07-17-2003, 11:48 PM
[cool]That is a vastly overlooked bait in Utah Lake. It is legal and very effective. You can fish whole dead small whities...no weight...for both big cats and walleyes. Or, you can cut different sizes and shapes of strips, depending on how you want to fish.
For cats, scale and fillet the white bass, and cut out the rib cage. Leave the skin on. You can use a whole fillet...hooked with a hook in the front and a trapper hook in the other end. Or, you can cut it into chunks or strips. The bigger the bait, the bigger the fish in most cases.
For tipping jigs, lay the fillet skin side up and using a SHARP knife, cross-cut either even 1/4 to 1/3 inch strips...or cut little triangles...to hook in the wide part and let the skinny end wiggle more on the hook.
I keep a few small fish on each trip to freeze for my next trip. Fillet and skin them and freeze two to six fillets in a small plastic bag, with just a bit of water added and the air squeezed out ot prevent freezer burn. Thaw them out the night before you go, and then cut them to the desired size. Then sprinkle them with non-iodized salt and squirt them with fish attractant...crawdad, shad or shrimp. Put the sweetened bits back in the bag and keep them in the refrigerator. Put them in a small insulated bottle (soup-sized Thermos) with some ice cubes to keep them fresh as long as possible while you are fishing. Squirt on a little more juice once in awhile if you are casting and retrieving.
You can do this with perch meat, for those waters where perch is legal, and with white bass or other legal baits...like chubs, carp or suckers. It beats the heck out of having to waste the first part of your next fishing trip fishing for bait...and the salt and flavoring actually makes the pieces more effective than fresh caught in many cases.
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For cats, scale and fillet the white bass, and cut out the rib cage. Leave the skin on. You can use a whole fillet...hooked with a hook in the front and a trapper hook in the other end. Or, you can cut it into chunks or strips. The bigger the bait, the bigger the fish in most cases.
For tipping jigs, lay the fillet skin side up and using a SHARP knife, cross-cut either even 1/4 to 1/3 inch strips...or cut little triangles...to hook in the wide part and let the skinny end wiggle more on the hook.
I keep a few small fish on each trip to freeze for my next trip. Fillet and skin them and freeze two to six fillets in a small plastic bag, with just a bit of water added and the air squeezed out ot prevent freezer burn. Thaw them out the night before you go, and then cut them to the desired size. Then sprinkle them with non-iodized salt and squirt them with fish attractant...crawdad, shad or shrimp. Put the sweetened bits back in the bag and keep them in the refrigerator. Put them in a small insulated bottle (soup-sized Thermos) with some ice cubes to keep them fresh as long as possible while you are fishing. Squirt on a little more juice once in awhile if you are casting and retrieving.
You can do this with perch meat, for those waters where perch is legal, and with white bass or other legal baits...like chubs, carp or suckers. It beats the heck out of having to waste the first part of your next fishing trip fishing for bait...and the salt and flavoring actually makes the pieces more effective than fresh caught in many cases.
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