If you list the many things that new anglers need to master, you’ll find live bait near the top.
Often the most productive means to get fish biting, the right live bait, rigged properly, is fundamental to successful fishing. And as complicated as the subject might seem at first, we’ll help you break it down, get a handle on the common choices, and teach you the best ways to present each of them.
Table of Contents (clickable)
Related:
Common Fishing Bait Types
Insects
Crickets
If there’s something big bluegill can’t resist, it’s a fat cricket kicking its legs for all its worth.
That’s no exaggeration. I’ve thrown crickets under a bobber and had bluegill after bluegill strike the moment my bait hit the water!
If that sounds hard to believe, check out this video:
I like to use a long-shank hook like the Mustad Classic Cricket in #6 or #8.
I prefer to rig my crickets below a slip float, weighting the line with split shot to allow me enough weight for an actual cast. We’ve written about the advantages of slip floats before, and from easy, accurate casting to simple adjustments in depth, they’re the way to go when rigging crickets for panfish.
My pick is the Thill Pro Series Slip Float. It’s easy to use, very high quality, and with just a touch of lead on the line, it casts like a dream with a kicking cricket underneath.
They’re widely available in bait shops, inexpensive, and easy to transport and handle. Just be aware that they’re not particularly hardy, and once they die, they’re not nearly as effective.
Using the same hook as you would for crickets, simply pierce the waxworm mid-body and feed it onto the hook, exposing the point. You’ll end up with both ends of the wax worm wriggling, and that’s a surefire recipe for a strike!
And while any hook can hold a worm, the baitholder hook is just perfect. Its barbs help keep your worm in place during the cast, and tiny bait-stealing fish have a hard time stripping your nightcrawler off your hook.
For bluegill and other sunfish, give a #6 Eagle Claw baitholder a try.
They come pre-snelled, meaning that they’re attached to a short length of tough leader, allowing them to be easily attached to the end of your line.
Rigging nightcrawlers is pretty simple, but many people get it wrong. What you don’t want is a lot of hook exposed, as in the examples below:
These are both great examples of WHAT NOT TO DO.
To rig your worm correctly, start with the head of the worm and run the hook straight into the top, feeding the worm’s body onto the hook as you slip it around the bend toward the shank.
You’ll notice that those upward-facing barbs let you slide that worm’s head up toward the eye – and that’s something you want to do.
Keep feeding that worm upward until you’ve got the head snug against the eye, or even over it a touch.
When you’ve got the right amount of worm on your shank, pass the point out of the worm’s body and let the rest dangle free.
This is the kind of thing you’re looking for.
You want a bit of worm dangling off the end of the hook while keeping the point exposed.
Now, if you’re using tiny worms, the process just starts with a pass of the hook into the body below the head and then continues as above. You’ll have some head running off to one side, too, and that’s just fine!
Now, there are a number of different ways you can rig a minnow, and it’s worth reviewing your options:
- Tail hooking – To tail hook a minnow, run the point through the minnow’s tail between the dorsal and tail fins. You’re looking for the spot where there’s plenty of meat to secure your hook, but no delicate organs to pierce.
Your minnow will be alive and kicking for quite a while rigged like this, and it’ll be encouraged to swim away from the hook, causing erratic motions and lots of action.
Keep in mind, however, that crappie and other fish take minnows head first to avoid their spines. You’ll need to pause after the strike, give the ish a chance to really take your hook, and only then move to set it.
That pause is essential, and if you wait just a heartbeat, you’ll lock them up tight! - Dorsal hooking – To dorsal hook a minnow, run the point through the flesh just under the fin along its back. You want to bury your hook through the meat below the fin, not in the fin itself.
If you do this right, your hook will be held fast but miss the minnow’s organs, keeping it alive and kicking.
Thin wire Aberdeen hooks are great for this technique, as thicker options can kill your minnows quickly with dorsal hooking. - Lip hooking – To lip hook a minnow, pass the point under the lower jaw and out through the upper jaw forward of the minnow’s eyes.
Don’t do this!
You want to miss the minnow’s brain – you’re just looking for mouth tissue here.
If you do hit the brain or eyes, you’ll end up with a dead minnow, and that’s not ideal when you’re looking for live bait!
This technique is great for encouraging erratic action, but it isn’t as secure as the options above. That can lead to trouble in rivers, where the current can pull your minnow free.
It can also impair your minnow’s breathing, shortening its life on your hook.
But it places the hook right where it can do the most good, and a lip-hooked minnow is simply great for attracting bites. - Snout hooking – An alternative to lip hooking is snout hooking, where you pass the point in through the minnow’s open mouth and up and out the upper lip forward of the eyes.
Like lip hooking, this isn’t as secure as meatier options, but it does put the hook right where you want it. And unlike lip hooking, the minnow is free to open its mouth and gulp oxygen-rich water, keeping it swimming longer. - Trick hooking – If you end up with a mess of dead minnows, don’t worry.
To trick hook a dead minnow, pass your hook’s point into its mouth and push it through behind its gill plate or head.
I don’t recommend this technique with live minnows, as it will kill them very quickly. But when all you’ve got is dead minnows, or you really need a secure hold in a hard current, the trick hook gets the job done.
For a closer look at some of these techniques, check out this video: