Why am I unable to catch a bass with live bait no matter what I try?

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[font "Calibri"][size 3]I prefer fishing with live bait because I can I use my left handvery well and I find it easier to fish for live bait as opposed to trying toretrieve a lure.[/size][/font]
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[font "Calibri"][size 3]Here’s what I suspect my problem could be. Usually I wind upusing what I would call small crappie minnows. I am thinking that smallerminnows are better suited to smaller catfish, crappie and bluegill. Iunderstand that usually bigger bait will catch bigger fish but you would thinkthat a small wounded minnow would eventually catch a bass.[/size][/font]

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[font "Calibri"][size 3]Here is the perfect example of the problem I am trying todescribe. The other day I was fishing with a friend he was using a standardminnow patterned crank bait. He Two hits from a bass but I got nothing. Theproblem seems to persist no matter how I fish, where I fish or when I finish.[/size][/font]
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[font "Calibri"][size 3]Any advice would be greatly appreciated[/size][/font]
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[bytebull]

Many times you can use live bait and not get the bass to hit and use an artificial lure and get strikes in the same area. Why? Well..

The live bait is their dangling from a hook and either dead and not moving or swimming erratically to get off the hook or just moving slowly.

The lure does something different than all those "live" movements that the bass isn't used to seeing and if you cast the lure over him a few times he either strikes on the first pass out of a "reaction" strike out of instinct or after a few passes bass will actually get frustrated (so they say) and hit the prey that keeps moving into their area.

I have been bass fishing over 40 years and that is my experience. I've been fishing with friends that have their kids along and they are using shad,minnows even night crawlers and can't get a bass to hit and I can put on a plastic worm wacky rigged and run it through the same place their bait is and catch bass. It's based on instinct reaction bites and just plain pissing the bass off til he hits the lure.

Hope this helps you.
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[wheelstb]

Thanks for the info. I'm familiar with reaction-based strikes. If this was an occasional issue it probably would have occurred to me, but it seems to be fairly consistent. I guess I wrote them off because I did not realize how much of a percentage of strikes that actually account for.
But it's either got to be the reactionary strikes or the fact of the minnows I am typically using are just too small to entice an average sized bass, they are just more enticing to scavenger or smaller fish like catfish, bluegill or crappie.

Until I can come up with a better way to fish with artificial lures I suppose this is a problem I will have to get used to dealing with .
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[CaptainNemo68]

I also fish with live bait about 90 percent of the time and don't have much of a problem. I always keep the bait fresh - if it doesn't move much then I switch minnows. Also, make sure you try different depths by adjusting the float. There are many times where my bait just wasn't deep enough, so I raised the float on the line. I use medium size minnows.
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[wheelstb]

I usually do try to stay pretty conscious of how deeply I should be fishing. Although maybe not as much as I should be.



I've got a hunch that my problem is a combination of different things. I don't think I am typically using bait that is big enough. It seems to me that if your mate is not the proper size you will not be able to get the reaction strikes that are so very important for bass fishing. Smaller bait will attract smaller fish.





When you say that you use medium-size minnows, about how big would you say they are in inches?

Thank you to everyone for their great advice on this question this is something that has been driving me nuts for a very long time.
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[CaptainNemo68]

I've got some minnows out in the aeriated bucket now. One is 5/8" tall x 3 1/2" long. That's just a general "medium" size. The hooks I use are bait holder #1 oversize, #2 oversize, or #3 oversize. If you are using a swivel, try taking the swivel off and tie the hook straight to the line just in case the swivel is spooking the fish. Also, hook the minnow just under the dorsal fin so it can still swim around[fishin]
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[wheelstb]

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[font "Calibri"][size 3]Thanks for the info and advice. I always suspected myproblems had something to do with the fact that most of my minnows are smallcrappie minnows.[/size][/font]
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[font "Calibri"][size 3]I'm thinking they're just not lively enough and live longenough to generate the reactionary strikes needed. I noticed you said you hadan aerated minnow bucket, I have one as well. I don't think catching my ownbait is going to be an option for me.[/size][/font]
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[font "Calibri"][size 3]I know that there are several different products sold andseveral different methodologies to keeping minnows fresh. Such as, using dipnet to keep the bait fresh. What else do you guys recommend to keep the baitfresh and lively especially if you have to buy it the day before?[/size][/font]
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[Paulpro]

