Threadfin and gizzard shad make excellent live baits. People can usually catch them with cast nets. In coastal areas, anglers can catch mullets in cast nets. Live sunfish or small bullheads make excellent flathead bait. These hardy fish will usually stay alive for hours in a livewell.
Anglers can also scoop minnows, crawfish or grass shrimp in roadside ditches or small streams.
All these morsels make excellent bait for small catfish. Many sportsmen throw away pounds of prime catfish bait each winter. Deer kidneys, hearts or livers make excellent bait. Waterfowl hunters can keep gizzards, hearts or other entrails. Then they thrust their hands into submerged holes in rocks, in undercut banks or under logjams, hoping to feel something soft or biting.