There is a little story behind this recipe. After the crappie head for deep water in the summer, I will often fish for bluegill and perch because they're easy to catch and really tasty too! I have made different kinds of dough bait for fishing ever since my dad taught me how to make it when I was a kid. Bluegill are scavengers (like catfish) and they will bite on almost anything. I've caught them on MacDonald's french fries. As long as the dough bait has a cornmeal and flour base so it sticks together, you can add various ingredients to tempt the little fish. One day several years ago I wanted to go fishing, and there was one over-ripe banana in the kitchen. Always ready to experiment, I mashed it up and added this and that and cooked it on the stove. It cooled off and I took it to the lake for a few hours of fishing. You can imagine my smile when the little bluegill LOVED this bait. Suddenly, BAM, something really big was on my line. Darn, it must be a turtle, I thought, because it was bending my ultra light rod double. I have the drag set light on the four pound test line, and I played with this lake creature for a while, wanting to see what it was. When it tired of fighting and I was able to gently coax it to the surface, I saw a big catfish on the line. I was dock fishing, didn't have a big net, didn't want to fall in the water, so I laid down on the dock and could just reach the catfish jaw to haul it in. That was the beginning of a fun summer of catching all kinds of fish on my homemade banana bait. If you want to catch crappie with this bait, you have to add something to the hook with some wiggle and flash. You can put a little bit of the dough on a jig and hook as an attractant. I love this bait ( and so do my grandkids) because it has a nice smell, I can store it in the freezer till I need it, and a little bit goes a long, long way. Anyway, here it is, good luck, and have fun. Here's the recipe. Take a kid fishing.
Grandma Toni's Homemade Banana Power Bait for All Kinds of Fish
First, wash your hands! Fish don't like hand lotion and perfume. If you have a lemon scented dish soap, use that. You will have to do some of the mixing by hand, and you don't want to contaminate your bait with something the fish don't like.
Mix together 1 mashed banana, 1 cup of water, 1 cup of cornmeal, 1/2 cup flour, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 Tablespoon sugar, 1/4 cup quick cooking oatmeal, a dash of salt.
Mix it well and put it in a microwave proof container with a cover. Nuke it for 2 minutes on high. Take it out and it will have the outside edges cooked and the inside will be soft. Stir it again until it is all the same consistency and nuke it again for 2 minutes on high.
Take out the dough. It should be the consistency of stiff playdough. Knead it well as soon as it has cooled enough that you don't burn your hands. Add flour as you knead to keep it from sticking to your hands. Be careful, this stuff is hot! Once it is kneaded and cooled, you will have a rubbery hunk of dough about the size of a large grapefruit. Divide it into smaller portions about the size of an egg and freeze it in a bag with a little flour to keep the portions from sticking together. When you want to go fishing, just take out a couple balls and head for the fishing hole.
Use a small hook or a treble hook and a piece of dough about the size of a pinto bean. A little piece of banana bait can catch a really big fish!
I hope you have as much fun with this as I have. I made up a batch this morning and put it in the freezer for the next camping trip.
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