Question about crickets for bluegills

[BluegillslayerfromWi]

Hi Everyone,
Just had a quick question. I never thought about using crickets before for bluegill but what a great idea. I might have to try it next time I go. Just a quick question.
Where do you hook crickets?
I have never used them before but I am willing to trying it out and see what I can catch. Let me know
Thanks
Scott

[Tom Beauchamp]

Fish will most often bite what their accustomed to seeing, may not get enough crickets around your pond.

[Dave R.]

Hi Scott,

Crickets are fine, but they won't stay on your hook very long, one good hit from a
bluegill and your cricket is gone.

Good Luck
Dave R.

[Jeremy R. Mayo]

CRICKET +

CRICKET CAGE =

HAPPY ANGLER!


Using crickets to fish for gills can turn a slow day into a crazy day. Remember that crickets dont live in the middle of the lake so use them close into the banks. Think about just how far they may be able to travel if they were misfortunate enough to fall off that tree that overhangs the water just got clumsy and fell off the bank. I usually do my best with crickets in 3 to 12ft of water, no more than about 40ft, not just off the bank but the farthest point out of the water in the water. I prefer to hook mine in the collar. Just how I was taught and they seem to stay alive a lil longer. People say they come off the hook to easy but theres many reasons that contribute to this happining. I know its wrong in every way but heres how I rig my pole. Being I fish in mostly twigy tree tops and tons of stickups I use a 10lb ts line. A medium size red and white long stYROfoam cork. I use a..... well i dont know what size split shot it is cause i dont know technical terms but we will say its one split shot thats enough weight to get that cork stood up. The key is slidin that weight up to at least 7in. If the bite is a lil more finiky move it up 8,9,or 10. You wanna give the fish the ability to be able to swing the bait in his mouth when hes tryin to eat it. Most people think they just come up and nail it but truth be told They stare at it and try to suck it down till they can get it. If you got enough room to swing from the pivot point (wich is the weight) Then hes gonna get it in his mouth every time. Keep your cricket fresh. They live longer hooked in the collar. once you get on a spot that fish are hittin hot and heavy then just gut shank em. It dont matter how you hookem then...... plus your puttin more sent in the water of food wich will bring the other bigger gills out of the deeps in search of the smell. Its an art to cricket fishin just like jiggin if you wanna get it to the maximum payoff. Just practice practice practice. Wait that means fish fish fish so that shouldnt be a problem

[Ray Danders]

My experience has been a little different. Sometimes I find the only way to catch the biggest bluegills in late summer is with crickets fished deep far from shore. Very slow trolling (less than 1 mph) I always seem to do better with the black crickets I catch myself as opposed to the brown ones they sell commercially.

They die pretty quick, so I change them quite often and hook them just under the collar. I'll be trying this "Bait Stick" this year for sure. I usually use small hooks #12 or #14 Aberdeen and 4 lb test with flurocarbon leaders as light as necessary. Sometimes 1 lb test.

Female caught in deep water in late summer.

Both of the bluegills pictured in the net were caught using this method and both were over 11 inches.

On a good day, you might catch only 6 bluegills like the ones shown above, and it is a great day if you catch a dozen.

[Jeremy R. Mayo]

NOW THATS WHAT IM TALKIN ABOUT! We have thousands of the black crickets here in the bottom of Alabama. Ive never heard of anyone using them to catch bluegill. Everyone says they dont work. I dont understand why and would love to get a batch from somewhere so I can prove them wrong. This year I am going to fill the live well and freezer fast in the spring and try and target the fewer but much larger fish this summer. Once I have enough to last the year out in the freezer it will be a easier mind set to try and fish these bigger harder to find gills. My goal this year is a 12"gill in the delta. Shes a rariety but ima do something that very few people do. Fish deep. Ive got 20 christmas trees to drop off somewhere for structure. How deep should I put them. What conditions and what other details do you recomend as to where to put this structure?

