bluegill bait

[Jonas Winslo]

In one of the local private ponds that I frequent, there are some nice size cats and big bass. It's a pretty small pond and bluegill is the only prey in it. I want to use a small live bluegill from the pond, fished on the bottom to try to catch a big bass or cat while I fly fish and throw a few things on the spinning combo. I've heard people talk about cutting their tail to disable them and make them more enticing. Do I just cut the rear most tail fin completely off, cut into the fleshy part of it's back just in front of the rear tail fin or how would I do it for the best result?

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: bluegill bait

Try cutting the tail fin in half and see how that works. Cut more off if he's still too lively. We do that with sucker minnows all the time so they don't trip our tip up flags while ice fishing.

 

[catfish58]

Re: bluegill bait

Cut the tail short enough to bleed. Catfish hunt by smell and they will find it faster.