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Walked into Cabelas a few weeks back and asked what kind of live bait they had. Minnows and chub were pretty standard, but then he said goldfish and i thought, wow, never really heard of anyone using goldfish as bait, haha.
So i wonder, is there anyone out there who has used goldfish as live bait? How did it go?
That's what they use for catfish, why? I'm not sure but it seams to work for them.
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use to use them all the time for bass also. worked great. never seen them used for crappie on purpose.
I have fished with lots of people using different things. I see folks use them all the time for Catfish. The folks from Pools fisheries in Lonoke Arkansas raise Goldfish and one of the family there uses them for Crappie. They say several folks buy them for Crappie as the are easier to keep alive.
My thoughts exactly, goldfish are much easier to keep alive than minnows. But, i wasn't sure if freshwater fish would be attracted to basically a tropical fish. Never heard of goldfish being used as catfish bait. Though it now makes sense why the state record goldfish was caught in a catfish pond, lol.
Though i didn't understand what the guy meant when i asked him prices. He said $2.49 for a scoop of minnows, which is about 18. Goldfish is $4.49 for 5 - 7. Whether that's scoops or fish, i don't know.
I buy gold fish for about $4.50 a lb for catfhish bait. Usually about 15 +/- depening on their size per lb. Med minnows, same price, but about 10x as many per lb. Also buy small carp for catfish bait too.
Goldfish are not tropical fish. They are every bit as hardy as true carp. They belong to a group of closely related fish that actually go so dormant in winter that they can survive without any oxygen. They have naturalized in some places and have reverted to wild form in some places and then they are not gold either. Then they resemble small carp but lack the barbels. BTW you may here some immigrant mention that in "my country" we eat the little carps. They are referring to the goldfish family and they are supposedly better eating than the much bigger true carps. They never get over a couple or three pounds usually but they fight as hard as their bigger cousins pound for pound. There are at least a couple of metro ponds with the reverted goldfish or perhaps the Crucian carp, which is nearly identical, where one will catch them once in a while. Lots of fun on light tackle.
The question of goldfish as bait is moot up here in Minnesota. Here it is illlegal.
Chris - Goldfish work fine for crappie, bass, cats and white bass. I have a 1/4 acre pond that I recently renovated, thanks to the neighbors poaching out my fish, and stocked 5#'s of rosie reds. They should explode in there and by fall i should have thousands. A rosie red fathead looks like a red hot burning ember on a black night in clear water. i have fished them against a regular colored minnows and hands down i had quicker hits on the rosies. One year I iced fished with them SW of Valentine, NE and stocked the sewer plant:yikes in Valentine when I left. Unfortunately they did not survive in the clarifier basin:dono Where do you live in Nebraska?
Illegal in Michigan also
Same here illegal in ny for bait
Eastern NebraskaQuote:
Originally Posted by cricket george
Dakota City, Wahoo, Dodge, Scribner????
I typically use them for bass or catfish for they dont really care what they hit as long as its food, however. Crappie seem to hit things they are used to.
OmahaQuote:
Originally Posted by cricket george
I have caught 14" crappie on 7" plastic worms in a 10 acre lake where the crappie have never seen a plastic worm. If Capps and Coleman use alot of rosie reds in their tournament fishing then it is good enough for me.
I use them to catch catfish here in ohio don't think I ever caught any other kinds of fish with them tho. Goldfish stay lively longer . Was wondering why they are illegal in some states
The biggest fear is that allowing them for bait will spread another type of carp, one that might replace native minnows in ponds and streams, compounding the carp problem. Allowing them to be used for live bait almost certainly will spread them. Goldfish are as tolerant of low oxygen as any cold water fish there is. One of the ecologies that would be threatened are the leech ponds that freeze out most winters. The goldfish family can survive that. That is one of their differences from the true carp.
Here in Ohio not only do we have goldfish for bait but also Asian Carp which looks like a miniture carp about the size of a goldfish and greenish in color.
Yep on the rosie red fathead. Old man up at Fishmarket Bait & Tackle at Wes Watkins has them and I had great success with them the other day at T-Bird. Going back to get some more tonight for tomorrows fishing trip.Quote:
Originally Posted by cricket george
Goldfish are illegal here fished alive. Dead they are fine. Work well for trout and bullheads but haven't gotten anything else to hit them, yet.
I have a crappie in a aquarium and he loves gold fish.Matter of the fact he will eat anything you put in.