Insects

Ants, beetles, grasshoppers, crickets and caterpillars are ideal for catching pan fish, sunfish and trout. Brown trout are especially attracted to ants presented on a fly. Smallmouths and large trout prefer immature versions of mayflies, stoneflies, caddis, hellgrammites and dobsonfly larvae. You can buy insects or catch your own. Ants can be gathered from a nest and large insects can be captured with a net.

Jigs

Jigs have weighted metal heads and a tail made of animal hair, soft plastic, feathers or rubber. Anglers sometimes add a minnow or piece of pork rind to the jig's hook. Jigs can be used to catch nearly every kind of freshwater fish

Minnows and Nightcrawlers

Basically, minnows are baby fish and a good all-around freshwater bait. They're readily available from bait and tackle shops or you can catch your own if it's legal in your area. Minnows come in different sizes. Use larger 'shiners' for bass and pike fishing.

For cast and retrieve, trolling and drifting, hook the minnow vertically through both lips or through the tail.

For still fishing with a bobber, hook the minnow through the back just in front of the dorsal fin. Take care not to damage the spinal cord. The key is to keep the fish moving on its own.

Tricks and Tips for Minnows

For really good action, hook the minnow upside down on a light jig. It will struggle to regain an upright position

Store minnows in a minnow bucket using the same water from which they were bought or captured, and take care not to crowd them.

Worms are a good bait for nearly all freshwater fishing. You can find enough worms for fishing from a few shovels of dirt in your garden or from a shaded, damp area. Worms can also be purchased in fishing tackle stores and bait shops. For walleyes and bass use earthworms or night crawlers.

For pan fish, sunfish and trout use smaller manure worms. You can find them in cattle and horse pastures.

Trick and Tips for Worms

To prevent smaller fish from nibbling the worm without biting down on the hook, you can use just a piece of the worm.

If you have small worms, thread the hook through the side of the worm at several places along its body. For bait-stealing fish such as sunfish, thread the worm on the hook until the hook is completely covered.

Plugs

Plugs have a plastic or wood body and are designed to be fished on top of the water or at depths below the surface. Top-water or floating plugs are designed to float on the surface and are great lures to use during the early morning and late evening hours when fish are actively feeding. Diving plugs have plastic or metal lips so they will dive to a certain depth. The size of the lip will determine how deep a lure will dive but the rated dive depths can often be found on the box they are packaged in. A good plug to start with will often be a similar color to the baitfish that you see swimming in the area you are fishing. For example, if you notice that there are a lot of 3 inch baitfish with silver bodies and dark green backs, look for a plug of similar size and color.

Soft Plastics

Perhaps the most effective method for catching largemouth bass is with soft plastics. This is especially true of the plastic worm. In general, worms are fished very slowly and smoothly. A soft plastic can be rigged one of three ways: the Carolina rig, the Texas rig and the Wacky rig. The primary difference between the Carolina and Texas rigs is the location of the lead weight. In a Texas rig, the bullet weight rests directly in front of the plastic; whereas the bullet weigh is separated approximately six inches from the worm by a swivel in a Carolina rig. A Wacky rig is simply a soft plastic tube or tail-less worm that is hooked right at the center of the lure. The idea for the Wacky rig is to have two equal lengths of the worm or tube on both ends of the hook. All of this rigging is applicable to virtually all soft plastics, including swim baits and artificial crayfish.

Color choice depends on the body of water being fished. Brighter colors tend to work better in clear, translucent water, and darker colors tend to work better in opaque, muddy water.

There are many styles of worms and this too is dependant of the specific body of water. Generally, the more commotion a lure creates, the better it is for muddy water. You simply have to be prepared for whatever conditions you will meet on the water.

Spinner Baits

Spinners have one or more blades that spin, or revolve, around a straight wire shaft. Some spinners have tails made of soft plastic or animal hair. Spinner baits are lures with one or more blades that spin around a safety pin-type shaft. Most spinnerbaits have skirts made from animal hair, vinyl, rubber or other materials.

Spoons

Spoons are metal lures designed to look like a swimming baitfish or minnow. Many spoons are made to be cast while others are meant to be trolled behind a moving boat. Depending on where and how you're fishing, you can buy weedless, structure or trolling spoons. Ask your tackle shop which types you need.