How To Make Fish Bait

Knowing the best lure to use when out fishing is key to increasing your catch numbers.

Put down your spades folks. Fishing is a thrilling hobby that need not be difficult or complicated. In fact, it doesn’t have to be expensive. In other words, you don’t have to dig into your backyard for the worms to use as fish baits, especially if you find them disgusting. You also do not have to buy expensive fish lures at the supermarket if you don’t want to. Instead, you can learn a thing or two on how to make fish baits at home and you’ll be good to go in your fish catching mission.

This may come as a surprise to many anglers, but there are a whole load of different baits, both live and artificial, which you can use to make your fishing trip quite enjoyable and successful. Although worms are among the most common types of fish baits, you don’t have to use them if you don’t want to. You can choose to look into your kitchen instead and you’ll still be in a good position. From the chicken liver, biscuits, canned meat to soap, chewing gum, and dog food, you can have your DIY fish bait all from the comfort of your kitchen.

This article, therefore, takes a look at how to make fish bait from your kitchen. We’ll also look at some natural fish baits, as well as artificial baits that are also effective and quite appealing.

Things to Take into Consideration before Making Fish Bait

Before going into the details, here are some tips that you should take into consideration before making the fish baits.

Have in Mind the Type of Fish You’re Trying to Lure

Every type of fish has its preferred prey and feeding habits. As such, taking into account the type of fish you’re trying to catch and its feeding habits is crucial as it will help you make the perfect fish bait. For instance, most freshwater fish tend to feed on worms and bugs so it’s essential to make fish baits that have similar features or resemblance to worms and bugs. Again, you can easily lure catfish through smelly food.

You should also know what kind of food to avoid using as fish bait. For example, it’s generally advisable not to use salmon, trout, whitefish or any other salmonid as fish bait. This is because they’re known to spread whirling disease, which can spread quickly and kill a lot of fish.

Play by the Weather or Season

The type of prey that your fish target feeds on also depends on the season. For instance, most types of fish will feed by the water surface during spring and winter when the temperatures are cool. On the contrary, some fish will feed deeper into the water during high summer temperatures. Again, fish tend to feed on just about anything when there’s an imminent storm or winter. Knowing such season and weather changes and how they affect fish feeding habits should inform your decision on the choice of your fish bait.

Go with the Fish Baits that are Legal in Your Area

You certainly do not want to fall on the wrong side of the law; no one does. You should, therefore, play by your local fish regulations and avoid using any type of fish bait that is banned in your area. Check out your local fish regulations and make sure that your fish bait is appropriate and legally allowed in your area.

How to Make Fish Bait from Your Kitchen

As we noted earlier, you do not have to spend big particularly on fish baits to fuel your fishing hobby or even dig deep into the soil to find a worm. Instead, you can find simple but very effective fish baits from your kitchen!

Chicken and Turkey Livers

Chicken and turkey livers are well-known staples in many households. In addition to their smelly nature, they can be a great food source for many types of fish, especially catfish and freshwater bass. When using chicken and turkey livers, it’s important to keep in mind that they are highly soluble in water. And because you do not want to waste your bait, you should consider putting the liver bait on a simple form of a net as shown in the picture below.

Chewing Gum

Believe it or not, many anglers swear by the success that chewing gums have given them in luring some great catches. The idea here is that most fish, especially trout and catfish, are highly attracted to the chewing gum’s sweet flavor and smell. Just chew it for a few seconds and stick it to the hook.

Using Fruit Baits

As an angler, you probably know by now that fish are naturally inquisitive and curious. If you’ve watched them closely, you’ll realize that they always examine and investigate almost everything that enters the water. Whether it’s a cigarette filter or a simple piece of paper, they’ll have a closer look and attempt to mouth it.

This is why you should consider using fruits to lure fish into your hook or trap. You can use various tender summer fruits such as blackberries, bananas, and strawberries to lure fish into your trap. For blackberries and strawberries, you can use them without dividing them. When using banana, however, you should peel it and use a small piece at a time. The idea here is to use sweet and smelly fruits that will highly attract fish to your hook. Fruit baits can be highly effective when fishing for chubs.

Candy

To this point, you perhaps might have noticed that fish have a great weakness for all things sweet. In addition to their bright color, which attracts fish, any form of candy can act as superb fish bait, especially the catfish. All you have to do it take the candy and place it on your fishing hook.

Corns

Preferred by most anglers for its efficiency, corn is a time-tested fish bait that is economical and does not leave any mess. You should consider going with canned corn. This will work better than corn pulled directly from the cob. This is because they have sugar, salt, and other additives that can easily attract different types of fish. Consider using corn as your fish bait if you’re targeting carp fish.

