Your Favorite Go to Bait for Sunfish-Bluegill.

If you had only one bait to use for catching Sunfish-Bluegill what would it be?


Side note. Flyrod baits included.

I guess I would have to say live worms but crickets would be up there too, although availability and logistics of crickets are a little more difficult.

I would say as a youngster where I didn't have access to worms, I would use grasshoppers & dragonflies that I would actually slap with my belt and fish for bluegills/bream, shiners and frequent catfish on a cane pole. What a blast!

Do not target the sunfish but if I did I would use worms.

Worms, either regular worms or crawlers. If I'm using crawlers I bust them into pieces about an inch long. I've had good luck on meal worms too.

My favorite used to be a tube Jig but since I got a 2wt fly rod it's a small #10 white spider fly

Catawba worms which are actually caterpillars. And I would use a little stick to tun the catalpa inside out. Hadn't done that in years! They show up on Catalpa trees I'm mid-spring most years.

http://www.allaboutworms.com/how-to-attract-catawba-worms-to-your-catalpa-trees

meal worms,...

Beadheads

Wormies

WORMS!

I had a feeling he would say this.

Live maggots. Guys up north call them "spikes".

Worms are my second preference if I don't have maggots.

Curly tail grubs!

Hope to try some curly tails and jigs and stuff on bridge pilings hopefully in about 3 weeks or so. Waiting for labor day to be over and maybe get the average temps down a few degrees.

I really like little jigs with curly tail grubs. The little guys don't eat it up very often so it is there and deep for the bulls. Sometimes a little spinner harness seems to turn them on too. If they are a little slow I will add a little worm until they get going.

We are mostly lure fisherman. I would have to say that when all else fails, we go to the old trusty curly triple tail with a 1/32 oz jighead. Here are a few pics from the past.

For all species that bite lures, I can't beat a light jig head and soft plastic. Jigheads of 1/32 - 1/8 oz. cover most situations, with 1/16 oz. best for most fishing. Lure design can be anything from a Leland Crappie Magnet to the clipped off end of plastic worm - the sky's the limit! Here are a few examples:

As you may have noticed in the photos of various species and the lures that got them to strike, fish respond to a lure's shape, action, speed of retrieve and to a lesser degree, color (though I have my favorites).

Line size using light jigs is crucial for allowing the lure the most response to rod twitch and reel handle turns. Fish could care less about line diameter but can not be provoked to strike when a lure's action is muted. Also important is line bow the deeper you fish and the longer the cast. The lure must be fished at a depth the fish are and that means fishing 8' of water, lures must get down to any depth from near surface to on bottom. Strike sensitivity is muted using heavier lines of 10 lb test or more except when using braid of 15 lb test or less.

Braid is my favorite line because of sensitivity and zero stretch, and combined with a light action rod and fluorocarbon leader, ups the percentage of hook sets dramatically! The 1.5' thin 4-6# test leader allows less line bow/ slack.

Medium size reels with a good retrieve ration (3.5 or greater), allows me to reel line in fast while raising the rod tip after a strike (tick of the line) is felt. With light jigs, I never do a hook set like for bass - fast & hard. With pan fish, the fish sets the hook for you when it feels hook resistance as you pull the fish towards you with rod tip at 45 degrees and reel handle turning to maintain pressure on the hook.

The above is for the benefit of those that haven't used the lures, tackle and presentations suggested. Most days I catch over 40 fish / 5 different species using light jigs and any of a huge variety of lures; if I'm lucky to fish schools, over 100 fish. The nicest thing about using jigs is the amount of water searched with your lure that is fan cast either from shore or from a boat and in a variety of depths and over different bottom types. Jig plastic combos can be swum with slight pauses or jigged on bottom at times, but in any case, the lure performs the search and provokes inactive fish to strike.

One AWESOME write up SenkoSam! Thanks for sharing.

+1 I enjoyed reading the post.

