Live Bait – To much / Not enough?

By: Steve Cegielski, All Canada Show, Operations Manager
Have you ever stood in a bait shop in Canada wondering how much live bait to buy for your week of fishing at the outpost? You don’t want to over buy and waste, but you also would rather have a couple dozen extra rather than run short early in the week.

Many factors go into the bait puzzle – number of fishermen, type of fishing, time of year, and bait storage. I would never recommend taking just one type of live bait – you never know the feeding habits until your there and it’s to late.

I’ve found when “mix fishing” (fishing for multiple species – pike, walleye, lake trout) 40 doz. Minnows, 2lb leech’s, and 10doz crawlers will keep 6 fishermen happy for a week on the water. I’ve found that minnows tend to work best in spring and leeches in the late summer with crawlers staying consistent thru out the year.

Even before purchasing bait you have to have a plan of transport or all above ideas will go to waste. We’ve all seen the guy who buys ten doz. Minnows along with a Styrofoam bucket in hopes of reaching the outpost camp with minnows – not going to happen.

Timing is of the utmost importance when transporting minnows. Don’t buy minnows the night before a long trip into an outpost – the only advantage is that they will be easier to catch in the bucket the next day. I like to make the bait shop the last stop on our way out of town.

Find a bait shop that will put your minnows into clear plastic bags and able to pump air into the bags prior to tying shut. Place the minnow bags into the cooler and surround with ice. You should be able to fit 25 doz minnows into a standard Colman cooler. Shut the lid and don’t open until at camp – GO!!!

Once at camp I bring along a 30 gallon plastic barrel with drilled holes and door opening to house the minnows for the week. The only trick is to get the barrel deep enough into the water – down to the cold water. About 5- 6 feet is all that’s required on a Canadian Lake in the middle of summer. Toss a few rocks into the barrel, tie a line to the dock and watch it sink. If careful in handling you will loose less than 5% of the minnows.

Housing leeches at camp is easier. Take 2 one-gallon milk jugs – poke small nail size holes into one – leaving the bottom two inches of the jug hole free. Cut the other jug in half keeping the handle end. Once at camp use the half jug as funnel to pour the leeches into the other jug with holes – tie a line to jug handle and watch it sink. The milk container allows for easy distribution the next morning and leftovers from the day can be easily put back into jug with the funnel – no wasting bait. The funnel can also serve a double function – boat bailer after a rainstorm.

It’s Canada, so if bait plans go wrong - stiff minnows and sun dried leeches and crawlers might still fool Canadian walleyes.