# Trot line live bait?



## texasdisaster (Feb 18, 2008)

I tipically run bout 100-150 hooks this time of year (Trinity river). I really prefer to use live perch/bluegill for my lines. With me living in Baytown this type of live bait is hard to come by (brackish water). Does anyone know of a place I can go perch jerking to bait my lines? I don't mind catching them by pole I usually do that the day before I set out hooks.


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## coondog (Jan 24, 2006)

I have had the best luck using live perch, myself. I have a hard time getting a hold of them. I use live crawfish most of the time. They seem to stay on the hook better and stay alive longer.


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## texasdisaster (Feb 18, 2008)

do the crawfish bring in the opps like the live perch? Ive used them before but cant really remember?


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## rayfish (Apr 5, 2006)

Ive usually caught channels crawfish


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## CoastalOutfitters (Aug 20, 2004)

buddy up with a golf club greens keeper, put perch traps in those lakes for some filets?


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## rayray (Feb 12, 2008)

*perch*

perch traps are the way to go. we put 4 or 5 of them near the shore and bait them with bread. on a good day we can catch around 200 perch and mud minnows. i usually check them about every 30 min. have caught a few bass in them as well.


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## capn (Aug 11, 2005)

texasdisaster, from a fellow Baytown boy that likes to run lines, live perch are indeed hard to come by around here! If you find you a good hole that's public, don't talk about it much with others.  Crawfish are easier to come by but I haven't caught opps on them like I do with perch. Another bait you can consider is live mullet or small hardheads with their fins clipped.

I'm usually out in the marsh running lines myself once it warms up a little. If you ever need a hand with the lines let me know.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Yeah keep a private source of live perch to youself. You can buy them at bait store in Okakhusrt out E. hwy 190 from Onalaska. Oakhust Bait Company i think.


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## texasdisaster (Feb 18, 2008)

Thanks guys!


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## catzilla (Sep 21, 2007)

I grew up trot line fishing on the Brazos river. One of the best baits for big yellow cats was live carp. When the rice farmers would drain the rice fields, the carp would be in the bar ditches by the thousands. A lively 3 or 4 inch carp could live for days in the strong current of the river. And perch were a sure thing for yellow cats. If we used crawfish, we would catch channel cats and blue cats. If we used soap, the old P&G soap, we would catch blue cats. We would also use small mud cats for yellow cat bait. If it is alive and smaller than the yellow cat, he will eat it.


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## coondog (Jan 24, 2006)

I usually catch, blues and channels on the live crawfish, mostly blues. I am mostly in the lake and not so much in the rivers. But when I was in the rivers it was mostly channels and mud cats.


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## texasdisaster (Feb 18, 2008)

Mud cat, absolutely......they love 'em. Learned that by leaving lines out to long. Caught three opps all over 5 lbs. with little rotten mud cats that bit first. lol The only place i know to catch a bunch of mud cat however is in bakerdowns apartment ponds. I have no access though my friend moved a couple years ago.


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