| There are essentially three ways to catch fish:o | | | | Crabs |
| Use live, natural baitso Use imitation or artificial | | | | To catch crabs you can use a crab pot or home |
| baits and lureso Use hardware such as traps, | | | | made traps. Be sure to check local regulations. |
| nets, etc. | | | | These can be used in brackish and salt water |
| One of the most efficient and productive of | | | | shallows baited with a chicken wing tip or other |
| these three methods is to use live, natural baits. | | | | bony meat. At a beach fronting a wooded area |
| This is especially true if the waters and area | | | | more than one kind of crab can be caught. I |
| you're fishing are new or unknown to you. These | | | | designed a simple "drop in" trap that I set into the |
| live, natural baits are proven effective when | | | | sand near the edge of a coconut grove and |
| acquired locally. Their price is right since they're | | | | caught hermit crabs, fiddler crabs and sand crabs. |
| available for free. You "spend" only the time to | | | | I even got a small snake once, but that's another |
| gather them. Be sure to check local and regional | | | | story. |
| regulations on the use of live baits. | | | | Insects |
| Worms | | | | Crickets, grasshoppers, beetles and other insects |
| The world's all-time favorite. You can dig them up | | | | can be caught in a meadow, wooded area or park |
| from your yard or garden or a wooded area near | | | | using a butterfly-type net. Lightning bugs (which |
| your fishing grounds. If you're not that energetic, | | | | flash their tail lights at night) are a good bet too. |
| get some kids to do it for you. They're available | | | | Crawling insects, grubs, maggots and larvae are |
| most of the year (winter might be tough), easy | | | | good too. They are often found under rocks, |
| to find and gather. Leave the smaller ones. Use | | | | fallen logs or other materials which have been on |
| the larger earthworms or night crawlers. | | | | the ground for some time. Again, you could just |
| Minnows | | | | get a bunch of kids to do it for you if you don't |
| A technique I like involves using an old window | | | | have the time or need the exercise. Cockroaches |
| screen. We used to walk along in the surf of the | | | | make good live bait too if you can stomach using |
| Chesapeake Bay with a framed meter-square | | | | them. Not the small North American varieties that |
| piece of window screen to trap all kinds of small | | | | plague households mind you, but the large, |
| salt water fish, crustaceans, sand worms and | | | | three-inch long ones common here in South |
| even small crabs. It made for an interesting series | | | | America and in Asia. |
| of "catches" and provided endless hours of simple | | | | So, look into what live, natural baits are available |
| fun for me and my siblings. Minnows swim in fairly | | | | locally near your favorite fishing grounds. It never |
| large schools so you can scoop up a bunch of | | | | hurts to have a variety of presentations for |
| them fairly quickly. Walk a few feet with the | | | | those "dog days" of fishing. Fishing with some new |
| screen in the water. Lift it up quickly to scoop up | | | | offerings can add an extra dimension to your |
| your catch. Then dump it into a bucket. Repeat | | | | next fishing trip. Getting them might even be a bit |
| the procedure as you walk along the beach or | | | | of fun too, especially if you "involve" the kids. On |
| shore. Keep them alive and fresh in a bucket | | | | vacation, abroad or simply "away" from your |
| partially filled with the same waters you collected | | | | usual fishing haunts, it'll put more than an extra bit |
| them from. | | | | of enticement into your presentations. Good luck. |