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does anyone else use gills or shad as live bait? i find some huge crappie in my rivers with these baits. ill use them up to 2 1/2-3". i free line them down deep in the cover on a jig, hooked in he back. i move them all around in the cover picking it apart till they shut off. bonus to this is also catching pike,bass,cats, and walleyes.
No but have found all kinds of fish inside Crappie. I have even found Crappie several inches long inside big Crappie.
Nimrod is correct. I have an old book written by Stan Fagerstrom many years back and he describes how you can catch crappie and surgically cut pieces of meat off the caught crappie to catch other crappie. He tipped his jigs and caught more. He used the top back hump of the fish and cut into the meat near spine like filleting it and then cutting the small piece there under the skin.
River Scum, thanks for the idea. Never thought about it but i'm going to try it soon
Shad of all species are good, livebait at times has badly outfished my grubs!
yes shad are great, but hard to keep and illegal to transport and use live. ita hard to beat a fesh netted shad, lowered deep into the wood, on a jig.:ThumbsUp
Check your local laws some states don't allow you to use game fish as bait. Crappie to catch crappie , blue gills heck yeah live gills no1 catfish bait for sure We catch lots of wall eyes with cut gills Mmmmm I'm hungry now. off to the freezer lol
Tell me more about using gills on walleye. Is it cut bait like chunks? Drifting?
We use small gills fillet the sides off , cut them in strips 3/4 inch wide thread it on a bass hook. Float it under a lighted slip bobber 2-4 feet and twitch it every so often. We have used the whole side before too. Like crappie fishing put it in next to cover in shallow water near a drop off. You'll catch catfish to of course . Leave the scales on
Why not live small Bluegills ? It not legal there ?Quote:
Originally Posted by Gobob
Definitely not legal here in Minnesota. The only fish even close to game fish that may be used live or cut are small bullheads. That forbids the use of any of the sunfish family and yellow perch. Goldfish and carp or any part of either cut are also forbidden. We may not transport or use live shad either. There are also some pretty strict rules about moving bait from one body of water to another or across state lines.
Once I learned to fish plastics, I quit using live bait for crappies, and have not purchased any for at least 6 or 7 years now. I do not have the need and have not been outfished side by side for quite a while by any live bait presentation for crappies.
You definitely have to learn the presentations and that takes practice and experience and you have to work out your color selections and how you rotate through them to find the best daily fit, but you also eliminate the mess of procuring and keeping bait alive or the mess of butchering out your cuts. Once you zero in on the daily menu, no minnow rig will be able to keep up.
Getting live Shad in michigan is pretty tough.
I have however found my best bait this summer to be a 2 inch "Big Bite" shad in a traditional color of black and gray. It has outfished every other bait in my arsenal this year on every lake I have been to.
Have used thumb size yellow fins. We call them rice field slicks. Works well in the right place. Big Minnerz Rule! JMO.
Can't beat hand size ''GREEN SUNFISH'' aka ''Rice Field Slicks''for Flatheads.Quote:
Originally Posted by blackfish
The thumb size are great fit crappie. I'm positive some of our chartreuse jigs are mimics.
Bought these some time ago, just got around to trying one.
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u...psc50bb780.jpg
They do catch crappie and crappie fishermen.:Rofl:Rofl
cool looking baits! those would kill in clear water for sure.
x2 on that:ThumbsUpQuote:
Originally Posted by NIMROD