There's a small creek near my house with numerous sunfish types, channel cats, and shortnose gar.

I used to use live nightcrawlers fished weightless under a bobber. But i am having second thoughts due to their prices.

I bought some frozen 1.5 inch long anchovies and was wondering if using those would be a good idea? I tried to fish them the same way as my nightcrawlers, but i got completely skunked. No bites at all.

I am confused because I thought they would be a good choice for bait since they resemble small baitfish. Is it maybe their salt content?

Any opinions on this?

For the 3 species mentioned, I think you might have decent luck putting a small crappie jig (32,64) about 1-3ft under a float and have at it. Especially if you have already sight fished them.

You could turn over some rocks and wood on the ground and gather up some crickets small grasshoppers might even find a few worms all for free. Then you got grocery store baits as well. White bread balled up, tiny pieces of bacon or hotdog, and sweet corn in the can works good, too. Catch a few small sunfish and cut them up for catfish or gar bait. Good luck.

I think i will try canned corn soon.

The reason i chose anchovies was because i thought LM bass would readily take them. Im not sure how to present the bait though.

Nightcrawlers are my go to in small creeks.

A really good cheap bait is wiener cut in 1/4 inch cubes. A $.98 package of the cheap Walmart wieners will last all day and the sunfish and catfish love them.

Bacon! A 1" piece will stay on your hook longer than a season!

If you have a yard, consider starting a compost bin. If you keep it healthy, you'll always have enough worms.

Im in south TX, it seems like the weather is way too hot for a compost bin in my yard. Any tips? Summer temps easily exceed 100 F

I'm not sure that matters other than you will need to make sure to keep it moist. North Texas is just as much of a broiler in the summer. The real difference up here is spring lasts longer and fall comes earlier.

The nice thing about compost bin worms are that they are going to be your native worms which your local fish are used to eating. I don't think I'd start one just for the worms, but they are good for a variety of other things as well.

Ya it gets really hot and dry down here. I think i am going to have to shy away from the compost bin idea.

I really hope these anchovies at least produce something though. I dont want to have wasted money on them.

If theyre anything like storebought shad theyre better for fertilizer than fishing. If youre hoping for cats, use corn or bits of hotdog and catch some perch to use as live or cutbait since im guessing you dont have a castnet. Chicken cut up into managable nuggets works for cats as well. Id suggest punchbait. If youre SA area big marvs is findable there to use. Just about every academy now carries cjs, crawfish is my favorite cjs flavor. If youre chasing bass, senkos or spinners are the way to go. Dont know too much bout crappie so i cant comment much on that. For gar, rig some chicken livers in pantyhose pouches with a size 2/0 j hook and wait a really long time to set the hook.

Thats disappointing. Is storebought fish really that bad? This kinda tanks lol. I was hoping I had stumbled across a gold mine.

sadly so, its good to take chances on new bait, one of my best hauls of eater cats came from not being able to get perch or shad and using raw bacon that i had brought camping with me instead lol, but bacon hasnt treated me as well since.

+100 on the crickets and found bait