If your minnows are dead, don’t just throw them away. Dead bait can still be good to help you make a catch. Dead bait can be made attractive by slicing it to release the scents that attract fish.
You can easily get discouraged if you are fishing in areas with lots of weeds and plants around. Just realize that whereas this may be irritating, you are more likely to catch fish here, as they tend to try to feed off the bugs that live on these plants.
Keep your live bait healthy by changing the water if you don’t have an aerator. If you neglect this, your bait will perish, rendering it useless. You should freshen the water periodically even if you do have an aerator.
If you are not concerned about catching a specific type of fish, you can use basic, plastic worms. One reason this bait is great is because it can easily be seen in water. There’s plenty of cheap and effective bait you can find at a local bait store. Live bait is not worth the expense if you aren’t looking to catch something specific. Try to use lures that resemble existing bait fish that live in the water you are fishing. For instance, if you’re fishing in an area with many crawdads, try to use lures having a crawdad’s color.