Freezing Bluegill forCut Bait

[festus]

Is it best to freeze bluegill whole or pre-cut? The head with guts seems to be the most effective part of the fish, I'm thinking maybe it's best to freeze whole.

I realize frozen bluegill ain't as effective as fresh, but has anyone had any luck with it?

[BIG GEORGE]

Freeze em whole. But then again why bother. They are plentifull and easy to get. Keep a ton of em in a bait tank on the back porch. The mornin of goin fishin just dip the net in and snag about 10 or so. Good cut bait for the trip.

[festus]

Freeze em whole. But then again why bother. They are plentifull and easy to get. Keep a ton of em in a bait tank on the back porch. The mornin of goin fishin just dip the net in and snag about 10 or so. Good cut bait for the trip.

This time of year they're easy to get, but they're harder to catch when the weather gets hot. I don't have any place to keep a bait tank other than the garage and it's too hot in there.

[backwoodsman68geric]

We've had good luck with all kinds of frozen baitfish/cutbait. Any live bait we have die at home in the bait tanks gets frozen unless we're heading out that day. I prefer to cut the bluegill/redear etc up and freeze it minus the tails and back fins. Seems the fins poke thru the bags etc or end up cutting us up when we're baiting up. Frozen chunked bullheads seem to really draw cats as it thaws in the water. We usually use 4"-5" bullheads so 3-5 cutbaits each. Bullheads are better fished live for flats but if they die then they become cutbait for channels, blues and snappers. Hope this helps a little.