Basic Fishing Technique

I find numerous comments that the go to "bait" is the common worm. I also find comments that the fish are being caught at depths between shallow, a couple of feet, to 10 feet, or more. In large lakes I know that crappie and bream may be as deep as 15 ft to 25 ft.

My question is, using worms as your bait, what kind of rig is being used by you guys, and gals? Are you vertical fishing using slip bobbers? Are you using fish finders to find the depth to fish and then tie your knot at the appropriate depth? Or something else? I'll be trying to fish from a kayak rather than a larger power boat with trolling motor. Without a fish finder, it seems to be just trial and error at determining the water depth and the depth the fish are holding.

Thanks for tips and suggestions.

to the TFF! You will get some good advice from some very good anglers! As for me I do not target sunfish.

Number 19 to the TFF! Glad to have you on board. I mainly target the Bluegill/Sunfish and I catch 98 percent of my fish using Night Crawlers. I usually thread them on a size 8 cricket hook and fish them off of the bottom. I usually leave a quarter to half of an inch hanging over the tip of the hook. I bounce the worm off of the bottom. Depending on the time of year makes a huge difference on the techniques I use. Also the type of water body plays a big factor on the techniques used as well. If the bottom is full of snags I will use a float and retrieve at different speeds. When using a float I usually use a very slow retrieve. I will also use a float if the fish are suspended. I mainly fish from the bank. That is what I love to do. I have no graphs and I fish on total instinct. I simply make a cast where I think a fish might be. During the spring and summer months sunfish love to hang around structure such as docks, overhanging tree limbs, brush piles, and stick ups. While catching Bluegill/Sunfish you will be surprised the multi different species you will catch. Everything from big bass to big carp. Just about every fish swimming loves a Night Crawler. Other methods used to catch the sunfish are drop shot techniques and slip bobber techniques. Hope this helps you some. I am sure other anglers will reply and will let you know what works for them.

Hey, thanks for the response. I haven't done any serious fishing in, maybe, 50 years. When I was young and did fish, it was exclusively bass fishing with lures. Now that I'm retired I'm preparing to start fishing again and I'm intrigued by the photos of the large bream and crappie being caught by the posters on this forum. Your technique of "bouncing the worm off the bottom" is not one I was familiar with, using live worms. Sounds about the same as bouncing my purple worms off the bottom at Lake Murval, fishing for bass, when I was in high school. In your other thread you mentioned catching a 3 pound bass while fishing for redear. How did you manage that using a tiny 8 hook.

I use 2 primary methods: either a very small unpainted jig hook (1/64th oz or smaller) tipped with a piece of crawler or an #6 wire panfish hook and a piece of crawler. I toss it out and let it slowly sink. Normally it will get picked up by a fish before it gets to the bottom but if it gets clear down I bring it in in small hops across the bottom. I tend to target 3 areas in my favorite lake: boathouses, overhanging trees and pads. Where I fish this style is deadly.

What little fishing I've done these past years has been with a cane pole. So what I've outfitted myself with at Bass Pro Shop is an 8' graphite rod and a tiny bait cast reel called a crappie reel, with the intent of vertical fishing. I still have an ultra light spin cast rig that it seems I'll have to rig for this bottom bumping, and have a go at this as well. 1/64th oz? May have to get me an ultra light spinning reel.

I use a Shakespeare 5 1/2 foot ultralight combo rig and normally have either 4lb or 2lb line on it. I like fishing really light tackle. You can get the combo for about $19 at Walmart. Or at least I can at my Walmart. Oh and I neglected to say I always fish out of a float tube. With the tube I can get right next to a boat house and use a bow&arrow cast to pitch a bait way back under it where nobody else can fish and I can get right in the middle of the pads and fish straight up and down. As I stated earlier, on Lake Athens it is deadly.

This gill came out of Athens less than 2 weeks ago.

I have caught my PB bass on a size 8 cricket hook. The bass weighed 12.11 lbs and was 26" in length. I have caught plenty of big bass, large carp, large gar, big catfish and other big fish while fishing for Bluegill/Sunfish using either size 6 or 8 hooks. I set the hook just like I would do on the Bluegill/Sunfish.


