#4 - Open a Bait Shop

This idea might seem out there, but if you live in the right location, and have the 20 minutes per day for maintenance and feeding, you could profit.

To first start your bait business, you might as well start with something easy...Earth Worms!

1. Get a Styrofoam cooler, about the size of a lunch box, or better yet, get a Worm Kit from Gander Mountain. If you do the cooler, make sure you poke a few holes in the top so they can breath.
2. Next would be bedding. If your doing the cooler, use old newspapers that are cut up, and make sure to add enough water that it saturates everything. Put enough newspaper so its 2-3 inches high. The kit from Gander Mountain should come with the bedding.
3. Next add the worms. For your little cooler or the Gander Mountain kit, just add around 20-30 worms. You can find the worms in your back yard, but an easier way would be to dish out $3 and buy them by the dozen.
4. Now you add the food. Make sure the worms have worked their way down to the bottom before you add any food. Cut up vegetables into small cubes, or add coffee grounds. Don't bury them, just lay them on top. The worms will come up like goldfish and feed when they are hungry. Don't go overboard with the food, and don't add anymore until the food you added is gone. A better route would be to go to Walmart, or Gander Mountain and buy the food there. The food you buy from there also doubles as their food, so you can can knock out 2 birds with 1 stone. The kit from Gander Mountain comes with this.
5. Now all that is left is maintenance. Make sure you put the cooler in a cool dark place..like a basement. Check on them every 2 days or so, and add water when needed, but don't drowned them! Make sure you remove any dead worms, and turn the soil every week. After all the bedding breaks down and turns to soil, remove it and use it for your garden or something, and then follow step 1 again with adding new bedding. 

Your worms should reproduce and be full sized within a year. When you start to get alot of worms, its would be time to move them outside. You can build a square wooden bin and setup and compost pile to put the worms in. They will all stay within the compose pile and keep reproducing. You can then start selling the worms by the dozen. Make sure you beat all the local bait shop prices, and advertise in the local papers or craigslist. 

After you get the hang of earthworms, maybe you should the try redworms and minnows. They are also popular fishing baits. I will provide links below for some more reading on compost piles and raising earth worms.

Composting 101

Organic Gardening

Grow your own Earthworms