Wheaties Balls

Using Wheaties balls as your fish bait can be a convenient way to catch catfish, especially if other types of baits are not working. The fact that it has the power to stay in water longer and doesn’t require you to re-bait as often makes it a popular choice with anglers.

In making dough baits, you should mix your cereal flakes with red soda or water. Shape them in small balls, which you can put on your fishing hook to lure fish. Remember, your options when it comes to making dough baits are endless. Whether you prefer Wheaties or biscuits, you can rarely go wrong with this.

When putting the dough balls in your hook, you should avoid putting too much dough. This is because the fish will be wise enough to pick it and not eat it! That’s why you should use bite-size bait (and this applies to other baits as well). In short, the secret is not to put oversized bait.

How to Make Fish Bait Using Natural Prey

Natural fish baits are among the best lures if you want to enhance your fishing game. Worms aren’t the only natural prey that can be used as fish baits. There are lots of other natural prey that make great fish baits.

Grass Shrimp, Snails, and Leeches

These are generally small aquatic creatures that fish eat in their natural habitat. The best way to find them is by looking for them around your fishing area. They generally attract various types of fish including panfish, sauger, walleye, sunfish, and trout.

Grasshopper and Crickets

Although often ignored, grasshoppers are wonderful fish bait, especially during late spring and early summer. It is a favorite prey for various types of fish including carp, crappie, trout, yellow perch, bluegills, small bass, and bullheads.

You’ll, however, have to rig the grasshopper perfectly into the hook for it to work successfully as bait. The best way is to run your hook through the grasshopper’s back and behind its head. It’s also advisable to keep the grasshopper in good condition so you should hook it without necessarily killing it.

Like grasshoppers, crickets also make great baits, especially if you’re targeting trout and bluegills in early summer. They live along banks and are natural fish prey. Although they’re less meaty than grasshoppers, they can be a great fish bait option particularly if they’re abundant in your area.

Shrimp

Shrimps are another popular fish bait choice, especially for catfish. You can buy whole shrimp from the grocery store near you. Cut them into smaller pieces before attaching them into your fishing hook. With high-quality shrimps, you’ll be able to catch more fish, but it’s appropriate to do the calculations so that it becomes economical.

How to Get these Types of Fish Baits

Besides trapping and catching them in their natural habitat, most of them are available at the local supermarkets. It all depends on their abundance in your area.

How to Make Artificial Fish Bait

There are various artificial fish baits that you can use for your fishing expedition. Before going into details, here are some crucial tips to know when choosing artificial fish baits.

Ensure that they match the natural prey — This is exactly why you need to carry some bit of research on the prey of the fish you’re looking to catch. By doing this, you’ll know exactly the natural prey of your targeted fish so that you can use artificial baits that resemble the natural prey both in terms of color and shape.

Choose the appropriate size — Usually, fish will chase prey depending on its size. In other words, small fish will chase smaller prey while big fish will chase big prey. For instance, sunfish and brim are likely to chase smaller fish because they have tiny mouths. So if you’re targeting sunfish, it would be wise to go with small-sized artificial bait that can fit in their tiny mouths. The artificial bait should also be compatible not just with the mouth of the fish but also with your fishing rod, hook, and fishing line.

Choose appealing artificial bait — By knowing the prey of your targeted fish, you’ll be able to choose a perfect artificial bait in terms of appeal. For instance, various types of fish such as panfish and bass are more attracted to prey with lots of movement. So going with artificial baits such as jigs that have bright colors would work out perfectly.

While you can buy artificial baits such as jigs, soft plastics, swimbaits, and finesse plastics from your local fishing, here is how to make them from your household items.

· Ensure that you have a glue gun, some plastic, and molds.

· Use oil to spray the mold. This is to ensure that you can easily remove the bait out of the mold after making it. The mold should resemble the fish prey so you might have to buy this mold.

Have a melted plastic in a metallic cup and a color that resembles the prey.

· Pour the melted plastic in the mold in a slow and even manner.

· You should wait for the plastic to harden in the mold before removing it.

· You should finally remove the bait from the mold and let it cool and become ready for use.

Conclusion

There you have it. Your fishing adventure need not be expensive. Well, there are a lot of effective ways to make perfect fish baits that will play a greater role in ensuring that your fishing is successful. From normal food such as corn, candy, and even bread to living creatures such as grasshopper and crickets, your options are endless. When choosing the perfect bait, you should take into consideration factors such as the season and the type of fish you’re targeting to name just but a few. At first, making the fish baits may seem like a long shot, but the rewards will be satisfying and will make your fishing adventures enjoyable, memorable, and of course, economical.

Originally published at https://lifeoffishing.com on January 23, 2020.