As I read the Magazine when it comes in the mail, I always notice BIG articles on Lures by different manufacturing companies. That's GREAT! But what happened to the simple days of using a Night Crawler or Red Worm? Here in the Great N.W., I do a lot of fishing for Lake Trout and use Power Bait and a Marshmellow with a 3 foot leader. The color of Power Bait is a preference to the fisherman and it floats. Using a small sinker before the leader puts the bait up 3 feet from the bottom. It works great. I noticed a Member in the magazine using chicken liver. That's a new one on me, but it worked great for him. I even have a Worm Blower that inflates a Night Crawler with air so it will float. I usually catch Rainbow's that are 18 to 24 inches long and I can live with that. At a lake up here, people catch 20 pound Macinaw. Fishing is really good here. North Central Washington is a great place. If you like to river fish, great places around here for that too. I see Monster Pike's and Walleyes in the magazine but have never gone fishing for them. Best fishing to those who catch fish.

If thats the fish your goin for use allot of things, if you want to cach a good tasting eater, use real bait.STORYTELLEER is right by saying in his first words, let alone what he said about HOW THESE CO. make us beleiv that their things work,They dont! In my travels to these places where these people make you use FAKE BAIT becous (hell, i dont know,) You have to!!! Little fish, and little results, If your on a private lake, put a wax worm at the tip of the companys bait? (or a pinch of a night crawler)? Trust me, you will get better results (those fish there know the differents) jim

the biggest trout that i saw  bite my lure was chasing a 6"bass/striper lure,  a big ole fat trout don't git big eating worms and powrer bait(it may try it tho`), they know the prey in there waters and if you match what they want then you will git bigger trout...

 if it just froze good and alot of worms git pushed out of marshy areas and are kill'd off & you see worms floating in the river/lake then throw worms for a even better worm day! if  they stock trout in your lake try a 6" trout lure the day or 2 after they stock, a 10# trout will eat it's own kind, and they will slam it hard, they don't taste it or gum it like power bait, they straight out kill it! the best (for me)is seeing a trout hit your lure and fly straight out of the water 3' while the lure flies the oposite direction, it's is fun to just watch that , let alone if one hooks on and stays on! 

and yes i do have spot's i would love to use bait but can't! the law does save alot of fish, mostly trout, if you can cut the release times down to 30 sec. it's is way better odds of survival, un like a deep swallowed bait on barbs, for eating fish it just don't matter to me!

the lure is a puppet/tool, it's the puppetears job to sell it like it's alive, some lures work easy'r than others...but don't buy a lure cuz it promisses fish... i would recomend a few lure to try ,  rapala trout style/color lure, and inline spinners(tip um with power bait too) sizes and depth are kinda up to you.....

What's up, Muddog?

The guy that was using chicken livers was probably going for catfish.  Cats love chicken livers.

As far as live baits vs. artificials, I fish both... not to be diplomatic, but to be versatile.  Versatility is the key to productivity in fishing.  That's why a lot of us anglers have tackleboxes the size of small storage sheds:  to be versatile, thus successful.  I usually fish two or three rods.  One of them always has a nightcrawler on it in some type of presentation (under a float, Carolina-rigged or Wolf River-rigged on the bottom, on just a hook, etc.).  Just about any fish swimming will suck in a nightcrawler, and I've always caught more varied species of fish on 'crawlers than any other bait.  I throw lures with another rod and reel, the lure depending on my target species, water clarity & weather conditions.  If I'm fishing three rods, I'll have some other type of live bait (a leach, a minnow, a grub... or, yeah, chicken livers if I want a meal of channel catfish) on it.  Then, whatever the fish are hitting on that day is what I switch all of the rods to (unless, of course, they're hitting the lure(s) I'm throwing... then the live bait rods get packed up).  If you're in a place that only allows one rod (like Minnesota), bring a couple of friends with you, & each one try something different (one guy tries 'crawlers, & the others either different types of live bait, or maybe one throws lures).  Then when you find what will be most productive, all three of you switch to that presentation.  Keep the line fresh, the hooks sharp, & have fun fishing.  God bless you.  -Sonny, Life Member since 2002