If you could only use one bait for the rest of your life what would it be?

[Shawn Allison]

Wanted to get some responses back on this.... If you had to throw everything out but one what would it be.  Strictly for bluegills and also just assume that you could have unlimited number of that bait but only one bait/type/size/color forever. 

[Tony Livingston]

It's tough to beat a worm.... but I think we might need to take geography into account here, too....otherwise, you fellas who are going with crickets might get a little hungry if you had to fish for your supper in my neck of the woods right now! ;)

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

I agree with your reference to Geography Tony.....in the deep South a grass shrimp will take fish all year.....and they work better than crickets in cold water here in Carolina..... 

[Shawn Allison]

Tony, yeah i agree i would probably get a few laughs heading north with a short sleeve shirt and shorts carrying a 6'5" spinning rod/reel combo and a box of crickets to the ice. Always wondered if my dewalt cordless drill would get me through that ice you guys keep telling me about. Maybe one day i can give it a try.

[Tony Livingston]

I've seen guys use 18 volt drills with auger adapters Shawn....with a good set of blades they will surprise you with how much they'll do.

[John Sheehan]

I think in my area of North East New Jersey the mealworm would take Gills 12 months of the year .

[Tony Livingston]

I've done well on mealworms also John. and I agree.....they will take fish all year round, including through the ice.

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Mealworm ranching is this seasons experiment, Tony.

One thing I notice about my homegrown worms is they are both healthier and tougher than their store bought counterparts. The commercial versions are kind of vapid and pale, by comparison. This may be due to my small batch production, the media that I use or that they are "fresh." The worm on my hook, now, for example, was "worming" around the bin not 30 minutes before. It could be a combination of all these things, too.

My hope is that mealworms might also provide a "better bait," so to speak. In one regard they might have a start out of the gate over other baits. This is because we simply don't have them here. If there is a bait shop selling them, I've not seen it. My thought is that the fish have probably never seen them, or if so, only rarely. In that alone they could be a better bait.

[Tony Livingston]

I have no doubt there David. I'm convinced that offering a fish something "new" is a good idea....almost as good as fishing un-pressured fish.

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

I plan to employ some spikes in my region this season for that reason....I get takes on all the little artificial maggots, I can't believe the real thing wouldn't do great....the white/tan coloring should also enhance this approach in my dark waters....I'll report later when I test them out.....

[duane boulter]

i took a good friend and very good fisherman out with me and he said if it won't hit a worm it won't bite anything. I got 25 he got 2  CRICKETS  CRICKETS CRICKETS

[Shawn Allison]

I had a very similiar situation happen to me last summer.  I was fishing crickets under a float 2 foot deep over 6 foot of water around some docks.  My friend was fishing night crawler pieces on the bottom.  I caught bluegill after bluegill and he caught a few shellcrackers.  I will admit that he pulled in a couple of pretty good shellcrackers with the worms on the bottom but the crickets were outfishing the worms 6 to 1.  The shellcrackers were better quailty fish but not much better than the bluegills. 

[Tony Livingston]

Crickets will surely take fish, as long as the water stays warm.