Planning a 2 night trip from 16 to 4 next month. I've fished this area a few times but have never had any luck catching bait or seeing any. It's hard to get to the river enough for practice so I'm planning on taking some live bait with me. I'm looking to take some worms and shiners/minnows. Any bait shops near the 16 put in that are open early? Any chance on a store that sells live shad? I'm still going to try and catch (I have a cast net and seine net) so any advice someone is willing to give up would be helpful. I'm leaving from the dfw area so any stores along the way would work also. Thabks for any advice

could try some perch. what kind of set up do you have for keeping your live bait?

Zombie, I have a 5 gal bucket with lid and a hushbubbles aerator. Are you thinking netting the perch or light tackle and catching?

there is a bait shop on the road into that area from DFW. I think its near mineral wells.

If you can find em, I use size 16 hooks, with a bit of hot dog or worm, the hook is about the size of this, J, and you can catch quarter sized perch on em.

catch before you go with RnR or net before you go. you have the setup to keep em.

Thanks for the info guys. I'm hoping to slow down my approach and cover good holes a little more thoroughly. I tend to get impatient when throwing only lures.

I use a three gallon bucket with a mr bubbles.It keeps minnows alive for days.Unless you want to waste a bunch of money on a real bait tank.They keep baits alive alot longer.They actually have a filter.I use one of those when Im going for whopper fishes.I havent caught one yet though,.

I usually just have one of those yellow and white floating bait buckets. When I paddle for a long distance I just pull it on board for a few minutes. Works great and its easy.

get a seine, the largest legal one, it'll totally be worth the effort

right dave ?


Oh yeah, and some circle hooks

yeah your seine net worked great. You still planning on goign on the trip next month?

yup - I've over nighted there before - I want a water filter, and I am good to go.

and screw cooking, and screw iced anything, men, just eat power bars and cr*p and tepid water for three days.

Pack light !

My buddy has a canoe and he is carrying the dry ice and regular ice combo. Its for the bourbon! And Im bringing mountain house meals. I camp in style.

I have a 10ftseine but everywhere I've looked to use it on the brazos the water is clear enough to see there's no baitfish. Do you drag it or set it up in current and let bait come to you? I would highly recommend the katadyn hiker pro to filter water. Works great and has a good flow rate so you don't have to pump your arm off. I beleive I'm going the same weekend as you guys. Heading out there Fri morning with my buddy yakbonz. We will probably be ahead of you guys but don't be afraid to stop and say hi if you catch us. We'll be in a yellow xfactor and a mustard mantaray.

a 10 is short. But I'd use it. But get a 20 !

We work hard to keep the net deeply bowed, and always against the bottom. A good bottom seal is more productive than speed.

If there is any deep water near by, most all the net of positioned so's to act as a barrier, keeping the bait towards the shallow.

Unless workign hard up a current, always use a clean even exit up the shore - always.

In hard current you can pull up mid stream.

With a 20 ft or a 30 ( not really legal) I've one manned it, anchoring one end deep, one end on shore and just walked the bait up, into the trap, with good sucess.