Homemade dough baits?

[Leo Nguyen]

I'm curious, have anyone tried the homemade baits out of dough, combined with flour, sugar (white granule and brown), vanilla extract (with combination of rum/orange/grape flavoring), salt, water, and color sparklers.

There are many recipes on the web that claimed to be very effective in catching gills, but I'm more curious about anyone of us every play with such dough baits? The recipes mimic the attractants used to catch carps, and mask human's oil during handling.

I know when I ground up nightcrawlers and redworms, soak the flies and artificial lures, spoons, and spinners, I get hammer a tad harder than plain flies and lures. So, could the sugar, salt, and flavoring ring the dinner bell for the gills more effectively? Insights anyone?

[Leo Nguyen]

LOL butter finger..I used that excused for my crickets and worms too. It's not illegal if you're just feeding. Feeding for the intention of catching fishes..yep. I tried to reason with DFG's main offices and the local wardens. They agreed that it's a method of chumming. It's not a method of chumming or attracting fishes if you're using 2 to 3 hooks method, creating HUGE attracting balls of above the baited hook to catch the fishes. That's what I do that. I use a 4/0 hook, loaded the hook with a coconut fiber mesh with the intended bait, make it into a ball so I will stay on the hook as long as I wanted, then went the line. The best method I come up with that's legal for all tourny types, and follow the regulations.

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

What you have there, Leo, with your baited hook balls is really a variation of the method feeder Johnny described earlier.

Naturally the DFG folks assume its cheating if you use chum... a sort of unfair advantage. But is not cheating to use artificial attractants on your bait, I guess?

The crazy thing is, creel limits are the same either way. You can only keep so many, regardless of how you catch them.

Johnny's right, as usual. If the DFG people were really intent on growing their resource they would set up feeding programs, and/or allow it. This would increase benefit for all concerned, making more fish available to more people. Sadly, their vision of management is based on the idea that there is only so much to go around. In the end, it's more about controlling those they supposedly serve than anything.

[Leo Nguyen]

So true about the bait method. However, when it comes to carps around here, they would offer you the green light to go nuts. Their primary concern is the method also attracts other game species that get closely regulated, such as trouts and basses. Not so much on panfishes. Carps, we can hunt them all day long by the boat full and we still get a large smile from DFG. Panfishes and basses dont get restock. What we have is what we get. That's why we release most catches, and keep the prized or gut hooked victims.

If DFG give the role of caretakers to those truly want to keep the waters alive with fishes, we would be breeming with fishes right now. We do have quite a bit of poachers and abusers out there. Of course, as responsible anglers, we reach out and educate them. However, poor habits and behaviors are hard to change. We still try. This is why a handful of us stay in forums and provide as much info in all fields as we can. It's our way of reaching to the masses faster than one-on-one.

Everyone here are truly exceptional. Knowledge, creativity, and concerns of highest calibers.

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Having had some personal experience with law enforcement types (brother and pop), I have a not-so-noble view of the average fish and game officer. I wont drag it around any more, though; this isnt a forum for stumping my para-political views.

You are right though... if we didnt have game and fish enforcement, we probably would have any game and fish.

[Johnny wilkins]

Ya - that is a shame - one component of healthy fish is that they are fed. I would think that some changes and modernizing the rules would be in order.

Around modern cities - the fish would absolutely benefit from having  a couple thousand grubs tossed in by local anglers trying to feed them along with some carbs from crumbs and some bread. What I have found here in Illinois and what gets misunderstood is that they are regulating against some things. An example is that they don't want you cutting up the local fishes and putting them in a can in the water to attract other fish - I get that. Another example is that they don't want local produce shippers to be able to back up their truck and dump excess / spoiled produce in the lake - I get that. Anglers feeding a proper diet should be WELCOMED.

Most everything in fishing - outside of Bruce and other Pond management experts' influence - is that DFG's and rangers have these rules from 1950 and that they manage their waters based on 50 year old+ regulations.

Another example in an urban water is poisoning the entire pond so that they can "restock" and fix the problem. Well, the problem is: 

1. Humans - people dumping pollutants, taking the Apex species and also taking the good fish out leaving an imbalance.

2. Humans - Waters are connected and all their fertilizer and garden soil and road run-off ends up our local ponds -

3. Humans - See the above two for creating the silt and food-poor, low-quality water habitats for our local fish

4. Local Government - Lack of Enforcement to catch poachers / enforce limits

5. Local Park Districts / Park Management - Clear-cutting banks and having only grass surrounding ponds means that insects don't have habitat which means stunted fish

One solution - allow for anglers to put in proper items to feed these fish and supplement their diet with some chum, grubs, chopped worms. The best thing for a local water is a catch-and-release fishing club/ tourney feeding the water on a regular basis.

Back to the poisoning - if you kill all the resident fish that were able to cope with the overfishing , poor water quality, lower food levels, the new fish will live where? They will live in the same conditions. As people impact the water, adding different species in buckets, taking more than they should, taking the best and most aggressive fish out  - the water will return to the same exact condition it was and the fish will match EXACTLY what they did prior to the poisoning. [ urban waters]. 

So- I sum up - I am really pro-dough bait I guess- thanks for reading the rant. ; )

[Bruce Condello]

I'm learning from your posts and broadening my perspective.  Thanks for staying on point, everybody.

[Johnny wilkins]

We should defer to Bruce - he's the one with the 3 lb. gill : )

I hope I am being polite and non-political, but helpful.

I know I refrained from a political comment on a novelty bait so I try to keep it to excellent fishing tips, thoughts. DO let me know if you think I've pushed though - I respect that.

Also I think the bait company I was working with is no longer producing the ground baits : ( . My thoughts are purely educational now.