Trout Bait Old School

[Billfish715]

So, for those of you who have been raised to only know about things like Power Baits or Mealworms or Salmon Eggs for trout fishing, you may have to go old school if you're thinking about trout fishing this spring. There is on-line shopping I guess, but don't be afraid to look elsewhere.

The bait shops are closed so things like prepackaged mealworms and redworms and crawlers won't be available for you. What do you do if you are a bait fisherman and you run out Power Bait? You use worms. That's right.......worms.
Here's the big question for you. Where do worms come from? No, not the store.

Make a night or day of it. Gather your own. Have you ever picked nightcrawlers from the lawn? How about using a pitchfork in the garden. After one of those soaking rains, try finding them on the sidewalks and pavements. If you really want something to talk about, find a farm or stable that has a manure pile. You can have all of the free red worms you could ever want. While you are digging in the garden, you may also discover some white grubs from the Japanese Beetles.

There's one more worm that can be collected. Those are the slimy, wigglers that are very soft and full of "stuff". You can find them under the leaves in many composted areas of local parks especially in shady areas with lots of undergrowth. Just move the leaves around so the dirt is visible. If they are there, they will be all over the surface.

No Power Bait? Have you ever used a Velveeta Fly? It comes in yellow or white and is usually prepackaged and can be found in any grocery store. You can also buy a container of chicken livers if you can find some. It works for trout and is excellent for catfish. Have you ever used pieces of hot dogs for catfish? Try it.

Minnows and shiners are also great live baits. They are a little more difficult to catch but I've seen kids using large, one gallon jars baited and submerged in a brook or pond. Sometimes they use a two liter soda bottle with holes punched in them to keep them on the bottom and attached to string so they can be retrieved. Innovative for sure, but done out of necessity by some if you don't have a seine or makeshift net.

I've come a long way since I was kid with no money to buy lures or jars of salmon eggs. Most of my friends were in the same situation but we made the best of it. Picking nightcrawlers with flashlights and digging in gardens was a spring time ritual if you wanted to go fishing Today, money can get you whatever bait you want.........until the stores are closed!

[Mark B.]

My mother would dump the used coffee grounds from the percolator in the flower bed. Always abundant worms in the soil below.

[EJS]

Billfish, what a great thread! This is a trip down memory lane! I remember my grandfather calling me asking if I wanted to go fishing the next day. That was all the motivation I needed to go out and water the lawn for hours to make the crawlers surface, grab a flashlight flashlight and a coffee can!

He used to keep worm boxes in the garage. My grandfather had two, one with soil and coffee grounds, the other had ground news paper, topsoil and oatmeal. The oatmeal box, the worms would take on a light tan to grey color, a highly effective bait! I wonder how many people still have and use worm boxes?

When it was summer, its time to drop the screen downstream and lift rocks! Hellgrammites are another killer trout bait. From time to time, you would find a nice crayfish to throw in the bucket.

I will come back and post more later, thanks again Billfish for this great thread!

[Drossi]

did you mention corn? I used to prefer shoprite whole kernel.

If you have kids make an event out of picking night crawlers.

My job as a kid was procuring the bait for our outings. No bait = no fishing trip. My father didn't start paying for bait until I was well into my late teens.

[Billfish715]

Yeah, I forgot about the screen thing for hellgramites. We did that on the Delaware before we went smallmouth fishing there. I didn't mention canned corn for bait because I don't believe the trout digest it too well. But, I don't know that for sure.

Have you ever caught a fish when it's taking a pee? Try spreading some dried peas on the water. When the fish comes up to take a pea, that's when you get 'em. Homonyms..........

[blindalfred]

I grew up rural in Haskell fishing Rainbow Valley Lake and the Wanaque River. The best bait were nightcrawlers from Dr. Meyer's lawn. Second choice were redworms from the manure pile at Frenchy's stables because they were so brittle. We did helgrammites upstream from the "back beach", but I didn't like them because they had pinchers, but, I did catch my PB smallmouth on one. Thanks for bringing this back Billfish.

[Gerry Zagorski]

This is how we used to do it. Killed 2 birds with one stone. Mom was grateful for us turning the gardens over with the pitch fork and we always had worms.

[Billfish715]

He used to keep worm boxes in the garage. My grandfather had two, one with soil and coffee grounds, the other had ground news paper, topsoil and oatmeal. The oatmeal box, the worms would take on a light tan to grey color, a highly effective bait! I wonder how many people still have and use worm boxes?

Now there is a trip down memory lane! Thanks EJS! An old wooden produce box from the local grocery store, a mixture of coffee grounds, garden soil, layers of wet newspaper in between and some some organic material was all you needed. Add worms and, voila! You kept the box in a cool place like the basement or detached garage. There were worms at your ready disposal any time you wanted them. When the supply dwindled, you grabbed a flashlight and went out for more. As long as the soil in the box was damp and cool, you could fish everyday.

How about buss bedding? Who remembers that and the boxes in which it was stored. I think it was gypsum or something like it. It was great for crawlers but not for garden worms.

[FASTEDDIE29]

Thank you for posting this. There is a plethora of knowledge in that brain of yours. Great info here. When I was younger it was worms we dug up ourselves and dough balls made with flour water and a can of corn or creamed corn all ground up and then rolled into little balls. Those were awesome times.
TIGHT LINEZ!!!

[Billfish715]

When we were kids, dough balls and gummy bread was our go-to bait. We fished for anything with fins no matter how small they were. We fished for golden shiners using dough balls at Echo Lake Park in Mountainside. There were always large chubs to catch behind the trap and skeet range in Kenilworth. The pond in Nomehagen Park was loaded with small carp that loved our dough balls.

If we went trophy fishing for trout or catfish or bass or " calico bass " ( no one called them crappies ) we always used worms.