The heads could be the problem.
Over the years while fishing walleyes with a crawler on a # 8 Lindy rig I would on occasion hook a large Gill. They always hit the crawler in the head as to kill the bait and get hooked. In fact one trip up by Orr all we used to catch some dandy Gills was a whole crawler on a Lindy rig. The dinks would always nip at the tail of the crawler while the big fish would head bite.
Techno2000 LIKED above post
bluegills are well known eye peckers yawl , any minner guy will tell you they are a nightmare on live bait.
not sure if its a kill thing but to be for sure sure they love to peck heads on minnow type items .
might just be they like the taste of eyeballs ? I seen a many ketched before on JUST fish eye balls …..
and there you have it …..
KABOOM is the word
sum kawl me tha outlaw ketchn whales
I hand tied some black 1/64 jigs last year and caught a ton of gills.
I was using the Bobby Garland Jig heads called Itty Bits.
I’m not sure what size the hook is but it’s small but very sturdy and fits completely inside the mouth of the blue gills.
Note - I trimmed the jig hair short so if they grabbed it they got caught. My missed hook sets went wayyy down.
I used both ultra light with a float and long pole no float.
Tie them to mimic a bug Not a minner.
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