Unusual baits that catch fish

[blacksportsman]

How many of you, on a whim, tried an unsual item for bait and actually caught fish with it? While we are on the subject of unusual baits I have one to mention: Jack Link's beef jerky, pre-chewed and wadded on a hook. A couple of friends and I were fishing for whatever was biting at Coon Rapids dam one Sunday last June. Wasn't having too much luck with crawlers and fatheads. We saw a large school of carp rooting around in the shallows and thought they might be some active fish so we tossed crawlers at them. They wouldn't touch 'em. Found a few kernels of corn on the ground and gave that a try. Nothing. We were snacking on beef jerky when one guy says, "You should try some beef jerky on the hook." He was joking, but I decided to give it try anyways. Tried a few small pieces dry but that wasn't working. Then I took a bigger piece, chewed it up real good, and wadded it on the hook. Threw it out there and WAM! They loved it. Caught 3 before we decided to eat the rest of the bait. Pretty cool, huh?

Manny W

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"You're gonna need a bigger boat"

-Chief Brody (Jaws)

[mnfisherman]

blacksportsman,

I've heard of someone catching carp and suckers on peices of green pepper! I've
heard that spicy pepper work even better but
I've never actually tried it before.

What area around the Coon Rapids dam could you see the carp?

I've only went there once but I didn't see any places were you would be able to see the fish.

PS- Have you gone fishing at the warm water discharge on the Mississippi lately?

[2dalake]

I caught a northern on a bobber once. One of my kids was fishing bluegills with a slip bobber and the bobber stop came undone and fell off, so I was reeling it in to fix it. The sinker had also fallen off, I think he had smacked the rig on a log or something, so the boober slipped all the way down to the now bare hook. A hammerhandle northern hit the bobber and I hooked it on that little #8 Eagle Claw aberdeen.

When we were kids and we ran out of crawlers we used to cut up clams we caught in the shallows. They worked real well, but only certain parts stay on hook.

I know a veterinarian who uses cat ovaries for bait. I guess it's real tough tissue and just a couple can last all day.

[aimeeoutdoors]

We were ice fishing this winter with tipups, and I put a big weight on to test the depth. It was bright orange in color. I immediately had a nice size pike latch on, and now he's in a gallon jar with about 20 other pike. haha

[Iron Cowboy]

Another one for the Jerky! Hot summer afternoon, pretty slow fishing. I look over at my brother in law and hes putting a hunk of jerky on his hook. I roll me eyes turn and tell my son your uncle is a little goofy, no sooner got the words out of my mouth and wham he gets a 5 pound northern. I guess it pays to be a little goofy sometimes.

When we were kids and would run out of worms for the sunnies we would use their eyes. They worked better than the worms

[huskiesplayer15]

My uncle caught a six pound walleye, with his hands, waist deep in the water. Cant beat the hand bait.
Best fishes
chris

[blacksportsman]

Interesting stories!

Mnfisherman, I fish on the Anoka county side of Coon Rapids Dam. From walleye opener to ice-up, that's one of my favorite metro locations to fish. That particular day we caught the carp on jerky, we were fishing below the small dam, the one below the boat access. I usually fish the main channel below the big dam, along the fence. We mainly catch walleyes, smallies, crappies, and catfish there.

PS-haven't fished since the beginning of March, busy looking for a new job!

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"You're gonna need a bigger boat"

-Chief Brody (Jaws)

[jparrucci]

We used to catch Perch at my old cabin in Northern MN on just about any weird thing you can think of. Two that stick into my mind are grapes and bubblicous gum.

[simplefish]

Blacksportsman, I also fish the dam a lot. Next to the parking lot there are trees with little red berry looking things. I've used those for bait more than once for carp. I think they like the color. As for weird baits, the best I can come up with is toothpaste. I went camping one spring a few years back and ran out of bait. I remembered that I read something about fish liking the taste of flouride so I ran up to the campsite and grabbed my toothpaste and smeered it on a plastic worm. Caught a few bass this way.

[deadeye]

The strangest thing that I have seen used for bait was when my dad hooked a gummi worm on his jig and caught some crappies.

[B. Amish]

I've actaully caught a number of northern while checking depths with those blaze orange weights.....caught a big perch the same way once

one summer, while fishing for walleyes off of a dock, i hooked into a small fish, as i was reeling it in, it suddenly felt a lot bigger.....turns out that i had hooked into a big perch and a 5 lb northern decided to latch on, never landed the northern, he decided to let go when he saw the net

[EBass]

When I was about 11 I ran outa of worms for the sunnies below the dock on Twin Lake. Hmm, what could I use as I wiped my nose with my sleeve. Then it hit me. A piece of snot or booger if you will. Hey, I was 11, a piece of snot on a hook wasn't the grossest thing to me back then. It is now though. Any ways, sunnies ate it up! LOL when I'm writing this.

Oh for carp I almost lost my rod when my dad took me fishing on the shores of the sippi, of course it was behind the Polish Palace his hang out, but what did I know. The corn kept falling off the hook so we used these slim jim bits. Like a Slim Jim but bite size. Threaded that on the hook and a carp I assume took off with my rod. I grabbed it and of course the drag wasn't set and snap. I was about 12-13 then. Didn't try snot though...

Ah, the memories of fishing.

[simplefish]

Speaking of fish latching on while reeling another in: last fall I went to Florida and did some fishing. My brother was reeling in a little snook or lady fish (can't remember which) and a shark (coulda been a gator come to think of it) grabbed ahold of it and tore it in half. It was still wiggling when he pulled the rest in.

[Lost]

I've seen a lot of odd things used for catching fish. My best memory is being out on a lake with my buddy in his little aluminum boat. We were throwing everything in the boat at the fish and we weren't catching a thing.

I had set the pole down with the end dangling over the edge of the boat while I went through my tackle box to see if there was anything I might have misses. Suddenly the tip of my pole gets bent over a little. I quickly pulled up and had a fish!

When my buddy asked me what I had on the hook for bait I told him nothin'. He didn't believe me until I put the hook back in the water and hooked another fish. We spent a couple more hours on the water, catching fish, with nothing but a plain hook.