Don't Eat Your Ice Fishing Bait

Every angler knows that bait can be the most important piece of gear that you are going to need while fishing, but do you know what bait to use while ice fishing? Ice Fishing bait is something that you are going to have to think of and realise that it is very similar to regular bait. However, it is not delicious so whatever you do, do not eat it.

The simplest form of ice fishing bait is just the simple and humble worm. These wriggly friends are abundant and can be purchased from almost any bait shop in the world. If you are too cheap to buy your bait or you just want to do it yourself, you can also farm your own worms. Worm farming requires absolutley no effort except digging or picking them off of a sidewalk. To pull them from your wifes garden, you are going to want to first, ask permission, so you don't get your balls chopped off, then just wet the soil and go digging.

Another technique to getting your own worms is to pick them off of the sidewalk and driveway on rainy days. Worms come to the surface on these damp days because they breathe through their skin and will suffocate if they stay safe down their holes. Once you have collected your worms you are going to want to keep the container that they are in kind of damp. Not wet enough to drown them, but just covered with a wet paper towel should keep them from drying out.

Another bait that you can use while ice fishing is just a plain can of corn. These morsels attact fish like crazy but require constant jigging to keep your catches interested in biting. I recommend the cheapest can of corn that you can find because fish are not gormands and don't really care what they eat, as long as it is not a dry kernel.

Fish can be canibals. There have been many times that I have ran out of bait and just used chunks of the fish that I have already caught as a source of ice fishing bait. Start with the head of the fish. The eyes work great and so does the tail, guts, fins and brains. Just keep the good meat that you are planning on eating yourself.

You could also journey into the forest and start turning over rocks and rotten logs. This is a great idea if you are close to shore and are outfitted for some off the ice treking. I use this technique as a last resort because there have been a few times where I have found myself very lost in an unfamiliar forest while trying to fill up my bait bucket.

Critters in the forest are very elusive and you are going to have to be quick if you need to find ice fishing bait using this technique. What you can expect to find under rotten logs are lots of potato bugs and millipedes. These are great to use as bait because they are wriggly, and that is definitely going to attract the fish onto your hook. You can also expect to find termites, maggots and more worms, these are also great bits of bait and can be just as wriggly as a millipede. 

In order to attract fish and convince them to bite then you now know how to do it properly. Hopefully you can take this information and make your next ice fishing expedition your best one ever.

Justin Lock is an expert ice fisherman and a webdesigner with a passion for writing. He has combined these loves and decided to post all of his ice fishing knowledge online. You can read more about ice fishing bait at http://www.squidoo.com/icefishingbait