Live or dead organisms that occur in nature and which are used to attract and catch fish. The term natural bait is used to differentiate such items from artificial baits, which are technically lures (see); from processed baits (see), which are food items (corn, cheese, bread, etc.); and from chum (see).

Natural bait is used popularly in both freshwater and saltwater around the world, and includes a wide array of items. These include, but are not limited to, alewives, anchovies, ballyhoo, bunker (mossbunker or menhaden), butterfish, chubs, clams, corn, crabs, crayfish, crickets, eel, eggs, frogs, grubs, grasshoppers, hellgrammites, herring, killifish, leeches, mackerel, maggots, minnows, mullet, mussels, pilchards, pinfish, porgy, salamanders (waterdog), sand eels, sardines, sculpin, seaworms, shad, shiners, shrimp, silversides, smelt, spearing, squid, suckers, sunfish, waxworms, whiting, and assorted earthworms. Brief categorical reviews follow.

Freshwater Natural Bait

Salamander

Frogs

Worms

Crayfish

Minnows

Prominent freshwater natural bait includes the following.

Earthworms/nightcrawlers

These are used in whole or in parts, on one or more bait hooks, and are tipped onto jig hooks, crawled behind spinner harnesses, and weighted and fished under a float. They are especially used in fishing for such panfish as bluegills and perch, as well as walleye, bullheads, stream trout, and river steelhead, primarily with No. 6 or 8 hooks. Nightcrawlers are generally preferred, but small and lively angleworms are also used, though primarily for panfishing.

Crayfish

Also known as crawfish or crawdads, and fished in both hard-shell and soft-shell versions (the latter preferred but not always available), crayfish are hooked through the tail with a long-shanked hook. They are primarily used for smallmouth bass fishing. Tails and pieces of the tail are used for other fish, however, most notably for steelhead drift fishing.

Minnows/shiners

There are numerous species and sizes of these baitfish (including fathead minnow, dace, Arkansas shiner, golden shiner, and chub) used primarily as live bait for a host of large and small fish. Smaller bait may also be hooked through the lips to adorn the hook of a jig or jig-spinner combination. Small minnows are used for crappies, ice fishing, bass, walleye, and trout. Very large shiners are popularly used in Florida for big largemouth bass, and large baitfish (including suckers) are fished for such species as pike, muskellunge, and lake trout.

Leeches

These are used whole primarily for walleyes and smallmouth bass. They are rigged similarly to worms, and when cast or trolled are hooked through the sucker with a No. 6 or 8 hook.

Waterdogs

Also known as mud puppies, these salamanders are not available everywhere but are used for a variety of gamefish, including striped bass.

Crickets, grasshoppers, and hellgrammites

These delectables are used for many small fish. Hellgrammites attract stream trout and smallmouth bass; grasshoppers and crickets are good for various panfish species as well as crappie and stream trout. Hellgrammites should be hooked under the collar with a No. 6 or 8 hook, and the others through the body with a long-shanked light-wire hook.

Frogs

Live frogs are quite popular in some Canadian and northern U.S. locales and rather ignored most everywhere else. The prime quarry is bass, followed by pike. They can be hooked through the lips or thigh.

Salmon eggs

A skein of preserved salmon eggs is cut into chunks for direct use on a hook or as part of an egg sack.

Salmon eggs are popularly used for drift fishing for trout and salmon. Rainbow trout and steelhead, in particular, are major quarries. These are fished singly with small salmon egg hooks, or as a group in an unwrapped cluster or in a nylon mesh spawn bag (called a spawn sack). Imitation eggs and egg sacks are quite popular as well. The natural eggs are cured and preserved for fishing applications.

Herring

Included here are such fragile baitfish species as alewives, which are also called sawbellies and found in northern climes where they are popularly used alive for trout in lakes; shad (primarily gizzard but also the threadfin variety), which are found in southern U.S. climes and fished live or as dead or cut bait; and herring, which are coastal, river-run fish used alive or dead for stripers and various catfishes on the East Coast and for salmon (via lift-and-drop mooching) on the West Coast.

Chum

Most of the chumming (see) done in freshwater is not with natural baits, although there are opportunities for this if you can procure enough bait economically to be able to chum. An angler who cast-nets for shad, for example, might be able to procure enough bait to dispense live shad as chum for largemouth bass or stripers. Saving old bait and using it to lightly chum in chunks is a possibility when fishing for catfish and stripers in big reservoirs and rivers.

Others

Some miscellaneous baits include caddis larvae for stream trout; mayflies for trout, crappies, etc.; bluegills for striped bass (where legal); grass shrimp for panfish; perch eyes for tipping on a jig when ice fishing for yellow perch; cisco, whitefish, and other large species fished alive for northern pike; and chunks or strips of fish meat, for tipping on a jig, especially for lake trout, or behind a spoon for pickerel or pike, or in some instances, dead-bait bottom fishing for assorted species (pike, lake trout, catfish, sturgeon).

Saltwater Natural Bait

Shrimp

Baitfish

Worms

Blue crab

Sand flea

Fiddler crab

Baitfish

Prominent saltwater natural bait includes the following.

Marine worms

Worms such as sandworms, clamworms, and bloodworms are used whole or in parts, on one or more hooks, or behind a spinner rig for stillfishing, trolling, or drifting for a variety of small inshore fish, as well as blackfish, flounder, and others.

