Thread: Favorite Methods for Gills

Crickets hooked under the collar with a 1.5 inch red carolina cork pegged with a toothpick with two BB shots six inches from a No. 8 Mustad aberdeen hook. Oh by the way 4lb test Trilene XL clear line. Reel used Shimano Stradic 1000 with a St. Croix Premier 6ft ultra light rod. A Coppernose Bluegill Reaper Setup.

Second only to by beloved crappie I love to fish for those big bream. I too love to see that bobber go under. Especially that 45 degree steadily disapearing one. I use crickets frequently, however my favorites as far as live bait goes are grubs and maggots. I catch the best bream on these two baits under any conditions. I get the grubs from my garden and the maggots by simply putting a fish carcas or other dead animal, to include road kill, in a plastic container. Once the carcas is saturated with maggots I let them grow for a week or so and then put them in a can with some cornmeal and sawdust mixture. This cleans them and makes them a little more pleasant to handle. I also found that by using a red blood hook ( I use a #6 or 8 which I scratch to reveal some of the silver) provides an excellent shining attraction combined with the red. This combo has proven to be superb for me. I put the same rig out side by side with a regular colored hook, the red hook set up consistently receives the most aggressive bites as well as the larger bream. I also thread 2 and sometimes 3 maggots on the hook (thread) they stay on very well. Give it a try, Im sure you will be pleased with the results. Good luck!!

Originally Posted by jasmax

Second only to by beloved crappie I love to fish for those big bream. I too love to see that bobber go under. Especially that 45 degree steadily disapearing one. I use crickets frequently, however my favorites as far as live bait goes are grubs and maggots. I catch the best bream on these two baits under any conditions. I get the grubs from my garden and the maggots by simply putting a fish carcas or other dead animal, to include road kill, in a plastic container. Once the carcas is saturated with maggots I let them grow for a week or so and then put them in a can with some cornmeal and sawdust mixture. This cleans them and makes them a little more pleasant to handle. I also found that by using a red blood hook ( I use a #6 or 8 which I scratch to reveal some of the silver) provides an excellent shining attraction combined with the red. This combo has proven to be superb for me. I put the same rig out side by side with a regular colored hook, the red hook set up consistently receives the most aggressive bites as well as the larger bream. I also thread 2 and sometimes 3 maggots on the hook (thread) they stay on very well. Give it a try, Im sure you will be pleased with the results. Good luck!!

That is exactly how I do it except for growing my own maggots and I have not tried the red hooks although I will be picking some up now:D . I always thread one or two completely on and let the last one hang a bit. You ever tried small leeches? Man that is by far the best big Gill bait for me.

My favorites:

#1 - Fly fishing (topwater)
#2 - Fly fishing (subsurface)
#3 - Float fishing with maggots

Small one inch black spoon with the #10 hook, tipped with a crappie nibble or maggots, fished under the smallest bobber i can find in my box.

Crickets about a foot maybe 15-18 inches under a plastic cork and no weight. You will fill your bucket in no time. Also when/if they are available, catalpa worms work great as well.

#1 1/32 or 1/16 oz Beetle spin on a U/L rod and reels. Cruise the banks and cast just like you are fishing for green carp. I wear them out with this method.

#2 Fly rod with a popper

#3 small cork couple of BB shot and a #6 hook with a cricket ( reds and/or pinks for shellcracker)

i use all artificials for the panfish. usually a jig in the 1/32 - 1/80 oz size tipped with a berkley power wiggler or an exude micro shad. right now we are fishing them extremely slow just cause they are not chasing a whole lot. here in the next couple weeks we just cast out the jig and use a steady retrieve to haul in lots of nice gills. our favorite colors would be orange jig with with or pink power wigglers right now and the micro shad in a couple weeks when the water really starts to warm. these are great combos that can be fished in any situation, from very shallow water to as much as 25- 30 feet as long as you can keep contact with the feel of your jig.