Any of you fellas freeline for bluegill? How do you cast with no weight or anything?

I fish with a friend often and he mainly free lines. He uses 12 pound test line with a long pole with a full night crawler or a heavy piece of bait. He gets very good results. I have also gone weightless myself fishing certain water bodies under certain conditions. With a half to full night crawler using six pound test line with a short ultralight ugly stick,have no problems flipping or making a short cast to my target area. The free falling of the bait is very attractive to a fish especially a Rio. I have also gotten very good results fishing weightless.

Yep 6lb to 4lb test #6 to #4 hook using an ultralight rig (my personal preference is for a 7'6" eagle claw glass rod) and small minnow or bit of crawler while wading a creek is devastating to sunfish and rio's. (Have to get the small minnows myself as everything seems to be bigger in Texas; at least at the bait shop) I've only fished for rios once this way but watched them cross a 20ft gap to get a crawler wiggling and gently drifting in the clear water. Actually I was fishing the a red wiggler. Most of the time I'm fly fishing. It's my opinion that freelining and fly fishing are effective because the bait is falling in the water column and moving with the current in (a more) natural state.

I don't free line but got a few friends who do. The weight of the bait is the major factor!

I do not free line!

I only freeline when i fish for gills. No weight just a #10 cricket hook and a big pinch of nightcrawler or 1/80 tiny jig. I can cast either bait 15yds with 4lb test out of my zebco Z02

I enjoy free lining using live fish (Minnows, Sunfish) as bait, you can feel the stress of your baitfish thru the line and rod, and know when your bait is nervous.

I rarely free line anymore. When I do, it is with a 7’6” fiberglass rod like Bones, but a different maker, 4lb mono and a gold Aberdeen hook for smallish minnows. I used to free line leeches in creeks and rivers with the same set up with a special bronze hook I used specifically for that purpose. Not many places you can get leeches down here in TX though. Probably not the most natural bait down here anyway. Can’t recall the hook specs, but if I look thru some of my old fishing journals, I can probably find it.

I will free line for bluegill when the bite is slow or they are spooked, etc. I use an ultralight rig with 4 lb test.
I use a #4 hook alone, baited with a red worm or a half dozen maggots. The slow sink is a very
deadly tactic. But the fish will often be hooked deep when free lining so I only use it when I have to.

I also free line minnows or shad when fishing for white bass. Killer tactic.

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I'll revisit this. Like xring said it is an absolute killer on white bass. In addition the same applies to creek bass. I prefer to flyfish for them but if you just gotta get the biggest one in the pool a minnow free lined doing the "oh ***** dance" on the surface is an amazing thing to see.

I use the eagle claw rod and mentioned it because generally you can find them for under $20.00 heck you can usually even find the eagle claw glass fly rods for under that amount and they are akin to bamboo in feel. I think when flinging stuff free line the super slow action of glass helps get the cast out there.

Jagg mentioned leeches. Oh man I think a little leech wiggling away would drive the rio's nuts.

I free line earthworms all the time, especially around docks. I start by using a whole worm. The sunfish will just pull it off the hook but once you get them feeding they are easier to catch when you move to a smaller piece of worm.

my Mexicano Buddies
use an empty aluminum can
We were staying at Fox Hollow ((PK)
& they slayed them

i offered them a couple of rod & reels
they said they could catch more than me
free lining

they did