Use Live Bait & Make the Water Boil

[Johnny wilkins]

There are so many titles for this live bait post that come to mind, I should start with a few titles. Rock Your Water With Live Bait. Match the Hatch- er Make the Hatch. Make the Fish in Front of You Go Mad. Loose Feed for Success. BlueGill Tsunami.

So those are some titles I would use to tell you about the top method for getting all the fish feeding in your area. Did I say all the fish? Yes. Even on a slow day, this method takes fish out of neutral or non-feeding behavior and puts the fish's little fins on the feeding gas pedal. You can truly make the water boil in front of you and draw fish in from 100's of feet away.

The fish in your area will fight over your hook bait causing serious takes and aggressive movements underwater. I have to warn you, this article might change the way you fish forever. If you fish catch-and-release, this will also make the fish in your pond more healthy and larger.

There are two elements you would use to make bluegills, crappies, perch go stark-raving mad in front of you. This method works when you are either double-anchored in place or from shore. You will want to fish one spot and one spot only because you will have the hottest spot on the lake. What is nice about the method is that you will always hear others say how you had a good spot, or the fish were really going crazy on that spot. Lucky you. Since I fish public lakes, I can hear these people say this same phrase every time I go because their voice carries across the water. I make my spot great, and I can do it on nearly every part of that pond. I will give you a second warning- this method will also attract these poor anglers who are not catching much. You will experience them trying to cast closer and closer to you. If they are nice, share what you are doing. If they aren't well -get creative. I'll tell you what to do at the end if those anglers get in too close or are rude...

The method is simple. Add food to the water in one precise spot and create competition. The end.

It is that simple. So for food, I buy spikes in bulk - the ultimate bait on the planet. All fish eat it. I caught 15" rainbow trout (landed 1 of 3) and 17" channel catfish (2 of them) last time out on spikes. Big fish eat these all the time underwater.

The first part of the food and attractant is a ground bait. This is a mixture of loose crumb that when moistened allows me to pinch a coin-sized portion and toss it out 10 - 40 feet away where I am fishing. This ground bait hits the water and starts to break up immediately in the water column.

As it falls the bits of crumb, ground seed and grain particles fall through the water.

As any possible food items would visually attract fish, the falling particles, the cloud, the splash of the food entering, the scent and also the sound of other fish feeding turn fish on. Fish from all around the area head to the sound and scent to get in on feeding.

The scent of food flips the feeding switch and triggers aggressive hunting behavior like no artificial bait could do with action or artificial flavor.

Next, I have a sling shot designed for the task with a pouch that holds about a quarter's surface area of bait. I load in 3 - 5 spikes and fire that over the top where the ground bait entered the water.

Spikes are the perfect bait as they fall through the water very slowly. A spike will take well over 1 minute to travel through 13 foot of water! The slow-falling moving grubs catch the eye of these sight-feeding predators who move in and compete for the little food in the water.

Next, with my telescopic cane pole, I cast my bait out onto the exact spot where the ground bait entered - in the center of the spike pattern. My hook free-falls with either a single or double spike attached to a #14 hook. The small, light hook allows for a slow drop presentation.

The gills go mad to race to the single food in the water and do compete to get the bait. The results can be staggering with this system. 6 fish a minute is a good pace, hit 10 fish a minute using barbless or micro-barbed hooks and you can get soaking wet taking gills off the hook. Note to achieve speed, the fish hook should facility getting that fish off fast and easy. Many of my bluegills bounce off my chest and into the keep bag beneath me. I am a devout catch-and-release angler. Because I teach fishing and I compete in an urban environment where there are 200 anglers per square mile (by percentage), I recommend that people release fish if they want something to catch next time. If I lived out in a more rural place, I would take more fish without a doubt.

For your fishing, 250 spikes will do. For tournaments, or periods of high fish activity, I use between 500 - 3,000 spikes. Depending on how long the event is and how furious the fish are taking my hook bait, if I am competing in a US Open Bank Championship, I will use a bit more bait. While I write those big numbers, truth is sending out 2 - 5 at a time is the trick. The less you feed (shoot) into the water, more often, the more success you will have. Little and often in all my methods is the key to success. If you feed too much - you will fill up the fish you had intended to catch. Put too many spikes in the water and put too much ground bait in and you will see your catch drop.

I buy the spikes in bulk and share the cost with friends and people in my club to bring the cost down. 1,000 spikes should cost you between $5 - $6 if split with friends.

While you can make your own - the stink can not be described in an article. The stink will stick to you and your clothing. It's awful so I buy them to keep my neighbors happy and the police away from my urban garage.

I will comment to the post and put up some pictures from this method. I am fishing the first event of the year coming up - look for the results from our Chicago Fishing League here and see if I can break the 300-fish mark for a 4- hour session using the method above.

I highly recommend the cane pole with the tiniest float for this. If you get it right, speed-fishing while loose-feeding is the most fun you can have on water. The floats I use and the ground bait are not yet available all across the country, but soon will be. I fish with Italian & English floats which have tiny stems and which take only .3 grams of weight to balance them. I can see fish activity using this float and I detect takes as well as rejected baits from fish below via the tiny antenna.

Light line of .013 diameter or 1.5 lb. is usually what I run on my leaders tied to size 14 light wire hooks. These are also not widely available nor is the fishing line. Together, we bluegill anglers will make an impact on the fishing industry which is heavily weighted to the bass. Why should 10% of the fish population dictate 90% of the media coverage, tackle and attention? Bluegills outnumber bass 30:1. We should have ESPN BlueGill Center on television on Saturdays. $250,000 bluegill tournament? BlueGill Pro Shops - now that is more my speed. Check in and see how the method worked or read a reply on my page.

