crickets for bluegills

[ml4141]

Has anyone tried them, if so how do you rig one up on a hook?

Thanks For any help

[Shortsleeve]

This should help.

http://www.angelfire.com/ia3/fishing/baityerhook.htm

I love this site.

BTW I have never tried it along with many other things with regards to fishing thats why I keep links like that site and this one in my favorites.

[live2fishdjs]

IMO-best bait going for summer gills. I use a long shank hook (bronze or gold aberdeen large enough so the gap is not affected by the cricket) and just thread through the top of the body chest, or if they are really going I'll just put it through the chest all the way. I have also threaded them all the way through the whole body if they are short striking or smaller fish. One major advantage is I catch much fewer small fish on crickets.

[Crazy Bird Hunter]

The gills LOVE crickets. They are usually only good for one bite though. If you don't hook em it's time to re-bait.

[FishDaddy09]

I always hook them through the thorax( the collar behind the head) going between the head and the thorax and then thread the hook down through the soft abdomen (butt) so that the soft part is at the point of the hook. If I'm catching Big gills (9"+) I'll cram 2-3 crickets on a #10 long shank hook.

[fish fanatic jr.]

was wondering if you can buy crickets in bulk and if so where can you buy them.
THanks F.F.J.

[doox00]

was wondering if you can buy crickets in bulk and if so where can you buy them.
THanks F.F.J.

I would check pet stores, they are used to feed many reptiles.

[reddog719]

You can catch crickets in a cricket box by soaking a small piece of bread in sugar water and putting it in the box. you should be able to buy the box in sporting good stores. you could also put a piece of moist old burlap sack over the bread in a shady place for a couple of days they should flock to it. Good luck. My grandfather used crickets all the time said that they were all you should use for gills if you wanted the big ones.

[crittergetter]

Reddog is right!! I've been using grasshoppers instead of crickets, but the size of the gills I've been getting has increased. Hoppers are a little tougher that crickets, but I remember using both as a kid. A local lake that I've been fishing, has proven grasshoppers are the preffered bait. I can leave a hook with a worm in the water for 15 min. and it won't move. I'll throw a hopper right next to it and it's under right away, and the worm still won't move.

[mal]

Buy some Gulp imitation maggots...rip one in small pieces about the size of a BB and put the pieces on the hook after the cricket to help keep it secure...you won't lose as much bait. Crickets are the best bluegill bait out there but they are very easily sucked off the hook.

Spent a week recently on a small lake in Coldwater and caught all the gills I could stand using only crickets. Kept 25 nice onesduring the week, all 8" or over and had a fish fry the last day. My 5 year old son caught the biggest one...10 1/2" off the dock on a cricket. We must've caught 200 between me and the kids.

[fish fanatic jr.]

i have another question how do you rig it up do just put the cricket on and cast it out or do you and split shot or bobber fish them

[crittergetter]

This is what I've found out in my 40 some years of fishing (started at age 3 for panfish) The best way to fish a new lake, and a bigger lake is to just use a nightcrawler with a sinker about 18" above it, and drift with the wind. Something about the sinker stirring up the bottom, and then the find the worm....I've found more hotspots on lakes that way, than most people searching with fishfinders. Once a good spot is found, it gets marked on a map of the lake. (even a hand drawn one) I'll then begin bobber fishing the area, or casting with no bobber and just slow retrieve.

Good Idea about the gulp maggots, but I just usually add another hopper to cover the whole hook, and add to attraction.
The bluegills, I've been getting lately were in millfoil patches in 10 feet of water, with the hopper fished 6' down.