More than half of freshwater catches are made with live bait, and in view that most fish are used to eating wriggling prey all day long, every day, this comes as no real surprise. Live bait has a natural smell and leaves a trail to be picked up by a foraging fish, setting up a much bigger potential catch area for anglers.
Therefore, live bait is definitely preferable to artificial lures during certain periods of the year, or when fish refuse to bite. Moreover, live bait fishing is fairly cheap in comparison with fishing with artificial lures, especially if fishermen catch their very own bait. This might seem time consuming, but once fishermen know the best places to look and have honed their collecting techniques, this obstacle becomes only a very minor consideration.
Undoubtedly, fishing with live bait can be tricky, and fishermen who wish to excel will need to put in the necessary effort to perfect the proper ways of storing and using them. To keep its advantage over artificial lures, live bait must be stored so that it retains its freshness and stays animated.
Worms
Most types of freshwater fish will be tempted by a writhing, juicy, fat worm, so this could be the most versatile of all live baits, as well as being among the easiest to collect and keep. However, there are numerous types of worm, each featuring its own specific allure certain varieties of fish.
Nightcrawlers hold some appeal with almost all more common freshwater fish, so they are a good worm to start with. Other kinds of worm well-liked by freshwater fish are bloodworms, waxworms, meal worms, red worms and scrub worms.
Worms are easy to collect that will be located in any moist soil. Look under large rocks and rotting wood to get the perfect abode for these squirming treats. Keep worms within a sealed container or plastic bag together with some damp newspaper or soil to keep them nice and active.
Leeches
These little suckers certainly are a popular feast for freshwater fish and they are readily located in most bait shops. Even better, they can be safely kept in the fridge for days. However, they can be fiddly to hook, and the solution is to insert the hook in the tail sucker, which is always much bigger than the head. When it comes to successful fishing with leeches the secret is to attempt to match the speed of their natural swimming motion as this will be most likely to attract the fish.
Fishermen, who are after carp, can also make use of many of the numerous artificial carp baits, including
carp pellets which are available in fishing retailers. These are manufactured from anything deemed irresistible to carp, such as fishmeal, semolina and soy. Although, technically, they're not 'live' baits, they do have scents and flavourings put into them which attract the carp, providing similar benefits to those of live bait.
