A Better Dough-Bait
Keoeeit
make a dough-bait that lasts.
Get "Wheaties" breakfast cereal (you know, that "breakfast of
champions" stuff). Take a small handful of it and sprinkle it with some
lake-water, crushing it up in the palm of your hand and kneading it
into a pliable soft dough. It'll just be a clumpy mess at first but
keep kneading it for a minute or two, it eventually becomes a smooth
dough. Add a little more water if it's not pliable enough. Water to
Wheaties ratio becomes obvious after a couple times. You can mix in a
few drops of sardine-oil from your lunch or other scents while kneading
it. By itself it's not very effective so you should add some kind of
scent. (A small bit of rotted chicken-liver works good too, just use a
separate baggie to knead it in so you don't get the stank all over you.
Just leave some chicken-liver in the sun or other warm place for a
day.)
Mold it onto your hook. It's the only easy-to-make dough I've ever
found that won't get softer in water and never falls off the hook until
you take it off. I'd suggest molding it on your hook so the hook's barb
is very near the surface and in a thinner area of the dough, as the
hook won't pull through it very easily when you get a hit.
Try it. It's amazingly simple, and it works.
(The other benefits of this is that it's cheap, easy to pack along, you
can get it anywhere, and doubles as a crunchy snack when you've
forgotten to bring something to eat. (The Wheaties, not the rotted
chicken-liver.))