Dissapointing...

[Modest_Man]

Back from my second trip to Wilson Res. Brought live bait this time and hoped for the best.

The crayfish got bites, but I think they were by red devils and the cray's were to large.

I hooked one fish of unknown species but it got tangled right away and broke my line. Lost a lot of hooks using live bait. They swim right for cover...

Saw a large male tuc swim after some smaller fish right in front of me, very cool. Too bad I didn't get my bait in front of him.

All in all, fish 2, me 0.

[leoric]

Don't give up. I haven't caught anything in 2 years (just kidding).

[tucmaster]

I add a small removable split shot to my line about a foot or so above the hook to keep the bait from swimming into cover and hanging up my line. Then I can lob my bait close to the cover. Or I move the split shot to within 6-8 inches of the hook and drop it into sunken treetops, without too much fear of getting hung up. I also try to make sure that the bottom where I am fishing also doesn't have too many snags (sunken branches, etc.)

As a live baiter, I get my share of snags. When fishing the shoreline with live bait, snags will inevitably happen, so it's a matter of keeping the number of snags to a minimum.

Live bait is the way to go. Keep at it.