Successful tournament fisherman know that quite often, it's the guy who pays attention to details, like keeping his bait in peak condition, that takes home all the marbles. Inferior bait can limit your success, and may keep you from catching everything you should.

You can drag a lifeless, worn out leech, through the mother of all schools of walleyes, and never get a touch. But put a fresh, firm, Olympic Swimmer in front of their face, and it's a whole different story. The same goes for minnows; As they lose their kick, they lose appeal.

Minnows that are thrashing and swimming for their lives get noticed, and fish are much more apt to take an active bait. While crawlers don't swim or thrash, they do writhe and squirm, especially when you first hook them up. After you've drug them around for a while, crawlers start to stretch out and lose their tone; Time for a fresh one.

Most bait shops sell good bait, if they didn't, they wouldn't be in business very long. If you're not getting what you want, find another supplier.

Crawlers should be fat, and healthy. The good bait shops will check each box of crawler, and open them right in front of you. If they don't, you better take a look. There's nothing more frustrating than getting to your favorite fishing hole and finding out your bait is bad.

After you've bought good bait, you'll want to keep it that way. While crawlers are one of the easiest baits to keep in top condition, there are a few things you must do to ensure there well being. The most important factor is heat. Heat will literally suck the life out of the best crawlers, in a matter of minutes. The key is to keep them cold, at refrigerator temperatures.

The bedding, or dirt, that comes with a box of crawlers, should be sufficient for long term storage. If you pick your own, I'd suggest using a commercial bedding like the stuff available from Buss, or Magic Worm Bedding. They've got the right makeup for keeping crawlers in top form.

Another factor is moisture. As bedding loses moisture, so do your crawlers. It pays to check them occasionally, and add a little moisture if needed. Although crawlers won't drown, you should keep them moist, and not soaking wet, if you plan on hanging on to them for an extended period of time.

The problem with using crawlers is all the dirt! Your hands, clothes and boat, end up a mess, if you're using a lot of bait. To get around the problem, you can try removing the crawlers from their containers and bedding, and dropping them directly into a mix of water and ice, or slush. As previously mentioned, crawlers do not drown, and can be kept in this manner for days.

You'll also find that crawlers bulk up, short term, in an ice water environment. The "crawlers on ice" method keeps the dirt where it belongs, and makes fishing with the little critters a lot less messy.

Another effective, and relatively clean method, involves layering crawlers with wet newspaper. In a small cooler, lay down a few pages of soaking wet newspaper and then put in a layer of crawlers, and repeat the process until you think you have enough. They'll still need to be kept cold, so you'll want to put the cooler in the fridge, or in a larger cooler on ice.

While crawlers are easy keepers, minnows are the toughest. Most fisherman give up on minnows during the summer months, mainly because they can be so difficult to keep alive. However, there are times when a minnow will out produce anything else and can be the key to a live well full of fish.

They can also spell the difference between run of the mill runts, and the really big eye poppin' hawgs.

To keep minnows in peak condition, they must be kept cool and oxygenated. That's cool, not cold. One of the mistakes fisherman often make, when transporting minnows, is cooling the bait down to fast. Most bait shops aerate their minnows with well water, which runs at approximately forty degrees. If you change the temperature they're held at too quickly, you'll send them into shock and probably kill the bait. And even if you haven't killed them, the bait will still be stressed, which will shorten their life span and reduce the wiggle factor.

Most bait shops offer oxygen packed minnows, and can help anglers transport bait for long distances. The key is to keep the water temp constant, and near the holding temp. Avoid putting the bags in a cooler on a bed of ice. Rather, put the bags in a cooler with a small amount of ice, and add more as necessary.

Another method for keeping and transporting minnows, includes a cooler and an aeration system. The cooler is a must to help keep a constant temperature, and the aeration system enriches the water with life breathing oxygen. Minnows like shiners and chubs, require an oxygen rich environment to have even a chance of surviving.

Although there are many systems designed for keeping minnows alive, it's the bubblers that do the best job of it. Recirculating systems tend to heat up the water, and heat is something you really don't need. They also create turbulence and current, which keeps minnows working harder just to stay in place.

Bubblers, like the ones available from Marine Metal, utilize a small air pump, that then forces air through a hose filled with thousands of tiny holes, and rests on the bottom of the well. The result is a highly efficient system that transfers oxygen to the water, with the least amount of stress on the bait.

Leeches are another terrific bait, and can be extremely easy to keep. All they require is clean, cold water. Heat is again, a real threat to a leeches well being, and to your angling success.

To keep leeches for an extended period of time, you'll want to change their water every couple of days, or so. Don't use chlorinated water, it will eventually kill them. Lake water is the best, but well water works just fine. If you must, you can also buy bottled spring water.

Another factor for keeping leeches is their age. They'll only last so long, and if the bait you buy is already past it's productive range, you could be in trouble.

Fresh leeches are firm and lively, while old ones become soft, and develop a noticeable ring around their nose.

Late in the season, good leeches can become difficult to find. If the fish are going on leeches, and old bait is all you can find, you probably have to make do.

One more key to using live bait, is to change it often. Live bait eventually slows down and it's fish attracting capabilities become greatly diminished. For example;

Have you ever been with a group of anglers fishing the same way with the same bait, only to have one guy catching all the fish? One of the reasons might be his bait! The guy doing the catching, is replacing his bait more often, than the rest.

If you want to do the catching, keep the best bait on the other end of the line.

Ron Anlauf
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ranlauf@ecenet.com

River Walleye Tackle

The Tackle Box

Nagels Live Bait
(507) 334-8341
2030 NW 7th St
FARIBAULT MN 55021
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Faribault Bait & Tackle
1935 NW 7th St
FARIBAULT MN 55021