I had to add this one to the list... A few years back while trout fishing in Michigan on one of the streams I grew up on I had the unfortunate (or fortunate depending on your point of view) experience of catching several hundred creek chubs, daces and shiners and not a single trout of any species. I started out just pitching the annoying egg eaters onto the banks, but that seemed like a waste so I began keeping them thinking that I might use them for bait at some point. I ended up taking home a few hundred 5"-10" baitfish. Used a bunch for fertilizer in the garden (grew some amazing squash, beans and corn that year) but then started thinking that I could make my own "sardines". I bought a pressure canner and since I like sardines in mustard on ritz crackers (especially with a cold beer) I thought I'd give it a try. Turns out, once you gut, dehead, and scale them with your thumbnail, pack them into half pint jars with a tsp of mustard, a tsp olive oil and 1/4 tsp salt, pressure can at 10 lbs for 100 minutes the little boogers are delicious.
So not only did I find a new way to enjoy "bait", I'm also helping out the few remaining native brook trout by thinning out the fish that eat their eggs and young.
