Bluegills coming off?

616 Views 22 Replies 9 Participants Last post by D_Weezy, 4 d ago

rnickel17

Discussion Starter · 13 d ago

I’ve been doing a lot of fishing at a dam recently. It’s a shallow water dam about 4-5 feet deep. I like to toss the bluegill right up against it and let it sit. I’ve caught a couple of decent flatheads doing this. But I will say the vast majority of the time, I’ll cast it out there and let it sit for a while and check it after some time and the bluegill is gone. This happens most of the time. And it’s not a catfish taking it cause I have bite alarms that are very sensitive. It probably has to do with either the fast current under there or maybe the bluegills wedge themselves in rocks or something. You guys experience this? And what could I do to keep them from coming off?
Thankyou

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D_Weezy

· #2 · 13 d ago

Did you look into bridling your live bait? The bait stays alive and is held onto the hook even under pressure from heavy current. There are many ways to bridle bait. Do a Google search on bridling bait and check Youtube for videos.

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Herbhome

· #3 · 12 d ago

I hook mine under the front of the pectoral fin on an angle to keep the hook from hooking into the bait. I lose very few unless there is a turtle feeding.

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truckgrandpa

· #4 · 12 d ago

I've never fished at the dam.
But, there have been times that I have put a bluegill on a hook, cast it, sat and waited. Using other rods for other bait, and targeting other species.
After a bit (a few times, several hours) reeling in the bluegill to check it or packing it in for the day... the 'gill was still alive!
If packing in, I'll remove the hook and release the 'gill. If he's tough enough to last that long, IMO, he deserves to be released.

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Glass lord

· #5 · 12 d ago

D_Weezy said:
Did you look into bridling your live bait? The bait stays alive and is held onto the hook even under pressure from heavy current. There are many ways to bridle bait. Do a Google search on bridling bait and check Youtube for videos.

I hadn’t ever heard of this method so I did a quick google search seams like a cool idea definitely keeps the hook from turning on your bait. Have you ever done this with cheek chubs?

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River_monster91

· #6 · 12 d ago

If theres current hook em through the lips.

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roundhouse

· #7 · 12 d ago

Hook em then take a small piece of a plastic worm and put on the hook after. They wont come off and the tiny piece of plastic bait will not effect hookset. I always have torn up lizards and worms I started keeping for this.

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Herbhome

· #8 · 12 d ago

roundhouse said:
Hook em then take a small piece of a plastic worm and put on the hook after. They wont come off and the tiny piece of plastic bait will not effect hookset. I always have torn up lizards and worms I started keeping for this.

That is a great idea....Gonna remember that!

Reactions: 3

rnickel17

Discussion Starter · #9 · 12 d ago

roundhouse said:
Hook em then take a small piece of a plastic worm and put on the hook after. They wont come off and the tiny piece of plastic bait will not effect hookset. I always have torn up lizards and worms I started keeping for this.

This is a Great idea. Before you said that I was thinking about a sinker bumper. But I think that may be too hard and might affect the hook set. Why it seems your idea is better.

Reactions: 1

rnickel17

Discussion Starter · #10 · 12 d ago

D_Weezy said:
Did you look into bridling your live bait? The bait stays alive and is held onto the hook even under pressure from heavy current. There are many ways to bridle bait. Do a Google search on bridling bait and check Youtube for videos.

Thankyou for that idea, and I did end up checking out those videos. The ones I’ve seen with it looks like a wire I’m afraid might tear through in the current cause of the thinness of it. If I do go with bridling it, I may find a band of some type to use that might be thicker. Either was I’ll be experimenting with this idea for sure and a few others. Thankyou kindly for suggesting the bridling.

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D_Weezy

· #11 · 11 d ago

Take a look at these (link below). They are kind of expensive, but I am going to try and make some myself. There are different sizes for different sizes of bait. I saw a post on another site, and the guy modified them by taking off the rubber at the top and replacing it with a tiny O-ring (I will post a photo below of his modification). He said this kept them from coming off when he hooked a fish. I think I will try to make my own and use a small ziptie in place of the rubber or an O-ring. They look like a good fit for what you are trying to do. I could use these for my slide-bait fishing or under a large bobber while fishing for flathead catfish. If I get some made I will post photos.

