Since shad are scarce in winter, im gonna try to get some buff or carp to use but have a couple questions. Well my first question is what would be the largest I should keep for bait purposes, I don't want to be pulling out anyones prospective pb and using it as bait. I was thinking around 5 lb max but if its really slow doing a max of 10lb as well as going with barbless size 8 hooks for minimal damage. Where should I try looking for bait* buffs from the bank. I'm planning on going to ladybird, what bait should I use to maximize my odds and can I use my cat gear for carp?

Ladybird would be the wrong place to go for buffalo to use as bait. There is small population of large buffalo (mainly over 30lb. and up to 60lb).

And since the lake is an official trophy carp lake you will not find many carp of the size you need for bait.

Best place to catch bait sized carp would be Travis as it is stuffed full of small carp.

Bait would be just plain ole Sweetcorn and your catfish gear will be fine up there.

Okay, thanks for letting me know, I'm fishing out of san marcos so I don't know austin lakes too well. Where on travis should I try?

I think anything under 10lbs would be fine to keep for bait. Sweet corn works great. Throw out a few handfuls before hand to act as chum. And if you are going to just be fishing for bait unless you already have barbless hooks, barbed are fine. It's trebles that cause the most damage if you are going to release any.

I will put out there that fiesta markets sell buffalo and tilapia and both can be excellent cut bait

Fresh works best... Fiesta stuff has been frozen...

+1

lake travis anywhere in that lake

Bob I'm giving you two thumbs up for actually caring about the consequences of using buff for bait. Your thought about the fish and other anglers keeps me stoked about Texans.

Buffalo works best for cut bait. But amazingly...I have a VERY hard time catching Buffalo smaller than 10lbs. But the good thing is, 1 6-8lb Buffalo yields a ton of cut bait for a long time. Buffalo works better frozen than Carp. Carp works ok, but the fresher the better. For Catfish I would stick to Buffalo. For Gar, Carp works well.

A decent strategy for catching smaller Carp / Buff for bait is to find a deep hole this time of year in a creek, etc, and bait with a few cans or corn every day, at the same time, etc, for a few days and then the fish it. Or throw a cast net over the baited hole and see what happens.

Good luck!

Medina Lake has a TON of small carp as well. You wont catch one over 10, but if you do, throw it back. Also, there is a large population of mirror carp there. Please throw those back as well. If you happen to catch a buff (unlikely) please throw that back as well.