Do Live Horseflies Make Good Bait.

[Keith Ritter]

We get plagued with these every summer, I never thought of collecting and using them for Bluegill. Has anyone tried them. If I raise my garage window halfway they get stuck, then I can just catch them. Let me know if you have tried them.

[jim cosgrove]

i would give it a shot keith.had some epic gill fishing years ago when a dead deer was floating around in a strip pit i used to fish.was pretty disgusting site but the carcass was covered in maggots and flies and there were 100s of fish feeding on the bugs that fell in.caught tons that day but just couldn't stomach keeping any to eat.so i would say yeah they like flies

[Keith Ritter]

Thanks Jim, these are about 1" long and can give a painful bite. Luckily they are not that aggressive but will drive you nuts buzzing by your head. I'll give them a shot soon, they are free.

[Leo Nguyen]

Yes, they do make great surface, and slightly below surface, baits. I used them in the past, along with fire ants, small beetles, and various critters I've found while fishing along the shorelines. Try to keep them alive, as they struggle on the water/below the water for the few remaining minutes of their lives. I used the pine tree resins formulation to keep them stuck on the dry fly hooks (surface) or circle hooks (below surface). Lots and lots of fun. They bite us, so, it's only naturally we introduce them to those that will gladly bite them back.

[Keith Ritter]

I tried horseflies this morning,I went to a pond full of small bass. They wouldn't take one under a float,so I tried one with no weight or float just a #10 cricket hook. I using a cane pole with mono and first time it hit the water and wiggled its wings a 2lb bass slammed it. In my excitement I pulled a little too hard and straightened the light wire hook. They don't stay alive long three or four trips in and out of the water and they quit wiggling but they never sink. You could use one on a fly rod and add a little movement and catch Bluegills. I'm going to try them on bluegill next.

[Allen Morgan]

Sounds like someone needs to find, or create, a horsefly pattern for a fly rod......

 

Keith, have you ever tried a live/dying Cicada?

[Keith Ritter]

Cicadas would be a Bass sized for sure. Would be hard to run a hook through. I've got enough live specimens to think about a fly pattern.

[Allen Morgan]

I've seen a pattern that's mostly foam, with Krystal Flash for the wings.  I've done some, but they just didn't come out close to the size of the natural bug.  I need to play with it.

 

We don't get the 17-year (or 13-year) variety here.  We get an annual version, and that bug is green/white.  Nowhere near as numerous as 17-year variety, where you have millions of them hatching out.  Here, you'll hear a few here and there, but it's not a lot.  Maybe 4 or 5 bugs in one city block.