# Blue Gill for Bass



## fisherman4life42 (May 25, 2010)

Is anybody using live bluegill for Large mouth. 

I read the article that the fisherman Manibu Kurita of Japan tied the freshwater record of 22lb 4oz. He mentioned using live bluegill up to ten inches to entice large bass. After reading this i decided to give it a try in a local pond and wouldn't you know it, I started smacking fish left and right. Even catching the same bass twice in a matter of ten minutes with just the tail of the bluegill sticking out of the fishes throat and it still is trying to eat. Something about this method makes them fight harder and hit harder than anything I have ever seen from bass. The biggest bluegill I have uses was in the 6'' range and i no sooner toss it out and let it swim just a bit and WHACK! fish on. This is definitely a fun way to fish.

Just wondering what everyone else opinion/stories were on this subject.

I attached some pictures i believe the first one is the bass that hit the bluegill the first time.

The second I believe is the pic of the first bluegill down the throat ten minutes after I had just caught it. The second bluegill is missing because i had to take it out to try to remove the hook. But i did the fish well and put it back in the mouth and let her swim away with it.


The third pic should be the belly with the bluegill protruding out of the the stomach.


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## Erterbass (Jul 4, 2005)

Awesome job, fisherman4life42! Those are cool pics 

I've never used live bluegill before but I've heard others say the same as you - the fishing can be outrageous! Right about now is when the bull 'gills will start making the beds and bass know it and key on distracted bluegill.

Question: How did you rig the hook on the 'gill? Did you go through the dorsal? What size & style hook did you use?

Bob


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## young-gun21 (Mar 14, 2006)

We used to use live gills alot in my buddies pond. We would actually spike the bluegill on it's head one good time to slow him down a little, or clip one of his fins (works better) to make them swim a little slower and eratic. 

I used to use a regular 5/0 worm hook through the back. I'm sure an octopus hook or something along those lines would be more effective.


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## Snakecharmer (Apr 9, 2008)

If a bass can do that I may have to get bigger muskie lures...........


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## Tokugawa (Apr 29, 2008)

That there is why swimbaits are so effective


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## willyb021 (Jun 1, 2009)

wow thats amazing. i cant believe it can swallow a gill that size whole. 

my buddy uses gills to catch bass in ponds. has anyone ever tried it in a big lake? youd probably catch alot more catfish then bass


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## fisherman4life42 (May 25, 2010)

Snakecharmer said:


> If a bass can do that I may have to get bigger muskie lures...........


i have also used big musky topwater plugs as well and they have even hit on MegaD swimbaits that I have used for musky. They have been hammering on them. This year I am going big bait for big bass all year.


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## fisherman4life42 (May 25, 2010)

Erterbass said:


> Awesome job, fisherman4life42! Those are cool pics
> 
> I've never used live bluegill before but I've heard others say the same as you - the fishing can be outrageous! Right about now is when the bull 'gills will start making the beds and bass know it and key on distracted bluegill.
> 
> ...


I experimented with the positioning of the hook i tried just behind the dorsal, in front of the dorsal and through the eyes. Behind the dorsal didnt give me much success but I started to notice that 9/10 times the bass were attacking the gill head on so I am sticking with the hook infront of the dorsal. I seem to be missing less fish that way. I let them hit it and run with it for a few seconds then set it real hard.

I was using a 5/0 octopus hook


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## Scum_Frog (Apr 3, 2009)

I did this technique on a small pond two years ago...had GREAT success with it.....I was using a 2/0 right in front of the dorsal and I was able to land all 5 fish that struck on the gils....IDK on wut really happens but my only concern is turning the fish off on eating gils after they try and get hooked?? Might not do anything but could put them off of feeding for a while?? Hard telling though but as long as the fish was hooked okay and released okay thats fine with me....Havent tried it since then so I may give it a try in bigger water....let me know if any of u guys try it as well and have anymore success!


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## fisherman4life42 (May 25, 2010)

Scum_Frog said:


> I did this technique on a small pond two years ago...had GREAT success with it.....I was using a 2/0 right in front of the dorsal and I was able to land all 5 fish that struck on the gils....IDK on wut really happens but my only concern is turning the fish off on eating gils after they try and get hooked?? Might not do anything but could put them off of feeding for a while?? Hard telling though but as long as the fish was hooked okay and released okay thats fine with me....Havent tried it since then so I may give it a try in bigger water....let me know if any of u guys try it as well and have anymore success!


I have been fishing this pond for about 5 years and I am the only one that fishes it because it sits behind my property and since I have started to use the gills I have noticed for the first time in the 5 years that bass are coming into the shallows and feeding on gills. I think I may have turned them on even more to eating gills. And i dont have to worry about the gill population going down bc there are hundreds upon hundreds of them. Everytime i set the hook on the bass its either in the side of the mouth or right in the upper lip and are returned unharmed. And i reward them with the gill if it came up the line.


