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| Over the years, I've caught bass, catfish, and walleye using panfish as bait. (Bluegills and redears mostly.)
It seems like it would work with muskies also. Anyone try it? Any special suggestions for attaching to the hook.
I've always just put a suitably sized hook through the back and let the panfish swim around.
There are no local dealers selling anything bigger than shiners, so catching your own is the only choice in larger live bait.
I hooked up with a nice muskie in ontario some years back on a frog I had caught, so I'm always keen on trying live frogs when I can get them.
Thanks,
Michael Courtney |
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Posts: 94
Location: Perham, MN | Are you serious? You may want to check out the fishing laws in your state and make sure it is legal. As far as i know it is illegal to use gamefish such as panfish as bait, in Minnesota anyway. |
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Posts: 273
| It is legal in WI. The fish you use as bait must count as part of your daily bag limit though.
Jeff |
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| In many states it is legal if you catch the fish in the lake you are going to use it for bait....not sure on MN though..Ben |
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Posts: 94
Location: Perham, MN | Well you guys told me. I guess I do most of my fishing in MN and wasnt aware of the law. It does make sense. |
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Posts: 1504
Location: Oregon | You haven't been able to use live fish of any kind in the Northwest for 30 years or longer in most states.
jed v. |
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| Using panfish for bait is completely legal in Ohio, and bluegill is one of the preferred baits for catfish. It works for bass and walleye too. I'm wondering how effective it is for musky. Someone must have tried it.
Any ideas?
Michael Courtney |
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Location: Northern Wisconsin | i have tried it with perch and rockbass and didnt catch anything, not even pike. but when i cast out
as sucker in the same area the pike and occasional muskie eat it right away. i would just stick to
suckers or lures. frogs don't work good either. |
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Posts: 613
Location: big cove tannery pa | A few guys i know use bluegills during the colder months and creek chubs in the summer for muskies, i'm guessing they would both work all year round. as for hooking them,they hook them through the tail and just let them swim around, but if a musky takes it let him run.
tony |
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Posts: 5874
| In WI, if you are going to use panfish for bait, it must come from the body of water you are fishing, and they fish count towards your daily bag limit.
That said, I think Crappie make excellent muskie dessert! One of the biggest fish I'd seen on Pewaukee stole a 13" crappie as I was going to lip it! |
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Posts: 2427
Location: Ft. Wayne Indiana | Good ol' Topwater Terry Anderson down here in Indiana used to use a lot of bass and crappie for bait.
It is 100% legal, and he used to catch alot of muskies on bass.
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Posts: 2691
Location: Pewaukee, Wisconsin | Here in Wisconsin the muskies are eating plenty of blue gills because they are in spawning or just finishing up. I have heard many storys lately of muskies eating gills as people are catching them.
This is the best time to twitch or use a Suick. I love this short period of time every year. The Suick is my best bait because it is exactly what the muskies are looking for. An easy meal.
Ever catch a gill and hurt it while removing the hooks, toss it back and watch the gill try to swim away and it just comes back to the surface each time it swims back under the water? Sounds like a Suick, Bobby Bait, T-Bone, etc......
Gills work..........I caught a 38-inch muskie on a gill that I was bringing in and the muskie ate it. I watched the muskie come out of the water and shake the gill free, the small hook stayed in the muskies mouth and I caught it on 4lb test. |
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| I am going to show my age here, but 30 to 35 years ago as kids we would catch lots of big northerns on bluegills, I am guessing muskie would snack on them as well. Back then we would ride our bikes down to the river and fish. Suckers cost 25 cents each back then and we could usually afford to buy one or two before the money ran out. We would then use home made ice fishing poles to catch bluegills around the rocks near shore. With bluegills as bait we caught northerns, catfish and even an occassional snapping turtle......those were the days!! |
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| Took my boys (ages 5 and 6) to Leesville lake (Ohio) this week. The boys patience runs out after a few hours of trolling, so Monday night as it was getting dark, we were anchored in 10' of water fishing with night crawlers, and we also had a couple of blue gills sitting out. All of a sudden, WHAM! There's a big fish on my younger son's trolling rod which was out with a blue gill on it right next to the boat.
Well, the fish came in really easy until it got close to the boat, then it spooked and made a long run. The next time we got it close to the boat it got back by the motor but somehow managed not to get tangled in the motor or sonar. When we boated the fish, it measured in at 38" and weighed 18 lbs, a monster fish to be sure in the eyes of the 5 year old boy who caught it.
My other son caught a second 38" Muskie a couple days later trolling a Sisson 41 in 30' of water and also picked up a 26" channel catfish on a bluegill.
Michael Courtney |
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Posts: 367
Location: Chicago | Put the gill on a quick strike rig just as you would a sucker. Muskies eat them like m&m's. A good friend has caught many fish by fly fishing for gills, hooking up, then simply letting the gill swim. I prefer the quick strike rig though.
Edited by slimm 7/1/2006 8:33 AM
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Panfish as Muskie bait