Kern River Valley Bulletin Board

Don't underestimate lure of live bait

by: Jim Matthews

It wasn't a very scientific experiment, but there were
cruising packs of little bluegills and small bass in the
clear water that were easy to see. Every time I cast out
the little scent-laden plastic bait, at least one or two of
the fish would come over to investigate. It was an
in-between moon phase and a little late in the morning for
a prime feeding period, but I'd watched several bugs blown
onto the surface disappear in swirls as a fish made a meal
of them. So I should have been catching these fish. But the
fun part was watching their reaction to the little
artificials. The bass would chase anything I zipped through
the water but wouldn't grab it. Slow it down and they'd
veer off and lose interest. The bluegills would run over to
look at whatever it was that hit the surface, and then one
or two would follow the small plastic grubs through the
water as I retrieved them. Once in a while one would peck
at the tail of one of the baits. I must have tried a
half-dozen colors in two or three different types of tiny
jigs, all the scented-grubs I had, and a few trout
spinners. Zip.

This was becoming a challenge. Little bluegills usually
race to whatever it is that you toss on the water, and the
first one to reach the little lure gets hooked. So after an
hour, I was back to where I started - fishing a half a
piece of scented artificial wax worm on small baitholder
hook beneath a small bobber. The 'gills would at least snap
at this once in a while. In frustration,

I started looking along the shore and noticed that bees
were landing at the edge to water. I promptly whacked one
with my hat, ripped the artificial wax worm off the hook,
impaled the bee on the hook, and tossed the bee out. There
was no hesitation. The biggest bluegill in the pod nearest
to where I cast shot over to the slowly sinking bee and ate
it. I managed to save the bulk of the bee and caught
another bluegill on the next cast, and then a third on the
battered bait, now just the head and thorax with one wing
attached. I caught two more bluegills on the next bee, and
then switched back to the artificial wax worm and couldn't
buy a strike.

This isn't a revelation, but all the fishing television
shows and magazines would have you believe that today's
crop of fake lures and scents are just as good as live
bait. And sometimes they are. But a lot of the time they
are not.

I shared my story with a bunch of friends over the next few
days to get their reaction, most good fishermen. The honest
ones said they weren't surprised.

Clay Rutledge, who owns Bob's Bait in Bakersfield, laughed.
"Live bait - you can't beat it. That's why we've been in
business for 33 years." We talked about the crappie bite at
Lake Isabella this spring. When it first started, you could
only catch the crappie on live minnows, but as the bite
heated up, the artificial jigs were nearly as good and
easier to fish. Now, as the bite is winding down, you
pretty much have to fish the live minnows again to get bit.

And all baits aren't created equal, either. I happen to
believe a cricket or wax worm will out-fish a mealworm for
bluegills most days, but a small garden worm or red worm is
nearly as good as the other two. A wiggling bait is always
better than a dead one, so it pays to swap out. A live
minnow swimming funny because it has a light hook stuck
through its back is better for bass than a nightcrawler (or
any artificial bait made), but a little crawdad is nearly
as good. The problem is that you can't buy minnows or
crawdads for bait in most places today because of senseless
state regulations (but you can still use them if you can
catch them from the water where you're fishing). Waterdogs
and mudsuckers were even better baits for bass, but they've
been banned a long time for equally as dubious reasons.

I think a lot of people, especially new anglers, don't
catch many fish today because there are fewer and fewer
places where you can get live bait and good advice on which
baits to use and how to fish it.