Ways to catch free bait for freshwater fishing

There are plenty of freshwater baits to choose from, and it doesn't always take a trip to the tackle shop to get them.

Capt. Doc Lee said shad are an excellent bait right now, especially for bass, and they're loaded up in Lake Evers. Anglers can head to the aerators right at daylight, and if you have an aerated container, you can put a couple dozen in there.

One idea from Lee is to get some fresh shad put them on ice, and then hook them through the eyeballs and toss them around the pads, working them like an artificial. Put the shad, on a No. 1 weedless wire hook.

Grass shrimp are always good bait and can be netted along the shorelines. Simply get a small net and scoop up through shoreline vegetation.

Silversides can be had at night.

"There's millions of them it seems," Lee said.

Get around lit docks and use a drop net, sinking it about 5 feet down into the light.

Any panfish such as small bluegill can be turned into great live, dead or chunked bait, as long as they're caught by hook.

One overlooked bait may be grasshoppers. Lee recommended getting a large butterfly net and around daylight when there's still moisture on the ground, find an area with heavy grass where there's lots of grasshoppers and run the butterfly net, or any fine mesh net, through the grass.

"You might look like an idiot running through the tulips though," Lee said.

Or you can get a partner and run a seine net round and round through the grass. Grasshoppers can be fished on bottom under a cork with a split shot, or on the surface for a variety of species.

Black crickets are yet another effective bait. Here's the technique: Grab a fresh loaf of uncut bread (white is fine), cut it in half width wise, pull out a big chunk of the insides, and then make a hole that leads into that chunk. Get a thick rubber band around the bread and put it in a field full of crickets for the next day. Assuming fire ants haven't eaten the bread, you could end up with around 50 to 100 crickets.

Of course, worms are a staple bait, and can be found by digging along the edge of ditches. Also try putting a stick in the ground where you expect dense concentrations of worms and hitting the stick. The vibration should send the worms to the surface.

Freshwater golden shiners can be netted by chumming with oatmeal or dry pieces of bread, or by catching them with a No. 10 or 12 hook tipped with a dough ball.

In the end, shad is probably the best bait to get at this point. Shad can also be a possible bait in saltwater for reef fish such as snapper or grouper, or possibly flounder.

Nick Walter, outdoors writer, can be reached at 745-7013.