I use pieces of nightcrawlers because you can catch several fish off one worm, and they can be kept in the frig for some time if not used. Next year, I plan to order a large amount of crickets on line, freeze them, divide into small quantities, take them out when needed, and fish. Apparently,they work as good as live ones.

Fishslime I have heard that frozen crickets work as well. If anyone has tried this please chime in. Wife frowns on worms in the fridge after one escaped.

Nice pics Senkosam. Thanks for sharing.

Since 2017 post there have been more Frankenstein soft plastic baits that have been very successful even in the middle of a bright, hot sunny summer day. Here are a few that anyone can make or discover using parts of two lures and a candle flame (steady hand needed).
Claw tail (claw from a bass crawfish lure added to a segment of French Fry Worm for the body:


You can also add a curl tail to the same flat body vs the usual round body:


I get far more bites mostly likely because the lure is more visible in green water.

Another was joining a flat tail worm to a thicker grub body. I call the lure on the bottom my Cello Tail Worm
Excellent fish catchers:

The Kut Tail tapered flat tail always catches fish once fish are found:

They do well with an overhead spinner:


The joined grub bodies minus curl tails became one of my best lures for all species:


I would hope that some of you would try making any of the above or something different than the humdrum lures off the shelf. I can't emphasize enough how well they catch fish even on the slowest days. Two days ago my partner and I caught over 100 fish in a little over four hours using many of the above though only one of them would have done as well. I just like lure variety when I fish and maybe some fish prefer one or the other.

Frank

Only one?
I'd have to go with the "Bait of Champions" WORMS!
They just flat out work.....

x 2

Wow...A lot has transpired sins 2017 ! As of today 2020, I would have to say that the Gulp Alive 1" minnow is my go to...by far. 400-500 fish days just don't lie...

That does not surprise me at all!


Side Note: I will stick to the good old Night Crawler Worm!

Red wigglers or night crawlers??

Yup! In 2017 I would have definitely said the grub/plastic combo would have been supreme for me as well, but in the past three years an small in-line spinnerbait has been taking top honors. Still a jig/plastic combo if I need to fish deeper and/or slower. Especially once I’ve found the fish holding spots and need a more finesse bait to stay catching’

Times have not changed for me! Worms and only worms are still my "Go to Bait" !

One presentation I was surprised to see was a shoreline angler catch panfish using a float and enough line beneath it to work a curl tail way out from shore. He didn't know the depth was 8' where the rig landed but his 3' leader allowed the lure to be deep enough to be at the level the fish were. A few years ago I used the same rig and do remember catching crappie on it but haven't used it since.

I mean what else can be said after SenkoSam chimed in?

Looking at my table right this minute I've decided I'm connecting a twist tie to a Q-tip to a spade connector. See you out on the water Frank!

I keep saying it but I'll say it again. Float fishing with light jig heads and soft plastics is some of the most exciting fishing there is.



This is why I prefer slip floats with bobber stops. Fish at 50 feet if you like. Still castable. I started fishing in Asia where I've lived for over a decade and you will not see a clip on float in any store anywhere.

1/32 JIGLYF jigs are my go-to bait for bluegill and anything else that swims

Judging by your post, they work very well also.

We've had fun fishing with Gulp! Live! the past couple of years but when things don't work the good Ol' box of worms does the job.

David, I hope I still have time this year to fish the float & grub. I did well in fall a few years ago and believe I'll do even better with the small, thin plastic lures I started using for fish that only nip at a bait. I have to use a 1/64 oz jig with a #8 hook. Interesting though, once one fish is caught in a spot - especially under a float - other fish come around and start slamming lures in a frenzy. Guess aggression is contagious....



The hand-injected mini-sticks (above) caught a 3lb bass last week along with sunnies.

This is a yellow perch right? Was this caught in Texas? This fish is on my list of fish to catch but I don't know where to go.

It is and there are lakes in Texas where they're located. That fish was caught in NY.