Capt. "Duck" McDonald
Posted by Capt. Duck on February 18, 2003 at 17:01:59:
In Reply to: live bait posted by Jerkbait on February 18, 2003 at 13:59:45:
To catch you own blueback herring effectively, you will need to do it at night with a light. The light is to attract the bait. Actually it attracts the small creatures that the bait feed on and they come to them.
Any type of bright light that shines down in the water such as a crappie light of gas lantern will work but not near as well as a 110 volt high pressure sodium light or a Hydro Glow Fish Light. A good HPS light will cost around $150 to $250 plus you will need a generator which will cost from around $450 (for a noisy one) to around $700+ for a good quiet compact one.
Once you have a way to attract bait you can catch them with a cast net (20 ft dia. net cost around $80 - $150, smaller nets are cheaper but don't catch as many bait) or by jigging gold hooks (sabaki rigs or similar can be bought at most fishing tackle stores).
Warren Turner has taught a lot of us how to throw a large net very easily. After learning this method, you will not want to use a small net because it cannot be thrown using this method.
Some fishermen also go after gizzard shad for bait. These are usually caught up in the back of creeks or flats in really shallow water with a cast net in the daytime. They are seldom deeper than 12-15 feet. Note: If you throw a cast net over a tree stump or jagged rock it will close up around it and you may loose it.
Warren has several posts on StriperBoard. He always leaves his email address. Contact him and find out when the will be giving his cast net demo. You will need at least an 8 ft. (16' dia) net to cast the way he will show you 10 - 12 works best.
I haven't tried to catch any bait lately but I think the bait sellers are catching it on the lower end of the lake near the dam. I was wondering myself if anyone has been catching any around the hwy 24 or White City park bridges.
BTW: When using gold hooks, try different depths. A gold hook or sabaki rig consist of several small gold hooks with a little feather which resembles blueback herring food. You should tie a small 1/2 to 1 oz. sinker on the end and use light tackle. They usually hit the hooks on the down stroke. Jig the rod tip up rather fast then let it sink just fast enough to keep tension on your line so you can fill them hit. Catching bait this way is a lot of fun if the weather is not too bad and you don't mind missing some sleep. If the bait is real deep, the gold hooks may be your only choice. You can buy the rigs for 2 or 3 dollars or make them yourself using #15 gold hooks which is a lot of troulbe but the plain gold hooks do work. Also, the Hydro Glow light at the link above runs off of a 12v battery and only draws 2 amps or less so you can run it all night easily on a small deep cycle battery. I don't suggest you run anything too long from your cranking battery unless you have a generator or other backup.
Hope that helps,
Capt. "Duck" McDonald