[Tom Beauchamp]

For the bluegill here I normally use a #4 red mr. crappie hook. ( same as tru-turn ) Start the hook up the poop shoot and out just below the head. I seldom use a float anymore, have better luck tight lining. Don't just wait to feel the thump, watch your line closely. A bluegill can strip a cricket off real quick, but with practice, the right size hook, and a keen eye you can greatly improve your catch rate. I use one small split shot 8-10 inches above the hook. Don't use more weight than is needed to take the cricket down.

[Kenny Poe]

Sometimes when Im bored fishing, Ill catch grasshoppers and tear their wings and legs off (its possible I have issues). But Ill throw the body of the hopper into the lake, and sure enough, some kind of fish will hammer it. Now, when I take a hook to said hoppers, I dont seem to have any luck at all. No weight, no bobber, and no luck.

[robsabloke]

try and hook the Hopper so as not to Kill it... it's the motion and vibrations that entice the fish to hit.

Rob

[Lord of the Fly , Rods]

#8 long shank black hook, barb pushed down from the top into the thorax and through , once through bury barb of hook into abdomine, if a drop of juice comes out it's a good thing, a natural fish attractant located just where its needed, gills say yum ! Get a good cricket tube to keep crickets happy and easy access.

[robsabloke]

Hi Scott...

I use crickets a lot here in California. Very popular bait... in fact don't leave home without them...

There are a couple of ways to hook crickets. Usually I start by turning the cricket upside down... you'll see a criss-cross plate on it's chest, put the point of the hook through there and half thread the cricket up the shank of the hook before pushing the point and barb through the other side.

There have been occasions when the Bluegills just take the head of the cricket and leave the body behind. That's when you have to thread the shank of the hook up through the soft belly of the cricket and literally bring the point out between his eyes. Small thin wire hooks make this easier.

Place some carrots in the container or cricket basket... keeps them hydrated and makes em fat. The fish seem to hold them a little longer... not sure if the carrots make them sweeter or what... but the carrotts whill keep your crickets alive much longer... I keep a thousand at a time in an old fish aquarium with cardboard tubes and egg boxes... they'll stay well for weeks



Regards

Rob

[bluegillboogieman]

I was prowling around the discussions and found this oldie but goldie. I will try some of the hooking methods here will but tell you my method too. I like a porcupine quill or balsa pencil float. Enough weight, usually a couple of BB shots to make the float stand up if the weight is off the bottom. Once it's vertical, any movement means business, it's either been inhaled and spit out, or he's savoring a mouthful of flavor. Crimp the sinkers 8 to 12 inches up from the hook. I use a # 8 hook, start under the collar behind the head. Out the bottom of the collar and turn the point down and hook down through the abdomen. I often catch more than one gill on the same cricket. Not at the same time, but after I unhook the first one. If half the cricket is left on the hook, it's good to go. I read on here once that the next best thing to a live cricket is a dead cricket. I believe.

Now while bluegill will tear crickets up, crickets will tear an onion up! I put half an onion in the cage overnight. You wouldn't believe how much of it they eat overnight. LOFR replied to this discussion a year or so ago. He mentioned a clearish fluid oozing from the cricket when you hook him. My cricket juice now smells strong of onion and the bluegills like a little onion on their Happy Meal too.

Crickets are not tough artificial lures. They do get torn off the hook fairly easy. It's worth the few seconds to rebait. Take at least a hundred store bought ones for around $3. They are khaki brown. If you can get that many wild black ones, what the heck, try 'em. I do believe that if you put a cricket where the nice 'uns can get it, you won't find a better bluegill bait, live or artifical.

[Jeff Soto]

Crickets are the main bait that myself and other trophy Bluegill fishermen use here in southern California, especially at Lake Perris, where many feel a new State record, if not a world record bluegill may be caught in the near future. I fish crickets on tiny hand-tied jigs (see my photos) by hooking them through the tip of their butts, from the belly and out the top side. Bluegill seem to grab this "backward" swimming cricket pretty good this way as it is slowly jigged along the bottom. ( I might add that dead crickets still work pretty good.) Also, if the fish happen to steal your cricket bait, you can still get them to hit your jig. I wish I could find a supplier of black Field Crickets. Those I think would really get the bigger 'Gills.