Worms or crank bait or what?

[azianice]

So I've been searching for weeks now in preparation for my fishing trip to Killbear Provincial park trying to scope out what is the best method to fish for smallies and largemouth and/or Walleye in the area.

 

From what I've read on here and on the net, it seems that fake bait like crankbaits and jigs and tubes work best and seeing the size of all the fish from the photos here, I can't disagree.

 

However after calling Killbear and a mall near Killbear, they say that "worms are probably your best bet".

 

Now is it the nature of the area that I should be using live worms to fish, or is it that he is just incorrect?

 

I would like to know just because I don't want to go spending 100$ on lures and spinners and tubes and grubs and such and find out that live bait is the best way to go (100$ in lures for 10 people). So before my grand trip to the Bass Pro Shop, the daunting question is:

 

Killbear/Georgian Bay = lures or live worms?

 

Would love some insight. Thanks!

[ChrisK]

I would recomend the worms for shure. Use a slider rig(Lindy Rig).Or this time of year another prefered bait by the walleye and smallies is a minnow and jig combo. Both these methods are far friendly to you pocket book.....Good Luck !!

 

Tight Lines !!!

[azianice]

thank you muskiestudd!

 

I had my doubts on worms when I went east to Silver Lake a while back and kept wasting worms on fish no larger than my hand. It was then that I realized on here that most use lures so I thought that might be a better route.

 

So minnows on a jig sound good, I just hope there are minnows that I can buy there.

[Milty]

Minnows and Jigs (green shades if u can get em) ....for Walleye for sure,..as for the bass,..my experience has always been to switch it up several times to get the bigger fish Hitting,..worms will get you fish, but smaller ones in general, (in my experience)...start with worms and if your into fish,..switch it up to a plastic worm other 'Gulp' type product,..and watch the sizes get bigger....spinners and cranks also cant got wrong if the bass are present. IMHO

 

PS,..get a minnow trap,..so as to not intrduce a non-native species.

 

Milty

Edited September 9, 2007 by Milty

[azianice]

Sounds great, Minnows and Jigs it is then, is it possible to catch bass with minnows and jigs?

 

 

What is a good over night storage method for minnows? Reason being is that the closest bait and tackle shop according to the park is 30 minutes away in parry sound, and making a 1 hour trip just to get minnows in the morning at 6 AM would not be practical.

[OhioFisherman]

Like mentioned, live bait will catch fish. Using worms size is suspect, everything will attack a worm, they do catch fish but the correct species can be difficult. On Lake Erie I used a jig like a fuzzy grub(light ot dark green) or a foxey jig tipped with a 3 to 5 inch golden shiner.

 

Using a decent size minnow keeps the number of smaller fish away so your bait will last longer. You don`t have to spend a ton of money on lures, a couple of packs of tubes, 3 1/2 inch-4 Inch in Green Pumpkin, White, or a shade of brown will get you by. Rigging choice is up to you, but for most people in waters that don`t have thick weeds or wood a simple tube jig insert is the easiest way, 1/8 to 3/8 ounce are most used. Light for shallow water, heavy for deeper water.

 

A dozen 3 to 5 inch golden shiners costs around 4. 50 here close to the price of a small pack(8-10) tubes and a small pack of inserts.

 

I have caught smallies on minnows, worms and lures on the Georgian, the lures just required less trips to the bait shop.

[Rizzo]

a whole worm does work great for bass in my opinion...but losing whole worm after whole worm to pesky sunfish can get as expensive as the trip to Bass Pro. I find bass will readily take a 6-7 inch plastic worm, just make sure you fish it properly, not dangling under a bobber.