A Couple Questions

There is a river near my house that I fish during the summer time just for fun wading throwing a 2" kalin's grub. Alot of times we can easily catch close to 100 fish a day between redbreast sunfish, smallmouth bass, and rock bass. My question is that alot of these redbreast sunfish are pretty nice size in the 7 to 10 inch range. Do you guys think it would hurt the population much if I kept a limit or 2 of them from the river? We are probably catching most of our fish in around a 200 yard stretch. Also, what are some other baits that I can use to catch the redbreast sunfish? Will they take worms pretty good? I have never really targeted them just usually throw the grubs to catch a wide assortment of fish but I'm sure there are bigger sunfish there and would like to target those. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Michael

I think you would be doing the sunfish population a favor by taking a few of the out. You would never miss them. They lay every full moon for several months & the little fish are probally getting eaten by fish that you are putting back. So the population, by taking some, is not affected at all. Might help the growth size.(my opinion only)

Thank You... Thats kind of what I was thinking but, I just wasn't really sure as far as wether it would be okay to harvest some or not. I mean I don't want to take a ton of them but, I was thinking maybe 50 to 100 :/ dunno lol

Not what you were asking, but the small rebel crawfish are the best creek baits I've ever used. Try em out next time, the catch everything in the creek.

They populate in large numbers and sometimes the smaller ones will eat out the food for the larger fish in the river, i use worms and crickets but if your short on live bait you can even catch them on jigs

Locator, I always take the rebel crawfish with me but for some reason I catch more fish on the 2" kalin's triple threat john deere green grub on a 1/16 oz chartruese jighead. I will try the rebels a little more maybe its just a confidence thing. Spawn, I'll keep some this year and I wasn't sure if they would take worm so I'll try that too. I can also get some hellgamites and try them... I just wonder what would take the biggest sunnies...

Thanks guys,

-Michael

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Originally Posted by VaCrappieMan

Locator, I always take the rebel crawfish with me but for some reason I catch more fish on the 2" kalin's triple threat john deere green grub on a 1/16 oz chartruese jighead. I will try the rebels a little more maybe its just a confidence thing. Spawn, I'll keep some this year and I wasn't sure if they would take worm so I'll try that too. I can also get some hellgamites and try them... I just wonder what would take the biggest sunnies...

Thanks guys,

-Michael

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Those hellgramites are dynamite for creek smallmouth!!

Yeah, we don't ever catch any huge smallmouth but we usually catch a few in the 18 to 20 inch range. Of course I primarily just throw that 2" grub... I used to catch bigger smallies when I would throw the 4" mini lizards but, I enjoy catching a bunch of different size fish which is why I generally opt for the grub. I did see some of the rebel crawdads at wally world tonight in a 2 pack with red hooks for $5.97... I probably have 8 to 10 of them laying around with probably 4 of 5 of them being in my box I take with me so I decided not to pick them up but thats a pretty good buy on them. I noticed they had them for over $4 a piece now but that was some sort of anniversary edition. I suppose I'll try some live bait tho for the sunfish. I'm probably going to only keep maybe 10 or so at first to make sure I like the way they taste. I haven't ever eaten a bluegill/sunfish before... just crappie, walleye, and trout... My dad says they have a slightly fishier taste than crappie but, I'll be the judge of that soon. lol

try using the rebel crickhopper in the yellow color, they make two sizes, try the larger one for big bluegill and sunfish. this is my go to bait in the creeks in indiana, they never fail...

If you fillet the bluegill and dust lightly with a good batter mix and fry quickly, your dad might change his mind. Hard to beat a fresh caught fried bluegill fillet. I've had Walleye too and they are excelent. (hard to type Bluegill, we always called them Bream)
SeaRay