Fishing with live bait allows you to catch a wide variety of fish. The size and type of bait will also help determine which species you catch. Your local tackle shop will likely only stock live baits to suit the species common to the local waters.

Drifting a Bait

Drift fishing requires some weight to get the bait down, but the motion of the boat moves the bait through the water slowly. You can also drift a bait under a bobber or popping cork.

DRIFT FISHING

Drift fishing allows you to fish over a variety of habitats as your boat drifts with the currents or wind movement. You can drift fish on the bottom or change the depth with a bobber or float. Natural baits work best. But jigs, lures and artificial flies will produce good results, too. You can drift fish on ponds, lakes, rivers and streams any time of the day and year.

DRIFTING A BAIT: BASICS

1. Both live and cut baits can be drifted with a weight on your line to keep it near the bottom, or suspended beneath a bobber or popping cork.
2. The difference between drifting a bait and bottom fishing is motion.

Bottom Fishing

In some instances, fish can be found on the bottom, so the best way to catch them is to put your bait down there as well. This is called bottom fishing.

BOTTOM BOUNCING

Bottom Bouncing is done from a drifting or trolling boat, and it’s a great way to attract or locate fish during most seasons and times of day. Use a buck tail jig or live bait and drag it along the bottom. The dragging motion causes the lure to bounce along stirring up small clouds of sand or mud. After a few strikes with bottom bouncing, you can drop anchor and apply other methods to hook the particular kind of species you’ve attracted.

1. You’ll need a weight or sinker on your line, rigged below your hook to get your bait down to the bottom and hold it there (try using a 3-way rig) If there is a lot of current, you’ll need a heavier weight.
2. If you rig your weight above your bait in strong current the bait will drift back the distance between the two. Once you have dropped your lure or bait, let the bait rest and float along until you get a bite.
3. Check your bait periodically to ensure its still on your hook.

Live Lining and Trolling

Live lining is a very popular method for teaching new anglers to fish. To live line, drop your live bait from a boat or pier into the water, allowing it to swim freely at the end of your line.

LIVE LINING

Live lining is a classic example of fishing with a worm on a hook suspended under a bobber. The bobber or cork keeps the bait at a preset depth and alerts you to a fish bite by disappearing under the water. This is also one of the best fishing techniques to teach children as it is easy to do with a spincaster reel.

Your fishing line is “live” when your boat is anchored in a flowing body of water like a river or stream. Use live or prepared fishing bait and keep it on or just off the bottom. Live lining off the bottom allows your line to drift with the current through holes and rocks where the fish may be holding. Your equipment and the size of your fishing hooks and lures depend on what type of fish you’re after.

TROLLING

Trolling is done using a small electric motor that moves the boat quietly through the water so fish aren’t spooked. But you can also troll by towing a lure while walking along the edge of a shoreline, bridge or pier. The speed of the boat determines the depth of your bait. And the depth of the bait is determined by the species of fish you’re trying to catch.

Use a spinning reel or a bait caster for trolling. Some states don’t allow motorized trolling, so check out your local fishing regulations to avoid tangling with the fish enforcers.

Chumming

Chumming or chunking is an effective addition to the bait fishing techniques you use. By releasing tiny bits of ground up bait called chum into the water, you create a scent trail that the fish can follow to your boat, and your baits.

CHUMMING: BASICS

Check local fishing fishing regulations to make sure you are not illegally stimulating the hunger of your future catch.

1. To attract fish or get them biting again, you can throw “chum” into the water where you’re fishing. You can use ground fish, creamed corn, pet food, even breakfast cereal or just about anything that creates a fish-like scent. You can also use dead minnows in a coffee can for ice fishing.
2. Simply throw pieces of bait into the water around where you are fishing to bring feeding fish close to your boat.
3. Be sure not to over-chum. You want to get them interested in feeding; you do not want to stuff them before they get a chance to go after your hook.
4. Check your state fishing regulations. Chumming is not legal in all states.

Still Fishing

Still fishing is a simple method, and can be also the most effective.

Still fishing is one of the basic methods that you can practice to become a successful angler. Still fishing is a matter of putting your bait in the water and waiting for a fish to find it. This fishing method is simple, and can be also the most effective.

STILL FISHING: BASICS

1. Still fishing is a versatile way to go. Still fishing can be done from a pier, a bridge, an anchored boat or from shore.
2. Depending on water depth and the type of fish you may want to still fish near the surface, at a mid-water depth, or right down the bottom using a float, or bobber.
3. You can also still fish on the bottom or off the bottom in ponds, lakes, rivers and streams for a variety of species.
4. Your equipment and the size of the hooks and bait you use depends on what kind of fish you’re after. But your best equipment for still fishing is patience. You have to wait for the fish to bite.
5. Still fishing can be practiced during most seasons and during any part of the day.