Now is the time of year that all I hear from most fishermen is " all I can do now is tie my flies and wait till spring!" or " now all I can do is wait till first ice!"  Sound familiar??  Well now is the busy time for me, gathering bait and mapping new lakes. For Bluegill, Crappie, and Perch bait that keeps through the winter, cruise the back roads and watch the ditch line, and fence line for straight weed stalks with ball like growths on them. Goldenrod grubs are collected from these balls from the first frost till spring. Horse weed, and Ragweed are larger plants that also need to be checked, but these need to be checked usually in July, and August. When you see them, cut above and below these growths and place in a glass jar with a lid , that has about a dozen small nail holes in it.)

They need to be kept in a cool dry place, like the garage, shed, or even the basement. KEEP THEM AWAY FROM THE FURNACE!!.  They will keep in their stalk balls all winter, till they eat their way out in the spring, or till you inadvertently warm them up. Or you can cut them out of their ball to use them for fishing.
A day before you are ready to use them for fishing, cut into the ball with a sharp knife, and extract the grub that is inside. Place the grubs in a mix of half-and-half cornmeal and fine sawdust, in a bowl with a tight lid that has small holes punched in it. Plain cornmeal will work, but keep it dry! Now is the time to add your favorite fish attractant also.  For carrying the grubs, I use 35mm film containers that have holes punched in the lid. Snuff tins work well also. (they are mostly all plastic lidded now.)  Put enough meal mix in to cover them.  A hint for snuff tins and fishing, is to put lid on, heat a needle and poke a double hole in the lid, and also the side of the tin.  Now thread a strand of four pound test mono. through, and tie a loop.This way the lid will not blow away!