do striper like to eat live bluegill? is that one of there perfered snacks?

When I charted a guide years ago on Granbury, we used live bluegills, sunfish for bait. Worked like a charm.

Is that legal? I didn't think your allowed to use game fish as bait?

Bluegill are not classified as gamefish. And they are excellent striper bait, better than shad, in my opinion.

Where do you hook them usually and do you do anything special to them? I've heard of people cutting the dorsal spines off and scraping some of the scales, but I don't want to put the bait through anymore stress than it needs.

Under the chin and out through the nose. Or through the eyes...

Been catching and baiting lines with sunfish all my life... Flatheads ( Yellowcats ) love them as well... I also use small drum which are just as hardy as sunfish. As a younster growing up on the Brazos around here, there were some peanut farmers that had long stretches of land along the Brazos with small artesian springs flowing into troughs. Perch, Drum, Red Horse and Shinner Minnows were placed in them to use as bait on the river. I used cut bait from them a long time. Were no stripers in the river back then, but if there were I am sure in the deep holes I would have burned up a few zebco's.

I would think that blue gill would work, I know that the Sand Bass like them and I think they are a distant cousin of the striper.

I have always done well using live perch, any species. Also, I have had very good trips using gold fish. Stripers love'm all.

Just discovered for myself how effective live sunfish are as striper/hybrid bait. Had several very productive days in May & June - the fish would halfheartedly go for the live shad, but they'd gulp down the sunfish! Even caught sandbass on smaller sunfish.

Only practical advice I can give is to use the smaller sunfish for live bait (unless you're fishing for big catfish!!)

Longears, if you can find them , are much better than
bluegill, IMHO.


MO

The redder the better. Use a 1 oz sinker + 18" leader.

Mo, yeah those are the ones that get the most hits for me!

Where do you hook this bait?

While they will work, I always say MATCH THE HATCH...where do you want to use them?

I usually hook mine from nose to nose if they are finky. If they are hitting hard and swallowing the hook, I hook them in right in the middle of the last top fin and the spine

oh, make sure not to puncture the the spine, that will cause the fish not to swim correctly.

I usually hook-em right at the top of the top fin when free-lining dropping straight down with 1/4 to 1/2 oz. egg sinker, swivel then 18"-24" leader line below swivel. Or through eyes or nose for smaller ones right on bottom.

Sure wish I still had access to a marina on Lake Travis.
I'd be there tonight fishing for Stripers,Whites,LM and Catfish.
Have a spot I can catch all the perch I want, pretty much any time of the day.
My (7')cast net, makes all the difference if you know how to throw one

circle hook through the meat of the tail, wooks well for me and my group early in the AM.