I would like EVERYBODY to please reply to this discussion. please list your favorite lure AND bait for bluegill. please include the color adn weight of the lure. also add pictures of the lures is you don't mind.
my favorite lure is a 1/32 oz. renosky minnow in the bluegill color. My favorite bait is red wigglers under a float drifted just above the bottom
1/32 oz trout magnets under a slip float in April/May..mealworms under a float..June progresses to #0 spinners and continues till Fall is done ..thru the ice waxies on lightest ice fly possible
my favorite lure is a mepps alga long size #00 with a gold blade and green dressed treble. my favorite bait is cricket or night crawler 6 or 7 inches under the bobber
Most of the gills I have taken in excess of 10 inches have been on bait, usually live nightcrawlers or earthworms. I use # 10 or # 12 baitholder or fine wire hooks and allow the bait to squirm and act naturally. If I can get by with no weight I will, but use tiny split-shots if needed. I am experimenting with bullet and slip sinkers to get out to deeper fish while fishing from the shore. Bobber rigs have done well with waxworms and maggots on 1/100 to 1/64 th oz jigs tipped w/bait.
For lure options, I like the tail-gunner rig with the small crankbait/wet fly combo for shallow or bedding gills. # 14 and # 16 flies seem to work best. During colder weather I catch some on my hairjigs in 1/64 th oz usually tipped with some kind of bait option. Through the ice I have caught most of hem on Small Kastmaster and Swedish Pimple spoons tipped with bait but have also got some bigger fish on smaller ice Rapala Minnows and bait.
So far, I've yet to find an artificial lure which works 10% as well as live bait.... But I intend to try a few of the things suggested by the guys on this forum.
I have a few dependable lures (flies) for the sunfish family. The top fly is a chartueuse popper size#10, the next 3 below that are what I call "ol reliables" hares ear nymphs sizes 8- 14 (I also have a few smaller sizes,below that is a yellow wolly worm(I also have in black(caddis imitation, bass also will hit) To the left is a Humpy (excellent dry fly) and to the right a yellow stonefly (good when fishing streams). Its been quite awhile since I've bait fished for sunfish and I used crickets fished under a quill bobber.
well for me its crickets and red wigglers i take both when i go. but i have never had any luck in using lures. but i have a bunch of 1/64 that a friend has given my so i may start using them. i have all ways been lucky with live baite.
In the spring when I'm fly fishing Spawning Gills - I like a heavy Hackle Dry fly, and a light color so I can see it if it doesn't quite float on top. Just before dark - on my local lakes, I get a Big "white moth hatch" when the water gets flat - and THAT is the best time to fish this fly:
In the summer and fall - I like bits of nightcrawler fished deep. One I find my target fish, I can stay on them and like the simplicity of a worm.
Crickets under a bobber.
Just about any fly, wet or dry or streamer or nymph. But my best one is a Gill Getter.
Worms/Wax worms.
I've never caught a gill on a spoon or spinner.
MUCH more research needed.
Favorite bait is a red wiggler on a #8 mr. crappie hook.Favorite lure would be the yozuri snap bean crankbait in chrome and orange.This micro crank bait catches all kinds of sunfish,brown and rainbow trout small and large mouth bass.Great got to lure,if you dont have one you should git one!
These are the two I use the most infact about 95% of time. The little one is a micro tough guy by Gitzet it's 1/25 oz. and 1" long on 2lb. line. I'll fish this down to about 8 to 10', it's slow but it work's great, right now this is the color that's working best. The other is a Beatle spin useing a 3" fin s fish in the rainbow Trout. If I want to go deeper I'll go the the spoon's in the 1/8 oz. If thing's really get tough I'll add a Meal worm.