Or can you put as many as you want on there? I was thinking of going noodling this weekend just to get enough for the family. What other bait besides shad would you suggest. I have catch cats on almost anything. I would prefer shad but throwing a net is too much right now.

jugs, noodles, and trot lines are pretty much the same thing in NC regs, no live bait and put your contact info on it. Shrimp works pretty good. You can also go by the seafood section at Food Lion and put just about any sort of chunks of fish on there. Once you put 'em out back off a ways and don't keep shining a spotlight over there because they know the deal, they're smarter than they look.

thanks Ray. IN Kentucky you can only use 2 hooks per rod and a max of 100 hooks per trot line. If u have a commercial fishing liscense then it is like 1,000 hooks per trot line. They use nets and traps too. That is why all the big catfish are gone. They all get sold at a fish market.

I was thinking of putting a bank sinker on bottom and then a two hoks each one a foot apart. I was also thinking of trying to ty the noodle about 2/3 over to one side. So when some thing took it the noodle would satnd up. Maybe even a little flag in the end that would stand up. I have a bunch of flags left from training my dogs on there wirelees fence that would work perfect.

Just some thoughts. I would like to hear any ideas and thanks in advance.

Heres an idea. Get a tank full of bait and drift 10 or 12 rods over many miles like the rest of us and earn your catch.

I used to make anchors for jugs out of bleach bottles and 2liter soda bottles. I would use a soup can or such and fill it with concrete and place a u-bolt in it so I could tie off the jug line. For jugs, I only used 1 or 2 hooks per jug about 5 feet apart. 1 close to the bottom. I used all kinds of bait, live, cut, chicken livers, night crawlers, etc. Just be couretous and pick up your jugs when you leave.

Remember that you can not fish live baits from a jug, trotline or noodle.
From what I have seen there does not seem to be a limit or a lot of sportmanship on the part of many of the noodle fishermen. We trolled up above the river and several folks had the entire channel covered with at least 50 noodles each. All the deep water was covered so we had to pull up the downriggers and leadcores in order to cross the hump.
Also saw a couple of sets of noodles with no attendants anywhere in sight. A couple were bobbing up and down and tangling the rest of the lines.
I also wonder how many stripers and bass are caught in this manner? Personally I like the pull of a fish and the sound of the clicker screaming. With all the contaminants in lake fish and the relative cheapness of farmraised cats I just don't see the point of filling a cooler with this method.
Now the old style of noodling is a different matter.....that takes some cajones!

Not sure about VA. but NC will outlaw jug and noodle fishing in a year or two. As is usually the case, it is abuse that will cause this legislation. The biggest abuse is not using common sense. Putting out 80 noodles from a boat is an example. My own nephew puts out 80 and so does the boat that fishes with him. This arrogance creates huge problems for sportsmen or rec boaters . Most of them actually will not harm boats unless as Jason suggest you anchor them with concret or something. But most people do not know they will usually not harm boats or motors and will avoid large areas of navigable water from fear.(They actually are bad for tooners because they can run down the middle of them in to the motor)

As far as limits, its like ponography. You don't have to define it, you know it when you see it. When you look over your own mess and you want to hide when you see people comming, you know its too many. If you find yourself calling or riding around town trying to give fish away, you have abused it.

There is really not need to run a long thread about , "if its legal..do it". I actually agree with that. We do have the right to fish in any legal manner. We also have the right to petition for change. It works every time. Chriss

I was not trying to stir up anything. I just wanted to put out about 10 noodles. Part of it is for food, part for fun (my kids get bored easy on a hot day),the other was to test areas and baits. 80 seems way too many. I agree in the regulation of them. I have seen what commercial fishing has done to the Mississippi, Ohio, Tenn, and Cumberland rivers. Also trot lines that are left and never picked up covered with dead fish.

I usually take several rods 3-4 with slip corks and 1-2 on bottum. I just was wanting to try something new. Thanks for the input!

Point taken, Raymond. I guess folks could take a stab at any of us too with all the modern equipment that the poor old fish doesn't have a chance anymore. As long as people obseverve reasonable limits and only take what can be used and release what can survive we would not need Big Brother looking over our shoulder.

Only problem I see with using more than one hook per line with the noodles is that you may have a problem handlining your catch without hooking yourself. A decent sized fish could really cause some problems if he made a run while you had the mainline in your hand!

