds and under when I was fishing for bluegills. This tells you that bass will eat just about anything that wiggles and will fit in their big bucket mouths.
Let's say you can't get any shiners, shad or pan fish. You can't catch any crawdads either and you want to use live bait. Just get some worms and put them under a bobber like you would if you were fishing for bluegills.
You can also use worms to sight fish for shoreline bass in super shallow water. Worms are great for this because the don't swim away from the bass. Just present the worm a few feet in front of the target bass and wait. The bass will find the worm most likely.
A plain old live worm will catch tons of bass. I have caught countless bass that were 2 pounds and under when I was fishing for bluegills. This tells you that bass will eat just about anything that wiggles and will fit in their big bucket mouths.
Let's say you can't get any shiners, shad or pan fish. You can't catch any crawdads either and you want to use live bait. Just get some worms and put them under a bobber like you would if you were fishing for bluegills.
You can also use worms to sight fish for shoreline bass in super shallow water. Worms are great for this because the don't swim away from the bass. Just present the worm a few feet in front of the target bass and wait. The bass will find the worm most likely.
Can't find any bait? Use a hot dog. Watch the video below.
Conclusion:
Many bass fishing purists refuse to use live bait when they go out bass fishing. That's cool. I say do what makes you happy. Live bait fishing is less of a challenge for sure. You don't even have to hold onto the rod if you don't want to.
What I hope this article did was teach you what live baits work the best. If you are in deeper lakes and ponds then you will probably use a shad or a shiner. They are more of a schooling type of fish that are often in the mid and lower parts of the water column.
If you are fishing the outer edge of some lily pads or grass mats those baits are a good choice too.
If you are fishing around shallow water structure, then a bluegill or a crawdad might be a better choice. You want to fish the bait that lives where you are fishing. Shad like it deep so fish them deep. Minnows like it shallow so fish them shallow. Crawdads like shallow structure so fish them around shallow structure.
I think that you get the point. I hope that this article helps you catch more fish or at the very least have more fun trying.