[Johnny wilkins]

For a long time I had been using European Ground baits. These have tons of flavor- way too much. I used to add in plain bread crumbs to cut that scent down. Now there is a US company that is starting to distribute good ground baits of the same quality - TopMix USA. You can't find them in very many places yet but if you send me a note with your local bait store information I can help get this product in your store. The great news is what used to cost me $9 - $12 a bag (use 1/2 bag a session) now has dropped in price 50%! The US Company means that shipping is erased from the cost (doesn't have to come from Europe). I know pick up 2.2 lb. bags for $5.50 - $6!
It contains fine chopped nuts, flavor, attractant, oils, dried protein pellets, freeze-dried corn bits, fine ground bread crumb, salts, sweetener & vanilla. There are several different attractant ground baits and also pellet baits. They also have add-in attractants for extra punch (not that you may need it as stated above). These attractants can be added to plain bread crumb or used in derbys, competitions to give you an edge. I am going to fish a trout derby this Friday with my son for instance - it will draw the fish in on our spot and that's that.
Saturday I fished TopMixUSA Competition mix with their Carpothermia attractant and had just over 6 lb. (58 fish) in 2.5 hours (approximate time).
I had visitors stand next to me and a lot of movement, I also helped people during the fishing time so I am just guessing. I guess I would have had 8 - 10 lb. if I fished straight through. This was post cold-front too after 4 days of 75.
Do contact me for help with the live bait, floats or ground bait and post your successes in the Live Bait discussions so all can share.

[Johnny wilkins]

I'm just jealous of your giant bass and pond in the back! : )

[Magnolia Rick]

My pond is setb up for gilld hope big gills. Don't get to watch much T.V. I'm married. And setting in my chair watching T.V. seems to up set my wife she'll find something for me to do. 10" gills and 12" bass for my grandkids to catch is the way I headed. Don't know how we got off the cummpy thing (This is delicate, accurate and in a rhythm) But your right adding any kind of bait in and around your hook bring the fish in.

[Johnny wilkins]

: ) You must have thought you were logged into BigBassGill.com!
Well up here in Illinois - Blue Gill is the state fish.
Aren't you sick of seeing the same old thing on TV?
I'm not say'n, I'm just say'n... I wish I had big ole fish to catch like yours.
Ours are stocked and then within :10 min. they are on their way home. Bass are too aggressive for urban fishing. The end result - if I want to catch a 11" bass, I have a tough time around here. All those mini-bass end up in aquariums, buckets and skillets... that bass looks hungry.

[Magnolia Rick]

Now wait a min. down here in Texas the Bass is the State fish.

[Johnny wilkins]

You are absolutely on it.
I don't think people would want a 4-hour show, we could only afford to condense it into 1 hour for the cable time I bet. It would be recorded and you would see highlights and problems etc. See the draw and the weigh-in. You're not old- seeing nothing but bass (or 18-holes of golf) on tv is getting old.

[Magnolia Rick]

John you know your right about bring fish to you. You know putting your minnow bucket in the water right next to where your fish seems to bring the fish a little close to me. Ya lets start off small $20,000.00 CNN not really into a 4 hour show so the 300 fish might get cut back to 50. Kinda like watching golf might watch a few holes but I'm not going to set and watch the hole 18. Now remember this is just me. I'm old and from Texas don't really get in a harry. Can't any more any way.

[Johnny wilkins]

Yes - chumming - but when I say chumming, people get the picture of a punctured can of dog-food or big balls of stuff. This is delicate, accurate and in a rhythm. Gets them going. Well, we can fish them in boats (boat companies), and the ground bait (bait companies) eventually will sponsor big events. Wouldn't you rather see a guy catch 300 fish or 450 fish rather than catch 2 - 5 bass?? Imagine the drama of 8 hours of constant catching. Maybe I should try to get a $20,000 tourney first eh?!

[Johnny wilkins]

Oh- so I promised to tell you what to do if people are rude and since you are catching fish - they figure casting over your line to your spot is not invading your personal space. I fished trout opening day with a similar method only using a pellet-based ground bait. I worked for 3 hours before the fish arrived and then my son & daughter were reeling in trout. They ended up hooking and landing 18 trout on the day. The lake emptied out on the far side - or so I thought. Instead :20 minutes later - the people on the far side were now fishing right next to me. 12 of them! Well, I started to get frustrated, the kids caught 2 more trout and I had had enough by the 3rd cross-over cast, tangling my rig.
If you decide to, you can send the school of fish away from shore and disperse them. I loaded up some extra bait I had and fired it out 65 feet away. I proceeded to feed that spot for the next 2 minutes.
Good Bye fish - they will travel towards that sound and food. So to the 12 guys who crowded out my kids' fishing - now you know. Whenever you are feeding a spot, you need to be accurate. In this case, I was accurate, but the fish quickly moved on to where the food is. If you are a few feet off feeding - trust me- the fish will move that way. Be accurate and catch a lot of fish. Try to fish a 1 foot circle. Get a reference on the bank like the edge of a tree to mark your right-to-left. To judge distance from you - use your pole tip. In my case, when casting, I add a black marker line on my line so when I reel back in, I can stop when the marker enters the spool. You can also place a slip knot line there. The easiest is to use your pole tip. My favorite- I use a 10 foot pole and touch the tip to the water to start- feed that ring. (Again - remember to mark the water left-to-right so you fish the same exact spot for success.

[Magnolia Rick]

ain't this what us old times called chumming. Just me and I'm old.
But your right gotta bring them to you. $250,000 Blue gill tournament
fishing from shore with a cane pole. Now how would you get Bass Pro to pitchin if they just sale cane pole and hooks? lol But I do like the way you think. Use to do that too. Now I spend most of my thinking time trying to remember where I put my coffee cup. Keep up the good work