Best Live Bait for Lac Seul right now?

[rather-be-fishin]

Wondering what is the best live bait to use on NW part of Lac Seul right now? Minnows, Leeches or Crawlers?

Any tips much appreciated! Leaving Saturday & can't wait!

RBF

[davenathe]

1. Crawlers
2. Leeches, because hard to get good quality

[ScottL]

We just got back this past Monday from the SE section. Minnows were #1 leeches in 2nd and crawlers were a distant 3rd.

[115 optimax]

Originally Posted by ScottL

We just got back this past Monday from the SE section. Minnows were #1 leeches in 2nd and crawlers were a distant 3rd.

We always use minnows this time of year on Lac Suel,good Leeches are hard to come by and out of the 20 years of fishing on Lac Suel I've never used worms and always did good!

[Bitinlight]

Just got back Monday. Fished the NE section. Minnows by far.

[lcwhit]

my experience---this time of year. minnows, most fish. crawlers, less numbers and bigger fish.

[J.Iverson]

we were up there a week ago, minnows for us.

[bus33]

We got back Friday from the NW portion of the lake. Minnows and Leeches were neck and neck.....kind of depended on the day. I used a crawler a few times and did ok but mostly small eyes on the them.

[BreezyPoint]

I just got back a week ago from Goose Bay Camp at Ear Falls. We caught fish at will on minnows and crank baits. We only used minnows one day...the rest of the time we trolled crank baits in eight feet of water or less. The biggest fish was 26 and we caught numerous fish in the 25-26 inch range. ALL of the biggest fish came trolling the crank baits in shallow water. This is an approach I never see people use, but works for me equally well on Lake of the Woods all summer long. The bite on minnows is faster (about three to one), but the crank baits easily out produced on fish larger the 21 inches. So give artificially a try, you may not go back to live bait.

BTW, we caught the biggest fish while looking at Goose Bay Camp!

[Red legs]

I would recommend both crawlers and leeches. Leeches work best if weather has been unsettled-especially post cold front. We always get our leeches in fort France's packed in oxygen and store on card board over ice we also acclimate them to lake temp prior to storing in leech cribs by placing oxygen bags in five gal bucket filled with lake water for a few hours. Leech cribs are 5 gal buckets with 1/64 holes drilled into them every inch or so.

Crawlers historically are a big fish bait. We stopped using minnows years ago. They are too costly and much too hard to transport and sustain for any period of time unless oxygenated system used. We get crawlers at home packed in newspaper bedding. A cooler is dedicated for transport. Strongly recommend both and let fish tell you what to use. Bait sore at ff will sort jumbos if desired- otherwise you get assorted med/lg/jumbos. Been doing this for over 30 years with great success keeping both in good condition for week.