Ultimate Bait Bridle

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D_Weezy

· #12 · 11 d ago

Here is my sketch of the bridles and the sizes I am thinking about making. I'm not sure if I should use the .051 or .062 wire. I have both sizes. The .062 wire seems a little too heavy, but I guess I will try some of it also. I can't tell what size of wire they used. That 1" wide is massive, but they have one about the diameter of a quarter. I guess it is made for shark baits. I guess it would be okay to use with an 8"-12" live carp. 😄

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D_Weezy

· #13 · 10 d ago

These spring bridles are not as nice as theirs but not bad for my first try. I used the .051 stainless steel spring wire. I have the top of the eye figured out, but I had problems with the round bends at the bottom. I believe that I figured out a way to build a jig to make the round bend at the bottom. Now I need to order a piece of 1"×6"×6" HDPE plastic to build it. With this jig, I could possibly make 8 different sizes with smooth bends. Back to the sketch pad to draw the design.

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D_Weezy

· #14 · 10 d ago

Glass lord said:
I hadn’t ever heard of this method so I did a quick google search seams like a cool idea definitely keeps the hook from turning on your bait. Have you ever done this with cheek chubs?

I've never tried it with creekchubs, just bluegills and bullheads. Hair-rigging live bait is very similar. I've tried that too, and it works. If I can catch some skipjack the next time I go to the river, I might try one of these stainless spring steel bridles and use it on my slide-bait rig. I'd like to see what I could get to bite a really big skipjack. I would like to try one so large that it looks like I have no business using something that big for a live-bait. I'm trying to catch a freshwater Tiger shark. 😆

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truckgrandpa

· #15 · 10 d ago

I watched a couple of videos on YouTube, re: bridling. I still don't understand it.
The closest thing I have to a computer, is my iPhone 12. So, the YouTube videos aren't that big.
The virst video I watched, he talked about bridling. Didn't show much about how to rig it.
Second video: the young lady didn't show how to rig it on a live bait. But she did show it on the handle of a water bottle.

Like I said, I still don't understand it. Advantages? How to keep live bait in the "bridle".

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Herbhome

· #16 · 10 d ago

Bill, Dale posted a link that shows a picture of one in use. I captured the pic and here it is.

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D_Weezy

· #17 · 10 d ago

truckgrandpa said:
I watched a couple of videos on YouTube, re: bridling. I still don't understand it.
The closest thing I have to a computer, is my iPhone 12. So, the YouTube videos aren't that big.
The virst video I watched, he talked about bridling. Didn't show much about how to rig it.
Second video: the young lady didn't show how to rig it on a live bait. But she did show it on the handle of a water bottle.

Like I said, I still don't understand it. Advantages? How to keep live bait in the "bridle".

The advantage is not having your hook buried in the bait. It's the same concept as the European hair-rig. When the fish takes your bait, there is nothing keeping the hook from burying in the fishes mouth. I've even tried hair-rigging cut-bait, and it worked well. I will try to find a good video of bridling with a line and a needle. You can make your own bridling needle by cutting through one side of a large-eye hand sewing needle with a Dremel tool and cut-off disc. I've made hair-rig needles the same way. Waxed sail twine, wide flat waxed rigging thread, dacron line, or elastic rigging bands all work for bridling baits. I'm cheap so I use a line. I use hollow braid 80-pound dacron. Below is a link to a video of a guy using elastic bands for bridling live baitfish in saltwater. There is a second link to an article that gives step by step instructions on how to bridle a bait using line. It's all the same. Line and waxed thread are cheap, but the bands are pretty cheap also in bulk. You can get waxed thread at Walmart or other sewing stores.
Bridling with elastic bands

Bridling with line

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rnickel17

Discussion Starter · #18 · 9 d ago

Thankyou Dweezy and Herbhome for all this excellent information, diagrams and photos!

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D_Weezy

· #19 · 9 d ago

I did my own eye design and remembered that I have several spools of tubular slingshot band. Guess what, a small piece works perfectly on the eye and should hold the hook to my homemade bridle very well. This just tells me that I have too much stuff lying around. 😄

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D_Weezy

· #20 · 9 d ago

The tubular slingshot band works on the other style of eye too. Sometimes things just accidentally work out. 😉

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