back in the late 50s and 60s we did not have all the fancy jigs and plastic baits that we have now we used to start out with fishing worms and catch one crappie and cut the crappie and little pieces and use them for catching more that was the hot bait for them they could not resist it sometimes the old methods work the best.
We did the same thing with Perch. Did it a couple of weeks ago and guess what.... it still works!
We used to catch spring lizards for the bass in Lake Lanier...One time all we could catch was small ones, I mean 3"ers...No bass, but after fishing the beaver hutch with minnows for crappie and having no luck, I put a wee lizard on a hook and float and tossed it to the hutch...BAMMM ! Right away we started catching a bunch, and good 'uns too !!!! Geez, that was many years ago...
For Crappie we use minnows , everything else it was nightcrawlers.
LOL .... my grandparents would have thrown me in the lake for suggesting cutting meat off a Crappie, to catch another Crappie ... or any other species of fish.
Back then (50's-60's) we used minnows, mostly ... and occasionally we'd cast "Doll Fly" jigs. Live Nightcrawlers were mainly used for Bass in the Spring, and occasionally for catfish. The Doll Fly jigs were used for White Bass, along with the Shyster (in-line spinner).
But, when it came time to do some serious Bluegill fishing (late Summer) we'd always stop along the country road leading to the lake, and look for a stand of Giant Ragweed ... usually along the outer fence line of the farms along the road. Burlap bag in hand, and a good pocket knife, we'd look for holes or swollen areas on the stalks of the Ragweed. We were looking for "Horseweed Worms", as my grandpa called them. What they actually were, was a stalk borer grub. And the big gills and Long Ear Sunfish loved them. We'd even catch Crappie, Bass, and Catfish on them.
Here's an article about them ... and you can click on the picture and then on the "older" & "younger" links to see what the grubs looked like : Stalk borers love giant ragweed -- and corn | Integrated Crop Management
(article is copyrighted or I'd copy/paste the pics on here)
Here's another article about them : SECRET Survival Fishing Bait –
And here's a thread from 2004 ... where I talk about hunting them & using them for bait.
http://www.crappie.com/crappie/main-...appy-question/
I've also used .... striped cow patty worms -- "waterbugs" (actually a specie of cockroach) -- grasshoppers -- potato bug larvae -- and the green river worms. All were found, never purchased. Never purchased nightcrawlers, either, as they were plentiful in the yard of my grandparents home. They also had a "cement pond" behind the garage, where they kept minnows. It was probably 10' long x 8' wide x 6' deep ... but, I don't know if they bought minnows & put them in it, or seined/trapped them & put them in it. I couldn't have been over 6-8 years old when it was still functional. I was about 10 years old when I went to live with them, and started going fishing with them on a regular basis.
Hunting & finding "free bait" and catching fish on them is akin to tying your own jigs or flies and catching fish on them ... especially when you're a kid, trying to be of "some use" and/or gaining the admiration of your parents/guardians.
... cp :kewl
Bob, thanks for the memories. Back in the 1950's if you had red wigglers and wax worms you could catch fish. If you wanted to catch larger fish then you used "Cut bait" strips from the belly of fish you caught with wax worms. It still works. I tip my soft plastics with wax worms or rub them on cut bait for an attracting scent.
Used horse weed worms a lot during the times they were available. Used to go into the woods on the lower end of the pond and scrape back the leaves to pick up nightcrawlers. My favorite was after harvesting corn from the garden my dad and I would cut down the stalks and pile them on the bare dirt. In a couple of days that pile would be full of crickets (but look out for the occasional snake that will also hide in there). Those small black crickets caught us a whole bunch of bream in September and October.
I always remember using crawlers when I was a kid (that was back in the 80's).
nightcrawlers, crayfish, minnows, chubs and grass hoppers. We had a small creek behind our house and we caught our own bait, and nightcrawlers and grass hoppers by the dozens. We caught it to use it and sold it to make money to buy tackle and have spending money. Those were the days!!!
We would catch crickets(ours here are black) not brown like the farm raised ones,and dig our fishing worms,,sometimes the bait catching was as fun or better than the fishing.Another favorite of my family back in the day that hasnt been mentioned was the larva of a wasp.Ive been stung geting bait of that kind.We would toss a little gas on the wasp nest to kill the adult wasp.The only thing with the small larva,if you got a bite,he got the bait,so you had to be ready.Bream here loved em.Havent used any in many years.We use to walk the creeks with a betts mini jig catching redbrest and the occasional small crappie..
We used to catch Bluegills and hook one of their eye balls on the hook then keep fishing. I still collect all of my own bait. My neighbors asked shortly after I moved in why I was out in the rain in the middle of the night on my hands and knees in the garden with a light on my head, all I had to say was I hate buying night crawlers!
Frogs, minnows, grasshoppers, chubs I still feel like a kid out collecting them!
Until I grew up I didn't know you could buy bait:biggrin
So true. My dad used to soak the garden for a while then pound a stake into the mud, the vibrations brought earthwormsup and we would collect them and go fishing. I dont do it anymore though, couple bucks for worms is fine with me, more time on the water that way. :highfive
Anyone ever seined wigglers (mayfly larvae) from a small creek? That was our go bait back in the 50's.
Never heard of that, but it was a little before my time.