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## Triton96 (Nov 3, 2009)

I usually hook the gill sin the tail, Biggest thing is letting the bass run with the bluegill a while before setting the hook. I use a 4 or 5/0 hook also


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## fisherman4life42 (May 25, 2010)

Triton96 said:


> I usually hook the gill sin the tail, Biggest thing is letting the bass run with the bluegill a while before setting the hook. I use a 4 or 5/0 hook also


for sure. its more of a sight fishing thing. Draw the fish out of cover and let the games begin. I let the fish follow and when it looses interest I flip it back out and and make a lot of splashes with the fish on the surface and i keep it going and usually right after I flip it out and it comes by the bass again the bass engulfs it. The hard thing is to get the bass to hit the gill head first or tail first depending on where you hook the gill. Many of times I have had nice big 4# plus bass take the gill tail first and I had it hooked in front of the dorsal. And once you think you have it figured out and you hook it in the tail the start attacking head first. But overall9 times out of ten you have to let the bass run with it a few seconds and let it chomp and work its way down into the mouth abit before viciously setting the hook.


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## bassbuster065 (Apr 28, 2010)

try using a three way swivel put a hook in front and behind the dorsal?


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## mooreman (Jul 7, 2008)

Is it best to use a small bluegill?


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## bgrapala (Nov 1, 2008)

I would recommend using a split shot hook...gives you enough of a gap to hold securely but small enough that you don't have a gigantic hook hanging through the back of the gill. I normall hook about a half inch down a half inch up from the dorsal and I've had the best luck with gills that are 2-3 inches long...they can be pretty tricky to catch though.


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## HOUSE (Apr 29, 2010)

I caught a ton of 3-4 pounders last week using bluegill and perch under slip floats up in NY. I was using catfish gear with size 5 Gamagatsu hooks right in front of the dorsal fin. (On several days, I cheated and used treble hooks when we were catching dinner and didn't plan on catch & release.) One trick that I sometimes do is clip the dorsal fin down on the gills with pliers. It's kind of mean, but it helps get it out of the way of my hook. On nice days I'll stay up near the surface and in cooler times I'll use my fishfinder to keep my gill 2-3 feet from the bottom so it constantly tries to dive down and hide. I catch catfish and bass this way.

Here's one of them:


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## BASmead (Jan 11, 2008)

i had a pretty cool thing happen the other day. I was fishing a plastic worm and some little bluegills were poking at it. I swung on one particularly hard tap thinking it was a bass, and snagged a 4inch gill thru his tail. I was about to set him loose when this thread popped in my mind. I tossed him back out and he was hammered immediately by something huge. I set the hook and battled the fish for awhile, then i went to adjust my drag and the line caught on something and broke at the reel. Bummer. Good adrenaline blast though. It just sucks to think i left that fish with a bluegill pinned to his cheek. It'd be like having a cheeseburger in your mouth that you couldn't eat. A live cheeseburger even... It's got me convinced to try it again sometime though for sure.


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## beach5 (May 27, 2008)

Do you guys usuallly fish gills under floats (like WAREHOUSE) or free line or some other method?


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## RiverRunner88 (Jun 15, 2006)

beach5 said:


> Do you guys usuallly fish gills under floats (like WAREHOUSE) or free line or some other method?


i've fished em for both bass and cats...and have used both methods usually i free line them although i have noticed i get alot of line twist free lining


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## HOUSE (Apr 29, 2010)

What do you guys think about using a modified 2x2 way rig for gills? I was sick of my blue gills swimming around under bottom cover or swimming back to shore, so I think it's a good solution. 
-I tied on a heavy sinker onto a 18" leader at the end of my line tied to a swivel to my main line, and then put the the gill onto a 12" leader attached to a swivel that can slide freely along the line above the sinker's leader. He can't swim any deeper than my sinker's leader as long as I keep his leader shorter than 18". I use a slip float tied off at specific depths to keep him in the same circular area around the sinker.

I modified someone's picture to show it:


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## fisherman4life42 (May 25, 2010)

WAREHOUSE said:


> What do you guys think about using a modified 2x2 way rig for gills? I was sick of my blue gills swimming around under bottom cover or swimming back to shore, so I think it's a good solution.
> -I tied on a heavy sinker onto a 18" leader at the end of my line tied to a swivel to my main line, and then put the the gill onto a 12" leader attached to a swivel that can slide freely along the line above the sinker's leader. He can't swim any deeper than my sinker's leader as long as I keep his leader shorter than 18". I use a slip float tied off at specific depths to keep him in the same circular area around the sinker.
> 
> I modified someone's picture to show it:



i think this is a great idea. typically It doesnt take long for a bass to come up and smoke the gill. Usually after i toss it back out into the water into the shallow a bass just reacts and attacks.


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