live mice as bait?

[sam]

I found this and wondered if anyone has tried this? I think you would get in trouble from someone for doing this.

try 3 mile slough and the moth ball fleet w/ eel for some good sturgeon and the same spots plus rio vist bridge w/ chovies and dines for some good striper action. back around the isleton area try pitching live mice (get them for 1$ at pet shops. i know dosent sound nice but works very well hook em under skin behind neck.) around the weeds and reeds. good luck. ps all places are decent for the kitties on dine and chovies. oh almost for got gohst and grass shrimp wprk great for all.

[MyBullet]

poor mice!!

[Bill kizer]

So is this a top water bait, or do you give them a long straw to breath out of?
Bill

[CORAL 96]

An old co-worker of mine used to do this out on the Delta. He'd bring out a foot long 2x4 with him. He'd tie a noose around the mouse's neck with a treble hook on the end. He put the mouse on the 2x4 and float it out toward some tules. Then give the mouse a pop off the board. Mouse starts swimming. BAM, he said he caught a few nice bass this way. But mind you, he liked to use pet goldfish as bait too. BTW I'd bet you could catch some MONSTER CATFISH using the mouse technique!!!!!

[sam]

I would feel bad for the mouse, I feed the little pinkies to my snake but sticking a hook through it would be torture. For the goldfish does he just let it swim around?

[Tm Customs]

so illegal!

[Lionheart]

Fishing with live mice isn't " fishin' " unless it is being done for survival purposes. How many live presentations could you get from a mouse with hook under it's skin? I've never tried it, but I don't suppose that he would live very long. IMO, it's a lame notion on many different levels. It's knid of Jeffery Daumer-ish.

[yayareabass]

I have seen people doing this when I lived in Oregon. People would use live mice in the Deschutes River and catch some huge brown trout on them.

[BassTraveler]

Mice are so small...Tie on a Poodle and hold on. Har!

[Andy Giannini]

Many people tell the tale of floating the poor mouse out on a shingle, and then yanking it off at the killer spot. What in the heck is going to make a mouse sit there petrified until the angler yanks it off the shingle? What if it just decides to jump off two feet from launch? Who cares about floating it over there, just hook it and make a cast for Christ's sake! It will still be alive and swim. Never mind trying to get the wind/current just right to float it over there, pretty damn tough!

That's why I believe this to be another urban "Bass Fishing" legend.

But I will tell what is not, and how an angler can really go about it. Dewayne Watson had a cabin at a lake, with a live catch mousetrap. Upon arrival he would empty the trap into the lake, tossing mice and betting on how far they might make it. The fish would just suck them up. It was entertainment, but being a Bass fisherman he could not get it outta his mind.

He decided to make up a realistic mouse, with taxidermied fur and all. After many attempts, he got it down, and went on to win SIX BOATS with the thing in Nevada! Marketing and trying mass production of the critters went on next.

The Watson's Wrat is a bait anyone can buy, forget about trying to find live mice, keeping them live, running out etc. They bring the realism of flyrodding to baitcast tackle. Fish will eat them. The clearer the water the better, and big fish eat em too. Only downside is the price, which isn't far off a big swimbait or something like that. I have somewhere around 28 of them, and that is a pretty good testament into how well they work. (I have enough to last a few years.) He also makes a very realistic duckling. These baits are truely a taxidermists nightmare, I tried like hell to make one, gave up.

Not sure who has them now, but if you are really intrested in giving a mouse a shot, instead of a frog or some other thing consider it.

A bass really will eat a mouse or small rat!

Any guy that wants to ask about it please feel free to shoot me an E!

A.G.

[troutnut]

we flyanglers have been using mouse imitations for years. No need to use the real thing. If they get loose, they will find a way back to YOUR house and move into your kitchen.