Eels

Eels are a hardy bait, primarily used in inshore drift fishing and casting. They are fished on jigs as well as lip-hooked on a bottom rig, and are a top live bait for striped bass.

Shrimp/crabs/crayfish

Live shrimp are a highly popular bait for a wide variety of coastal fish. They can be hooked through the top of the head for free swimming, or threaded on a bait hook or jig head. Live blue crabs are also used for many species of fish; smaller versions take tarpon and permit, while larger ones are fished deep for snapper, grouper, redfish, and others. They are hooked through the tip of the shell, often with claws removed. Fiddler crabs, which are abundant in many tidal areas, are used for snappers, groupers, sheepshead, and other fish. Saltwater crayfish, which are quite large, are used in southern marine waters for cubera snapper and large groupers.

Assorted live fish

You name the fish, and if it is the right size, it can probably be used as live bait for some saltwater predator. Depending on locale and availability, of course, such species as pinfish, blue runner, anchovy, menhaden, grunts, sardines, pilchards, mackerel, and herring are favored. These fish are hooked through the lips or back, sometimes with a double-hook setup, or through the eyes (soft-fleshed fish).

Offshore baits

An assortment of natural baits is used in offshore trolling situations for billfish, tuna, dolphin, wahoo, king mackerel, and so forth. Squid, ballyhoo (balao), mullet, mackerel, and bonito are the main baits, usually fished whole, but sometimes in strips. Many of these baits are purchased frozen, then thawed in water and rigged with wire and thread on stainless steel hooks and wire leaders (see: bait rig).

Chum

Most of the chumming (see) done in freshwater is not with natural baits, although there are opportunities for this if you can procure enough bait economically to be able to chum. An angler who cast-nets for shad, for example, might be able to procure enough bait to dispense live shad as chum for largemouth bass or stripers. Saving old bait and using it to lightly chum in chunks is a possibility when fishing for catfish and stripers in big reservoirs and rivers.

Others

Dead Bait Rig

Some miscellaneous baits include caddis larvae for stream trout; mayflies for trout, crappies, etc.; bluegills for striped bass (where legal); grass shrimp for panfish; perch eyes for tipping on a jig when ice fishing for yellow perch; cisco, whitefish, and other large species fished alive for northern pike; and chunks or strips of fish meat, for tipping on a jig, especially for lake trout, or behind a spoon for pickerel or pike, or in some instances, dead-bait bottom fishing for assorted species (pike, lake trout, catfish, sturgeon).

General Tips

Different fish require different rigging; a butterfish (top) is hooked through its belly, while a ling is hooked through its head.

Most live baits are hooked through the head or lips (tail for crayfish) for casting and free-lining, but through the midsection for stillfishing with or without a float.

Bait has to be presented properly to be effective. This includes the physical appearance as well as the movement, or in some cases, lack of movement. Natural bait is generally fished in a more passive manner than lures, because the target fish have time to watch it, smell, it, and perhaps touch it before striking. If it moves in a swift or unnatural manner, it may cause alarm, although a natural bait that appears to be struggling, as many do when hooked, can in itself be attractive to a predator because it appears more vulnerable and easier to capture. There are some exceptions to this slow-fishing mantra, however, such as when live bait is trolled below the surface or when rigged dead bait is pulled over the surface for pelagic species, although these tactics are still designed to represent natural prey actions. Another exception is when a live natural bait is hooked on a jig and fished more actively than it would be if fished alone.

Where live bait is used, liveliness is vital. Many fish aren’t interested in inactive or dead bait, so it’s important to keep your bait as fresh and vigorous as possible. Change live bait whenever the current offering seems to be losing its vitality, and make sure that it acts naturally. A crayfish that rolls instead of crawls, for example, or a minnow that doesn’t swim energetically, lessens the chance of success.

The water that bait is kept in ideally should be oxygenated or changed periodically to keep it healthy for the fish. Pay close attention to the freshness of the water, as well as the temperature, to ensure that bait remains in good condition. Some bait, such as alewives and herring, can only be kept in circular or oval baitwells or livewells (see); they bunch into the corners of other wells and die, so the method of retaining them is important.

It is helpful to hold your line when live-lining bait. When fishing with a float or bobber, it’s easy to tell if a fish is mouthing your live offering. But that isn’t the case when letting bait run freely. Then, it is often difficult to know if a fish has picked up your offering or if your bait is hung on brush, rock, or grass. Keep a light hold on the line to detect gentle strikes, and when in doubt, pull ever so softly on the line. If it moves off vigorously, you’ve got a fish.

Unless a fish has savagely attacked your bait offering and run off with it, it may be necessary to wait before setting the hook. For some fish, it does not pay to be in a rush to set the hook when live- bait angling. Certain fish need time to consume their quarry because they grab the bait crosswise in their mouth and swim a short distance away before swallowing the fish. By waiting a short time, and by not putting tension on the line during this period, you stand a better chance of hooking such fish.

This is not always the best move for all fish, however, and it can lead to deep hooking of some specimens that you must or want to release unharmed. Considering the type and size of bait used, the kind of hook, and the tendencies of the targeted fish, striking fairly quickly after the take may be better to minimize deep hooking. When you do have a deeply hooked fish, be especially careful about handling and unhooking it. There’s a good chance that a fish released with a hook in it will survive if it is not bleeding. More about this issue is discussed in the entry on catch-and- release (see).

Freshwater Live Baits

Saltwater Live Baits