I enjoy fishing live bait as well even if its not fish![]

I've had problems with the fish seeing the hook or line also problems with where to place the hook

Switch everything up until you get a pattern going,differenttypes of line,diameter,smaller hooks,dif hook placement on the baitfish,here what the Peacock Bass Professor does,you can use this same set up for LM Bass as wel good luck..enjoy the video,real HD fishing camera, camera is in tungsten mode for a cool effect and its not a Gopro![:p]

I sometimes hook them through the nostrils if I'm retrieving them alot or by the bottom back half near the tail if I'm gonna just let them sit ,also like to use small hooks size 6 or eagle claw plain shank,little weight or no weight,sometimes a split shot or two maybe 18" from the hook..good luck heres a video In found on You tube of the Peacock Bass Professor, its a size 6 hook set up free lining a baitfish using Braided line 10lb..
P
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[wheelstb]

Thank you for the info. Perhaps I need to pay more attention to the details of my setup.

This has been a very frustrating subject for me, I am thankful to everyone for the advice. C
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[Edgy779]

Alot of the lakes i fish at are retention ponds, and a lot of the time you can see the bass. I had some nightcrawlers on a small hook, with a small weight, and i would sightfish, drop it right in front of them and they would take it. Just require patience. And as for catfish, I tried soo many things before i found my favorite well real bait to use. My neighbor stocked a lake with catfish, before there was just shad, bluegill, and bass, i tried live bluegill, cutup blue gill, pieces of bluegill, shad live and dead, worms, the dough stuff from walmart. Finally i tried hotdogs. I cut maybe a 1" piece and threw it out there, within 2 minutes i hear my baitrunner zing out there! Also, if you have smoked sausage for dinner and got some leftovers, which is hard to do since it is delicious, try some of that. They hit it has hard as hotdogs. I used the hotdogs raw and the smoke sausage cooked.
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[inyourmouth]

[quote Edgy779]Alot of the lakes i fish at are retention ponds, and a lot of the time you can see the bass. I had some nightcrawlers on a small hook, with a small weight, and i would sightfish, drop it right in front of them and they would take it. Just require patience. And as for catfish, I tried soo many things before i found my favorite well real bait to use. My neighbor stocked a lake with catfish, before there was just shad, bluegill, and bass, i tried live bluegill, cutup blue gill, pieces of bluegill, shad live and dead, worms, the dough stuff from walmart. Finally i tried hotdogs. I cut maybe a 1" piece and threw it out there, within 2 minutes i hear my baitrunner zing out there! Also, if you have smoked sausage for dinner and got some leftovers, which is hard to do since it is delicious, try some of that. They hit it has hard as hotdogs. I used the hotdogs raw and the smoke sausage cooked.[/quote]

havent heard of using hot dog and sausage before, im trying that next time I go out!
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[buiboater]

you want to catch yourself a bluegill/bream , run a treble hook in his back. put on an old school red/white bobber, and when it disapears, set the hook like driving an 19/0 hook into a 900# marlin.your hook -up ratio will drasticly improve.
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[Paulpro]

Heres another video using live bait (New)

Using a 1/32 ounce bullet weight 6lb test and a size 6 eagle claw hook plain shank "not bait holder"

Look into a slip bobber set up..and see if you can do a double baitfish rig,or put two on one hook,one hooked by nose the other by tail called the "twisty treat"[]

Try hooking them by the tail,fish won't notice the hook as much since they normally eat the fish head first.
In this video the fish must of got its eye damaged by a lure "most likely",this is a good example of "why using live bait is safer for fish than using lures"

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live bait is better for safe catch and release

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[url "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwobsA18rSQ"]Eye hooked P-Bass gets caught again![/url]
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[Paulpro]

I like minnows ..
In this video I let my Nephew fish with a minnow!
Flat head minnows..Here he wanted to catch a nice fish off a bed so I let him use my rod and he catches a nice 4 1/2lb fish on 4lb test[shocked] using a 1" minnow lol.
These fish got amazing eyesight even better than Bass[sly]

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[url "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT4iQxzM8us"]Andres 4 1/2lb Peacock bass on 4lb test[/url]
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