I use live bait ALL the time.....when I'm crappie fishing.

Hahahaha no Torq.....

Drop-shotter..... I know the exact situation everyone here is talking about. But if the man wants to run a guide business with live bait, that's his business. He's gonna catch some giants doing it.

The question was is live bait a no no.......

Is drinking and driving a boat a no no, is speeding a no no, is crowding another tournament angler a no no. This could be about anything.

If he was truly caught lieing to promote his business, yes huge no no but the live bait talk good lawd

I have no moral issue with it but I rarely target largemouth with live bait because if you're not paying attention they are bad about swallowing hooks. I have had several do that while catfishing.

When I catch a Barfish on a spoon and take my time reeling it in in hopes of catching a pig a bad thing?


Fishing live bait is fine with me as long as you use a circle hook, and don`t say you caught it on something else.

I personally don't see the fun in it, or trolling

TP&W studied it at Athens and concluded bass are just as likely to swallow an artificial on a C-rig. Nothing wrong with it if that is what you want to do.

live bait for bass is actually how I got into doing it the right way! my Striper guide Dale Bestwina does live bait on Fork a month of the year and talked me into trying it. Had so much fun seeing those 8 pounders up close that I wanted to learn bass fishing. I will never do live bait again, but I have no problem with it. little over 12 months since that trip I've done a half dozen guide trips Fork and Ivie, JC Outdoors tournament, FLW Everstart co-angler, and will buy a boat shortly.

Here is video when I fished with Dale last year, just a single pole and look how easy the hooks come out. There is some skill involved how to take the slack out enough for a set, but without them spitting.

You will catch many more and much bigger fish with live bait, but that's not the point is it.

It is perfectly legal so it does not bother me in any way, if they want to fillet them it is legal, I really would not care to do it but there is nothing wrong with it.

I remember 3 or so years ago your mom caught a 13 in the dead heat of the summer. You were straight up and no one said anything but congrats.

Thanks Mark and Ronnie for a couple of your commits. I've been seeing a couple of guys on here that just keep bashing me
and thats fine. But when I do this technique in the summer for a half day in the hot afternoon it is mostly with inexperinced
anglers like father and son or grandfather and grandson. Its always a trip of lifetime for them.People thats never done it wouldn't believe it. Theres also a lot more to then some of you thjnk.I will do it with a few regular good anglers that request it for almost the more then the normal rate and they have no problem because of what they catch. I have a lot of big fish and trust me they all didn't come from that. I have a lot of guides that have used me and know I can catch em. These kids will never forget some of the fish they have caught and will be hooked forever and stay off the streets and out of trouble because of the memory. They are hooked on fishing now just like the rest of you . It means more to me when I see this then you know. The one guy that put some stuff on a post was not told to do that by me. If I do this I don't use a circle hook and do not hook the fish deep 99% of time. The fish are returned fine to the water. Also when I write my fishing reports I write what wer'e normally doing.I try to help peaple catch a few more fish.Thanks. Otherwise I wouldn't know what the fish were doing. I work very hard for peaple out there.Thanks

Sounds fair to me.

Props!

and certain lakes...

If I catch a lake record bass on a minnow while crappie fishing I don't think I would feel like it was as much of an accomplishment as if I were throwing a senko. Although, I think it would be the same if I caught it on a crappie jig while fishing for crappie even though that's considered artificial. I think if you're targeting that species, and you get it then that's the real accomplishment. In the end, it's all about the fish. The fact that the fish lived that long and got that big in that body of water. The angler doesnt have anything to do with the growth part. He has just done his part in stacking the deck in his favor to catch as many fish as possible in hopes of fooling the largest one that he can. Hell, I don't know. I'm just a crappie fisherman who accidentally catches bass every now and then...

Got a friend who carries his grandson to Florida every year or so and fishes with a guide. They use LIVE BAIT and smack some giants. Has pics all over his office wall of his grandson and him with these fish, memories that they both will treasure forever.
Bet most of us on here started with live bait...... Got no problem with it myself.

What is "soaking"?