live bait- waxworm
fly-sponge spider
lure-Never caught any on a lure, though i have been experimenting with Berkley powerbait grubs.
It's hard to beat a waxworm for bluegill. Never have caught any giants, other than a large shellcracker that was eat up with red spots. I'm going to start fishng deeper with some waxworms and redworms and see what i can find. I like the dropshot idea.
Bluegill: lite grafite rod, 4lb test,big red worm hooked one time through the nose. float, slpitshot, hook.If that doesn't work, taking the float off will.
crackers:small slpitshot,3/8in.of nightcrawler.they feed on snails and that will get em.good topic and good luck.
i am new to the forum and i think it is great! my favorite sunfish lures are canyon plastics 1/64th oz tubes in red/yellow or just yellow. i tip the jig with maggots or worms most of the time. i usually catch more sunfish crappie fishing then if i try for them :confused:.
Oyster,
I sometimes use a #10 scud dropper on two feet of 6lb. test tied to the hook bend of a #8 foam pusher too on the fly rod. So you're not alone on the dropper rigs. Works great but casts like crap.
Thanks for the input folks, keep going. Great to see and know what works for folks. I have learned a lot of new ideas and methods already :D.
Small caterpillars do work well. I've used them before, but they are time consuming to gather and they are seasonal.
I use a prince nymph as a dropper under a popper. They nearly always hit the nymph but the popper serves as a good float. Thats what I have had success on.
catalpa worms are defenitely by far and away the best live bait but there arent that many trees with them on them anymore.
Finally, I knew somebody would post it. I agree huntin-n-fishin. A catalpa, or how ever you spell it, is hard to find and the worms are excellent. My granddad said they use to use them, but they would cut the head off and use a match stick to turn them inside out. He said they were about white. I told him that sounded like to much work, especially having to do it so often. I never tried it, but like the worms. Matter of fact, since I moved I spotted me a catalpa not far from where I'm building my house.
Crickets, catalpa worms, pink worms, marathon poppers and beetle spins are my favorites.
My home town has Catalpa trees scattered all over it. But you never see any worms, i think they sprayed them. I do know of a few that has them out side of town, but they don't produce them every year. When they do i gather as many as i can find and freeze them. You ain't gonna believe me, but i've taken some out that had been in there for a couple weeks. Got to the river and opened the lid and a few were crawling around. Best bait there is in my opinion for just about any kind of fishin, especially the cats. One of the worst fights me and the wife ever had was over her throwing my worms out hehe...izzy