Crappie baits

[Huntalivesh23]

Legal here. I only use goldfish on trot lines and limb lines because of the size. I'll get some almost 6 inches long at the bait shop for targeting big flathead. Never thought of trying the smaller ones for crappie

[Lowellhturner]

Actually, many fish "see" orange deeper than red, plus there is the UV (ultra violet) flashes off their scales that help them stand out like a mouse turd in a bowl full of sugar, all but screaming "EAT ME !" Imagine being a prey fish wearing a lit up flashing neon sign that says "FOOD HERE !"...

[fishingarkansas]

in Arkansas goldfish are legal the last time I checked I have a friend the uses YO-YO's with them and does pretty good he uses what he can get from Goldfish, Pinkies, or just regular shiners!

[arkansasbowhunter]

I get my camera to take pix of nimble the day he spider rigs lol

[riverbud55]

Out west here on AZ/CAs Colorado river only goldfish are legal for bait ,,, been using them for flathead catfish when gills are hard to come by, the 48-LBer in my avatar was caught on a 2'' goldie,,, some locals fishing forcrappie out on the marsh were using them this past winter were filling the their stringers with them,, buy minnow size feeders from petsmart for 13 cents ea, shiners are $6 a doz.

as a newbe was going to ask the same ??? but this thread saved me the trouble

[link]

i heard feather tail jigs work great

[no1son]

Goldfish and carp are not legal bait here in Minnesota, neither live nor cut. All sunfish are considered gamefish up here and not legal either nor are yellow perch, also game fish. Golden shiners are like $6 a half dozen around here, if you can find them at all, since VHS in Wisconsin, but the small ones have worked very well for crappies for us back when we were still using live bait. We use jigs and plastic tails exclusively for crappies now. The bait for flatheads up here most preferred are bullheads which under a particular size are legal bait. Most flathead hunters catch their own, which is no real problem since they are found all over the place. (Your bullheads for bait count toward your possession limit which is 100. Most of them are caught on hook and line, since cast nets are also illegal up here, and the only bait shop that used to stock them closed a couple of years back.) Rosy Reds are a color variety of the common fathead minnow. They are neither more or less hardy than the common fathead. If you have a source that provides those that survive better than normal, you have a quality bait shop and they deserve the credit. They are as often available in the pet shops as feeders as are goldfish, but generally in very small sizes. Also be careful not to include the gambusia that often come along from the feeder ponds. IIRC they are illegal to transport in a lot of areas, being extremely invasive and very hard on local minnow populations - mean little ba**ards. Gambusia do not survive this far north though; so they do not generally show up in what little bait they allow to be imported into Minnesota any more, and are not legal when they do. Also check you local laws about who can vend bait. Pet shops may not be a legal outlet for fishing bait in a number of states.

[mdperson]

I believe that it would be cost prohibitive to fish with them. I loved to use them on trotlines but they got too expensive so I started catching rice slicks.

[Slabyanker]

I believe that it would be cost prohibitive to fish with them. I loved to use them on trotlines but they got too expensive so I started catching rice slicks.

I do the same thing. Have to go to Paragould to get gold fish. Now I get a tube of crickets and take My son with me to catch small bream and slicks. He enjoys it.

[Cardsfan55]

I no longer use live bait but might go back if I start guiding using a spider rig one day. I pefer to use jigs on a jig pole around brushpiles. Question is anyone out there using Goldfish instead of Shiners? They sure are tougher and easier to handle. Been told Crappie bite them just fine.

have you tried goldfish yet? if so how did they work?