I caught some blue gills today to use for drifting this winter for blues. I froze them all whole and will use the larger ones for cutters and the smaller ones whole. Could I get some opinions on the best way to hook the small ones on an 8/0 circle?

If they are dead I usually hook them through the eyes, if they are really big through one eye and out the top of the head!!!

Good Luck to Ya!!!

I hook thru bottom of jaw and bust thru top of skull.

Do they work better for the winter blues or does shad?

hmm i dont use frozen gills they start getting soft and mushy when unthawed

I've never used frozen blue gill before and just thought I would give it a try. I caught a lot of blues last winter on Lavon on chicken breast and frozen buffalo. I would add shad to the menu if I could catch them. Caught most on chicken breast, but the two biggest, a 33# and a 39#, were on buffalo. I am cast net challenged.

Man, get a cast net and YouTube how to throw it. It's easy that way. I learned to throw in 10 minutes.

did you prep your chicken breast or just plain (no extra spice) lol Ive never heard of that I think Ill give it a shot this winter.

I just buy a big package of boneless skinless chicken breasts at Wally World, split them down the middle and cut them into chunks. Put them in qt. freezer bags. I'll lay out a package the night before I go fishing and refreeze what I don't use. The cats don't seem to worry about salmonella. I put a big chunk on an 8/0 circle hook and give it a couple of shots of Dead Red. I caught a lot of fish on that. I had much better results with that than buffalo.

i like using chicken breast with some vanilla and a little garlic powder.

thanks

Fillet each side down from the head to the tail, but leave them attached at the tail end and then hook them through the eyes. This works real well with fresh gills, so I would imagine it would work good with frozen-thawed gills too.

+1 This is how my fishing buddy and I learned to throw one.