As we continue in our live fishing bait series we find ourselves touching upon some other wonderful live fishing bait that all true fishermen are sure to find useful.

This first one I remember using alot as a boy because they were so easy to hook. In fact, I have even had them hook themselves on a baitless hook. I kid you not.

Bluegills, they have a blueish gill flap with a black lobe. The bluegills and other sunfish, often called bream, are well distributed in North America.

Mottled Sculpins, known to some as mudlers or bullheads, have large pectoral fins and they live in mountain streams of the West and many eastern states and Canada.

Yellow Perch are most commonly found in the northern United States and Canada. They are identified by their yellowish tint and have 6-8 dark bars running top to bottom on their sides.

Rainbow Smelt are iridescent with silvery sides and adipose fin, a pointed snout and long narrow body. They have large teeth. An ocean species, although they have been stocked in many inland lakes in the northern United States and Canada.

Whenever you are buying live fishing bait avoid buying baitfish with damaged fins, reddish snouts or fungus growing on the body. Fungus grows as white cottony patches wherever scales and slime have been rubbed off. This indicates the have been handled too much.

You should also watch out for any with bulging eyes and blackened heads, as this too are signs of disease in most kinds of baitfish. But moving along…

Lets take a few minutes to discuss some other live fishing bait. For instance, did you know there were eight different kinds of common fishing worms?

Probably the most commonly used is the Nightcrawler, big and juicy, how can the fish resist them. But there are some others that may not be so well known to you by name.

We use many of them perhaps without realizing their different names like the Leaf Worm, Garden Worm, Red Wiggler, Gray Nightcrawler, Grunt Worm, and even the African Nightcrawler.

So you see there are numerous worms that we use for our live fishing bait. So with that said I will pause until the next post where I will continue with Live Fishing Bait -Part – 4. Be sure and check it out as I am sure you will enjoy it.

This article has excerpts from a wonderful book written by that great fisherman Dick Sternberg, titled: Fishing With Live Bait. You will love the fishing for Crappies information in this article.

More Crappies are caught on small baitfish than on all other baits and lures combined. Yellow Perch, White Perch, Rock Bass, Warmouth, White and Yellow Bass, and some species of Sunfish will take minnows.

A variety of baitfish are routinely sold as Crappie Minnows. Fatheads and shiners are the most popular, followed by small dace and chubs. Large Crappies, Yellow Perch and White Bass will take a minnow up to 3-inches in length, but in most cases a 1 1/2 – 2-inch minnow works best. Sunfish usually ignore a minnow longer than 1-inch.

When the shallows warm in the spring, minnows move into quiet bays and sunny shorelines. The Crappies are not far behind. Most shore fishermen use bobbers and minnows, or jig-minnow combinations.

Later in summer, large Crappies move out to deeper cover. They frequently hang around mid-lake rock piles, sunken islands or submerged brush. During the day, they may suspend in deep water away from cover. Most fishermen catch them on slip-bobber rigs or tandem hook rigs fished vertically.

When fishing with minnows for other panfish, anglers often use bobber rigs, split-shot rigs or jig-minnow combinations. Some Crappie fishermen in the South use welding rod rigs in heavy brush to avoid constant snagging.

How to Make a Welding Rod Rig:

#1
Cut an 8-inch piece of welding rod.
#2
Flatten the ends and drill a hole in each end.
#3
Insert a snap at one end and a snap-swivel at the other.
#4
Use a #4 light-wire hook and 20-pound mono.
#5
Hook a small minnow through the back.
#6
Fish with a shorter rod in dense brush.