I totally agree with Jaybee. The fish don’t have much of a chance anymore with GPS, Sonar, circle hooks and superlines etc.

I put out 80 jugs sometimes but never more than once a week. I usually shad but On rare occasions I have used live goldfish, crappie, brim and baby bass.

I know there is a negative stigma on using live bait but after reading Chris Cross’s post I agree with what he said. I never waste any of the fish I catch. If I ever have more then I can eat in a week my friends eat them. Using live bait is more natural. There is a food chain and I fail to see the negative in this. As long as you’re responsible and don’t over do it then what harm? As I mentioned it is no different than using other technology and crossing the "what is fair" line.

I bait them in the morning and put them out. MY wife and I Jet Ski enjoy some beers on the boat. Then in the evening I get the jugs. It is rare but sometimes I get the jugs the following day if I have had too much to drink. I don’t like mess with the big fish I’m drunk. This is not responsible but it also very rare. The bottom line is I never waste my catch and I don’t take more than my share. I also have yet to see a REAL published rule that says using baby bass is illegal.

I would never suggest putting out 80 jugs. That's excessive. However, it is a legal fishing method. I haven't done it since I was a kid growing up. It works and if someone wants to use this method to catch some fish to eat and the law says it is alright, go for it. Just make sure you are abiding by all laws.

When I did this it wasn't in VA/NC and there was only a creel on blue cats. With a length limit, you will have to (ethically) attend your jugs so you can release those big blues.

Honestly, I can't stand it when holier than thou people bash others for chosing to fish in one manner vs. another method. If the law says it is ok, then it is ok period. Personally, I wouldn't fish jugs but I would never look down on someone who does.

Wow it really is illeagle to use shad on jugs in VA. here is the regulation.

Trot Lines, juglines or set poles may be used to take nongame fish and turtles provided they are not baited with live bait (worms are permissible), except on waters stocked with trout and within 600 feet of any dam. Live bait other than game fish may be used on trot lines to take catfish in Carroll, Dickenson, Giles, Grayson, Montgomery, Pulaski and Wythe counties, and in the Clinch River, in Russell, Scott and Wise counties.
Any person setting or possessing the above equipment shall have it clearly marked by permanent means with his or her name, address, and telephone number, and is required to check all lines and remove all fish and animals caught each day.

I wonder if cut shad is considered live bait?

Not if they have been cut good enough.

Tony, you are the reason juggers have a bad name!

My sons and I put out about five at a time and watch them while we fish. If the wind is blowing enough to have current on the lake I really don't see how you could keep up with a larg number of them. It really suprises me how more willing a cat is to take a bait away from a boat. We keep a few for suppers and through a few back but mostly do it to have fun watching my kids try to grab and hold on to the noodles with a fired up cat on the end of it. Try it, have fun and keep what you are giong to eat.

Tony, Got to admit that I did not LOL at your post, but I did recognize it for what it was.....satire. Sophisticated humor does not go well on most fishing forums. It's really flys high on this one. J.

Last friday morning there was approx. 100 noodles from Stauton river state park to painted rock. Looked like 2 sets. Only 1 boat was seen watching them. Yesterday, there were 2 sets of noodles from inside of bluestone out to the main lake all the way down in front on Prestwood, no boat in site. I saw no markings on quite a few on both occassions. With not only cats be caught, the stripers are returning which is evident from dead spawned out fish, large mouth bass I'm sure are caught. I think a regulation is way overdue on jugging and my main question is where were all the wardens that haunted the lake during spring crappie? There was NO problem checking every crappie fisherman in Buffalo for everything. I think any jugs found floating on the shore that was not picked up and abandoned should have the name posted here and what garbage can it is in IF they abide by the law and put their required info on it.

This topic has had a history on the forum. Unfortunately until someone is hurt or killed due to the line sets, or until a record largemouth is caught on one little notice will be taken. The line sets are lake wide but little if any are commercial. But the abuse of the line sets could have the same cause and effect as the nets did on the stripers. I feel there should be limits set on the number of hooks per person and a constant attendance on floating sets such as noodles and jugs. There happens to be lot of unretrieved fish that die unfound on float sets. This leads to and decent amount of wanton waste.