What type of bait?

[buckethead]

What type of live bait do you use for large mouth bass and and n pike when out on the lakes? I normally just buy shiners or small herring. I was wondering if anyone supersizes it by catching their own chubs or suckers and using them?

[hookset]

I have trapped bait for a few years in freshwater. You can just take the killie traps and use them, I take the openings and make them a little bigger when I know there are suckers around. The added benefit is you sometimes get some eels for striped bass too. As for using suckers, they are great for pike, but you can get them too big and the pike will only chew them up not swallow them. The best size I like is around 4-6", so if you want that size only modify your killie trap a little bit with the opening.

Another thing is the suckers tend to stay on the bottom. I would rather fish them from a boat for pike, and I use a bobber to keep them away from the bottom. You don't want the bobber to be too big though. If the bobber is just touching the surface, and going down a little with movement, I find that to be the size that works for me.

And the last thing I would recommend is if you use a bigger bait like a sucker, try to cut the top part of the tail off at the fork. That will prevent them from going down to the mud, and you might also get a nice catfish from the blood trail. Don't cut too much or they will die. Good luck.