What to use if you don't have bait?

[biggamehunter]

Hey I'm going out on sylvan lake tonight and don't have time to get bait. What should I use? Jig,spoon,hard or soft lure, or what? I'll be going for jack and burbot. Thanks guyz

[Gust]

Originally Posted by biggamehunter

Hey I'm going out on sylvan lake tonight and don't have time to get bait. What should I use? Jig,spoon,hard or soft lure, or what? I'll be going for jack and burbot. Thanks guyz

Go to your fridge and cut the fat off your bacon. Don't worry about how it hangs off the hook, it kinda works like powerbait and may float. If you can see the bottom, try to get it too hang just an inch or two up. Make sure it doesn't bury the barbs too much.

[Gust]

on the bacon fat,,, cut your lengths to about 6 inches, and thread on the treble but make sure there are dangly bits.

[PERCHY]

If you're not going to use any bait whatsoever you could get a pike to bite a a spoon, swimbait, or a jig with a grub..it just depends on your presentation and how aggressive they are. If you were to use bait out of your fridge I heard chicken skin works very well.

[Geezle]

Raw chicken skin will work similarly to the bacon fat as a 'strip bait'

Go raid your deep freeze...you should have something interesting in there!

edit: Perchy beat me to it!

For pike any fishy looking lures are a good place to start, or you can just jig a big ol' spoon, bucktail jig etc.

[moosehunter3-0]

This sounds stupid, but trust me it works. Bring hotdogs, they are roughly the same shape/length as regular smelts and they have a strong scent. Pike will definitely take them. just stick a treble hook in the middle so it hangs horizontal. Ling will also be attracted to the strong scent hotdogs have.

[Dust1n]

its from the salt mabe. but lol it might work when u think of it

[moosehunter3-0]

Hotdogs worked at Wizard lake. All they are really is a chunk of meat lol.

[go-big-or-go-home]

X2 on the tube steaks.

If im already on the lake and have nothing, if im perch or white or trout fishing ill take my plastic baits and make tiny cubes kinda deal, works not bad

[chubbdarter]

darters and raps.......and a squirt of berkleys special sauce

[Cal]

When you catch a fish you can use the skin for bait.

[Big Red 250]

Originally Posted by Cal

When you catch a fish you can use the skin for bait.

Or the eye's, or the belly.

[bobby2unes]

Originally Posted by biggamehunter

Hey I'm going out on sylvan lake tonight and don't have time to get bait. What should I use? Jig,spoon,hard or soft lure, or what? I'll be going for jack and burbot. Thanks guyz

Quick rub of vanilla on lures or let it soak. I'm not sure if it attracts fish or cleans old smells away. I read it in Outdoor Canada.

[fluxcore]

I gave bacon a go last year camping at sylvan, too funny I caught a ton of walleye and my brother in law managed a few pike as well. Who would of thought bacon Ill give hot dogs a go this year on my holidays.

[Dust1n]

Originally Posted by moosehunter3-0

Hotdogs worked at Wizard lake. All they are really is a chunk of meat lol.

lol at wizard? no wonder we and max were hammering off plain black jig heads with nothin on em lol. well we managed 2 with that tecnque. theres a good population in there

[PERCHY]

rubbing Garlic on a lure also attracts fish and helps the fish hold on to the lure longer.


i am totally going to try hotdogs now.

[Guitarplayingfish]

Don't waste bacon!! use a soft-plastic or a twister tail or somethin.

[Daceminnow]

agreed....tube steak maybe if you have a couple extra, bacon never, never.

[Gust]

Originally Posted by Daceminnow

agreed....tube steak maybe if you have a couple extra, bacon never, never.

Not bacon but the fat and hot dogs rule, the cheap chicken ones especially. Wonderbread is so doughy that you can make pretty good fake smelts with it and it lasts really long,, bring along some easter egg food dye and you can make colourful wonderbread smelts for the more cultured pike and burbs.

Though, a bit of a contradiction and off topic; my Dad and I tried Powerbait for trout for the first time last year and he decided that, though it caught fish in a plentiful manner, some of the fish he cleaned had their guts stuffed with it so much that you could use it again and he now thinks that maybe fish that get away with it aren't properly digesting it. Oh the ethics of fishing.

[Daceminnow]

Originally Posted by GustavMahler

Not bacon but the fat and hot dogs rule, the cheap chicken ones especially. Wonderbread is so doughy that you can make pretty good fake smelts with it and it lasts really long,, bring along some easter egg food dye and you can make colourful wonderbread smelts for the more cultured pike and burbs.

Though, a bit of a contradiction and off topic; my Dad and I tried Powerbait for trout for the first time last year and he decided that, though it caught fish in a plentiful manner, some of the fish he cleaned had their guts stuffed with it so much that you could use it again and he now thinks that maybe fish that get away with it aren't properly digesting it. Oh the ethics of fishing.

you didn't quite get me Bud. I'd rather put my lunch in my belly than on the hook. next time out it will be freshly made deer sausage on the bbq. and the fish get none. thats not greedy is it?

[Gust]

Originally Posted by Daceminnow

you didn't quite get me Bud. I'd rather put my lunch in my belly than on the hook. next time out it will be freshly made deer sausage on the bbq. and the fish get none. thats not greedy is it?

I was just saying for a guy who aint got time to get bait,, jerry-rig bait from the cupboards at home. We ran out of bait in the summer so I put some home smoked ham on from my sandwich and caught a 12 pound pike. I heard that tapioca from those pudding packs are killer for whitefish and trout.

I just had a moose kelbasa for lunch a friend just made up a batch. I'd like to grind out some myself but we left the smoker outside and it's buried under a ton'o snow somewhere back there.