Like most anglers of my generation, I started my fishing career using live bait. My first catch was a brook trout that gobbled a garden worm on a long-ago first day of trout season. And while my first ...

This story, “Getting the Bait’s a Bail,” appeared in the May 1970 issue of Outdoor Life. The morning sparkled as bright and shiny as a new dime. The river was clear and purling along, its voices ...

A hot-button subject in the world of fishing is the use of live bait. I’m talking about minnows, worms, leeches and all of the other critters that fishermen use to try to coax an unwary fish into ...

Fathead minnows, leeches and worms are mainstays in bait-shop refrigerators across the country. These old standards have pro­duced stringers of game fish for decades, and they’ll continue to produce ...

Live bait isn’t just a technique for beginners. A fluttering minnow or chunk of nightcrawler at the end of the line can be one of the most effective means of fishing at this time of year.

The process of catching, ­transporting and curing live bait is a time-consuming and ­laborious task, but the results of ...

When you absolutely, positively have to catch a fish, live bait is the only way to go, period. While artificial lures are variously new, improved, or otherwise hyped worldwide, the lowly worm and its ...

During this transitional time of year, it’s not uncommon for one day of lights-out action to be followed by a total skunking. Even traditional methods of predicting fish behavior like tracking fronts, ...

Our live bait operations at our local harbors sell anchovies and sardines, but few people understand how the live bait gets there and ultimately into bait tanks aboard our fishing boats. Sportfishing ...