What's the craziest bait you've ever used to fish with?

[Old Ironmaker]

Just asked the question on the " Live Target Lure " thread, has anyone ever used a live mouse to fish. I don't know what the regs are for using live or dead mammals for bait. There sure are plenty of them and after all they are vermin. We've heard the urban legend about using live kittens and Gerbils ( different vermin) for Musky. (wow the girls just tied the game up). OK, we used the old tried and true pieces of salami, hot dogs, cheese etc. for panfish as kids and still use shrimp for big cats on the Grand. I think the craziest bait I've used is perch eyes for perch icefishing, I don't hear about using them as bait here. Tried a Birch leaf once with a hook and split shot, never got one but my buddy got a bluegill with some type of tree leaf.

 

What is the craziest bait you've used and actually caught a fish with it?

[Freshtrax]

Live dragonfly, caught a 21" smallmouth I fished it with no weight on the surface.

[jbailey]

a deer fly haha - landed on my head, stunned him and put him on my hook out of revenge

[solopaddler]

When I was really small, around 10 years old, my uncle and I were waiting to fly in at a float plane base on Remi Lake sometime in June. Suddenly mayflies started hatching everywhere and the lake came alive with surface feeding whitefish.

 

My uncle loved whitefish and he went berserk as did I trying to catch them with small spinners and such.

 

Finally we switched to a red and white bobber, single small hook and a live mayfly. We'd lob them out into the melee then slowly twitch and drag the live mayflies back towards us. We ended up catching a bunch and it was honestly more memorable for me than the actual fly in trip.

[mepps]

Used a single Cheezie on a hook and had a tarpon hit it, didnt get the hook to stick though

[jbailey]

Used a single Cheezie on a hook and had a tarpon hit it, didnt get the hook to stick though

haha thats awesome

[kuhaman]

Caught walleye on a jig and gummy worm.

[Garnet]

Dandelions worked great on the Indian River.

[BillM]

Pulled the wings off a live mayfly, made it look like an emerger and caught this..

 

[Steve]

wasn't me, but a good friend of mine caught a lake trout from N bar on a piece of sausage worked on a three way.

 

lakers are dumb. they'll hit anything ...

[Acountdeleted]

I've caught perch on a bare hook lots.

 

When working up north we would find lots of walleye with pine cones/needles in their stomach. And one with a rock in its stomach.

 

One day when the mayflies were spawning I caught a walleye with a big orange floating rapala. Thought that was strange.

 

And my favourite story ever, when my grandfather was a teen he was fishing with my uncle for rainbow trout, my uncle was having no luck and really didn't like fishing all that much so he hooked a buttercup on his line and ended up catching the biggest rainbow of the day.

 

By the way, these threads are awesome. Always fun to read.

[OhioFisherman]

As a kid fishing with my dad for perch? If we ran out of bait on the lake (erie) the eyes of perch or strips of their meat or a sheephead also worked, soft water.

[fishindevil]

I caught a 2 lb walleye on a topwater jitterbug on the petawawa river !!!!!!! He actually hit it about a second after it hit the water along a steep breaking Rock wall !!!! I think he must have been pushing bait up against the rock wall and was right under my bait when it hit the water about 3 feet from the rocks !!!! And yes I landed him !!!! I have also caught lots of perch and gills on a bare hook before when I was a kid !!! We would also use grasshoppers when we could catch them have used gum as well to catch mud cats too when I was a kid

[NewHips]

I was with my Uncle in Canada, we were into some big perch (1.5 lb) I think we stopped at about 40. We always take sausage and crackers to eat in the boat, I cut off the dried end of the sausage and tossed it overboard. About that time the perch moved off.......no more bites. One last drift and wham..........a nice pike about 6lbs, we took him back with the 40 perch and started cleaning them......low and behold if that Pike didn't have that sausage in his stomach. I hope my Uncle wasn't pulling a fast one on me !!!!!!!! I never did ask him before he passed away a few years ago.

[lew]

Back in my Navy days we made a huge hook with a steel rod, tied it on to a couple hundred feet of rope and baited it with some scrap meat from the galley. We secured it to the stern of the ship, tossed it overboard and dragged that thing half way to Europe.