Side Note: Also these fish were caught on ultralight tackle! You will be surprised what you might catch while fishing for Bluegill/Sunfish.

Now that is what I want to catch.

Googling Lake Athens, it's just unbelievable the number of lakes in northeast Texas. Down south in Brazoria County, south of Houston on the coast, the closest "good" fishing lake is a 3 hour drive. I'll be fishing Lake Texana and trying some of the small bayous in the area. The Colorado River is also an option.

First, I want to let you know you are in the right place. The sunfish anglers on this forum are some of the most knowledgeable sunfish anglers in the US. Look at some of the old posts concerning big bluegill, and you will see some amazing trophy fish.

If I am fishing in an area with big sunfish, I use a 2-hook rig. I vary the size of the hooks depending on the size of the fish. If I am in a boat or fishing from a dock, I just tight line the rig. If I am fishing from the bank, I just throw it out or slowly reel it in along the bottom. I like to use a whole worm to increase my chances of catching bigger fish. I commonly pick up 5 to 7 pound bass with the rig.

Looks like I'll be rethinking my technique. I've always considered blue gills and sunfish to be suspended, not bottom feeders. That's why I've always used a bobber to hold the bait a couple feet off the bottom. This bottom bumping is going to work well where I will be fishing on Texana.

Let us know how you do on your trips. Always enjoy reading post about other water bodies throughout the state.

to the TFF! Some mighty good people post here. Love this section of the forum. As for me I use all artificial baits on light tackle for the sunfish. During the spring I throw small spinner baits. Summer its small crank baits mixed in with some soft plastics. Fall it's soft plastics, spinner baits, and crank baits. Winter it's small crank baits and deep diving spinner baits along with soft plastics. Weather conditions and the type of water body I am fishing play huge factors on the type of baits I use. I also use a drop shot method using the Gulp Alive Leaches as bait. The more you fish for the sunnies the more you will pick up on their patterns. Looking forward to seeing more of your post.



Side Note: I also use a flyrod !

I use 1/16 oz or smaller rooster tails and 1/64 oz or 1/32 oz jig heads with 1" Gulp Alive minnows. I highly recommend using a 1/64 oz jig head as it will increase your catch rate. I used a 1/32 oz jig head last weekend and missed a lot of fish because the hook was too big.

With the rooster tails start with a fast initial retrieve to get the blade spinning; then slowly real in. You never know what you will catch, I've landed some decent bass with the small rooster tails.

For the minnows I use a slip bobber and will fish on the bottom or just slightly off the bottom. I will lightly jig the bobber to give the minnow some action and then let it rest.

I use inexpensive gear: Shimano FX spinning rod (medium, fast action) and a Shimano IX1000 spinning reel. An ultralight rod would be ideal.

Just got back from Academy where I picked up an assortment of 1/32 jigs. I didn't see any 1/64's. My 1/32's have a #4 hook, which I use a lot for "perch fishing" with a cane pole. I just got online to Bass Pro Shop and ordered some 1/32's with a #6 hook, just in case the #4's prove a bit large. Also picked up a Mr. Crappie ultralite spinning reel, at Academy. About $13 cheaper than the Shimano. Already had a 5 ft ultralite rod to pair with the reel. Shysters were my go to spinner bait back in the 60's, in 1/8 oz size. Haven't seen them in stores lately, though.

1/64 and smaller jigs are in the fly fishing department at Bass Pro. Size 8 hook is ideal. Leland trout magnet jigs are also available in 1/64 size 8, but they are more useful in current.

Agreed on hook size. I picked some up this week from Bass Pro Grapevine. 12 1/64oz silver plated jigs for $3.99. Nice jigs, super sharp and worked great with 1" Gulp Alive Minnows last night. Bass Pro Grapevine did not have trout magnet jigs in stock.

There are many combinations of tackle that catch panfish in pretty much all waters