Fishing for bait

[Mike Dooley]

Went out and tried to get creek chubs and came back with two dozen of these in an hour and a half.

[NIMROD]

We call those Green Sunfish or Ricefield Slicks. Alive they are #1 bait for Flathead Catfish. Blues and Channels with hit them too. They don't grow too big when baiting for Flatheads either.

[jp1979]

We call those Green Sunfish or Ricefield Slicks. Alive they are #1 bait for Flathead Catfish. Blues and Channels with hit them too. They don't grow too big when baiting for Flatheads either.

how do you hook these when using as bait? i am going to attempt to use some for some very hook shy large mouth that are in one of our farm ponds.

[barrelslime]

We call them Goggle Eye round here.

[Blackhawk19]

What we call goggle eyes around here have a mouth more like a bass and red eyes.

[jake_lusk]

stick a 6/0 gamakatsu octapus hook right in the top of the back

[no1son]

Green sunfish for sure and excellent flathead bait. They can be fished on circle hooks as large as 10/0. DO NOT use them live in small waters such as ponds that do not already have them; they can be invasive and are extremely hardy and adaptable fish and not at all fussy about water conditions or oxygen content either. Where it is legal, they and the other sunnies are also excellent muskie live bait, especially where suckers are the main live bait used for muskies and they have gotten used to seeing suckers presented. In some waters they regularly reach 6 to 8 inches and then are excellent sport in their own right on light tackle. They hit hard and fight hard often taken bigger baits than most sunfish will touch. They are also as good eating as any other sunnie when they are big enough.

[NIMROD]

I like to hook them through the eyes or lips as most big fish swallow them head first given plenty of time.

[NIMROD]

What we call goggle eyes around here have a mouth more like a bass and red eyes.

Yep we call a similar fish '' Warmouths'' by Goggle Eyes.

[NIMROD]

Green sunfish for sure and excellent flathead bait. They can be fished on circle hooks as large as 10/0. DO NOT use them live in small waters such as ponds that do not already have them; they can be invasive and are extremely hardy and adaptable fish and not at all fussy about water conditions or oxygen content either. Where it is legal, they and the other sunnies are also excellent muskie live bait, especially where suckers are the main live bait used for muskies and they have gotten used to seeing suckers presented. In some waters they regularly reach 6 to 8 inches and then are excellent sport in their own right on light tackle. They hit hard and fight hard often taken bigger baits than most sunfish will touch. They are also as good eating as any other sunnie when they are big enough.

Hard to find many streams , lakes, and older ponds in the south that don't already have these.