 

Never caught anything or even had a hit that we knew of but that was probably a good thing considering the size of some of the creatures that roam the dark depths of the ocean 1500 miles from land

[buick14]

Pulled the wings off a live mayfly, made it look like an emerger and caught this..

 

I just blew Looking at that , ohhhhh man !!!!

 

Anyhow, me a large broccoli elastic band cut to a taper, and soaked in juices....actually caught bass but had to keep the rod twitching.

[danc]

I've caught both Perch and Pike on raw bacon. And not just a few either. Couldn't keep them off my line.

[Old Ironmaker]

Talked to one of usual suspect fishing pals on the phone this afternoon and asked the same question. Apparently Cheeto's are a go to bait for panfish. Asked this question on another site and one guys current bait of choice for carp is a dough ball of white bread with peanut butter and jelly. He didn't say smooth or crunchy.

 

Mike Borger I can't believe you ever used a red and white bobber even as a child. I picture you with a custom made imported exotic wood slip rig pencil float at 7. That's not a dig it's a compliment Mike, we Hammer boys would never make a dig at a fellow Steeltowner, apparently now Art Towner.

[bigugli]

On the question of live mice, I'm pretty sure that it is now considered cruelty to animals. Forty years back it was a different story. As kids/teenagers, we would be sent to clean out the boatshed every once in a while. Rodents loved the coils of rope and assorted materials for brightwork and coirwork (both the grandfather and great uncle were well seasoned sailors). One of us would gingerly move the piles, the second would chase rodents with the broom, the third of us scooped the mice with the net. Live mouse, hooked lightly through the skin, tossed out to swim top water. There was no better live presentation for big bass and pike. We caught hundreds with the mice.

Edited February 21, 2014 by bigugli

[DRIFTER_016]

I have had a lot of fun fishing aluminum cigar tubes for pike.

 

http://www.trophy-clips.com/view_video.php?viewkey=361a1b07bc55042e25e5

[pike slayer]

i was ice fishing for lakers with another member on here and he uses pieces of lake trout belly for lakers and i tried it and i did get a laker

[Old Ironmaker]

I just blew Looking at that , ohhhhh man !!!!

 

Anyhow, me a large broccoli elastic band cut to a taper, and soaked in juices....actually caught bass but had to keep the rod twitching.

Afraid to ask,

On the question of live mice, I'm pretty sure that it is now considered cruelty to animals. Forty years back it was a different story. As kids/teenagers, we would be sent to clean out the boatshed every once in a while. Rodents loved the coils of rope and assorted materials for brightwork and coirwork (both the grandfather and great uncle were well seasoned sailors). One of us would gingerly move the piles, the second would chase rodents with the broom, the third of us scooped the mice with the net. Live mouse, hooked lightly through the skin, tossed out to swim top water. There was no better live presentation for big bass and pike. We caught hundreds with the mice.

I don't think even P3TA considers a deceased laden rat an animal, no I think they do. I wonder if snapping them slightly in half with a loaded spring leaving them to die slowly would be considered cruelty? I've never heard P3TA even complain about that. Poor Mickey. I imagine they would be great in the weeds for Bass, Pike and Musky. If only I could catch one, my cat sure can't.

Edited February 21, 2014 by Old Ironmaker

[Old Ironmaker]

P3TA is considered a obscene word here? OK I get it.

[Sharkbait22]

A skink (lizard and already dead) for bass. Cigarette butts half peeled and flared like a tube bait for brook trout in Algonquin. Many bugs peeled off the front of fishing vehicles or emerging stoneflies for trout - don't stay on hooks well. Salamanders when I ran out of bait on the Niagara River. Before you judge these examples were when I was in my teens. Bacon slice on 5 of diamonds for bull trout. Bull trout also had a fondness for fighting 30cm grayling. Once caught a large carp on a ruby-eye spoon - unexpected. Heard a crazy story once about guys rigging up a squirrel and repeatedly pulling the poor thing off a surfboard in muskie infested waters.

[Float Buddha]

Back when I was a kid I used to do a lot of flyfishing for rock bass and smallies. Once after losing my last fly to a snag I tore off a small piece of plastic bag and stuck it on the hook. It actually worked better than the flies.