No, using small bream, but I have to say, I am from Louisiana, have a great place on Toledo Bend Lake, which you can google, they have a website. One of the best lakes in the USA, hot place for bass, white perch, bream, catfish, strippers. If its not illegal to use live bream for catfish bait in Illinois, try it. You can catch any cat, blues, channel, op’s ( spotted ). We can use traps for catching small bream for bait, hookem right behind the dorsal fin, they will live for several days on a trout line or jug line.
Brelin, Berlin , Berlin…lol That is funny. For some reason I have the understanding that it is ok to use bluegill if you use it in the same water you have caught it from… I could be mistaken but I do need to find out because for the giants it doesn’t get any better. Hope I haven’t been breaking the law.-
I don’t know about live, but cut blue gill I am pretty sure is legal but you can’t bring them from one body of water to another. Darned Wal-Mart didn’t have the new rules & reg. book out when I got my new license.
enjycreation-I don’t set out jugs or trot lines, but I do set out turtle lines and use BG heads on my hooks and I always thought that was legal. Had a girl one time call the meat Dept. at a local super market and ask for that fresh fish, guy told her to come on over and he would get it out for her. Priceless the look on her face when she figured out what was going on.
They must be uses in the body of water taken, and You must observe all size and creel limits.It is illegal to cut up,dress any fish on a body of water where there is a size limit for that particular species of fish…...
enjycreation-I don’t set out jugs or trot lines, but I do set out turtle lines and use BG heads on my hooks and I always thought that was legal. Had a girl one time call the meat Dept. at a local super market and ask for that fresh fish, guy told her to come on over and he would get it out for her. Priceless the look on her face when she figured out what was going on.
Hmmmm wonder what kind of a look he would have had on his face if she would have put a hook in that “fish” ;0) I knew there was a reason I don’t frequent the local meat dept…..
Tried to post pics, but wouldn’t allow the pics to load due to size.
Danny, if you don’t have a photobucket account try setting one up and it will let you upload and resize your pics to post on the forum… everyone loves to see the pics of a good catch !!!
Ok will try, but to use as bait, I use a 6/0 hook, you can use bigger if you like, but I hook the bream right behind the dorsal fin ( top fin ), putting the hook completely through from side to side. Hook it high on the back so you don’t get into the guts, that way it will live a couple days or more. In case you don’t know, channel & blue cats will bite on anything, but a spotted or op will only bite on live bait. I have troutlined 20+ years. I have also tried live crawfish with hardly any success. As stated above, I fish Toledo Bend Lake, a 260,000 acre lake, place my lines in about 20’ water. Each end of line is about 3” deep, with the middle 10’ deep. I do this to keep boat motors from cutting, but also using the various depths of 3’ to 10’ for browsing cats. Biggest has been a 72 lb blue. Now that is fun to get in the boat. I use a large net to net the fish, get it in the boat, then unhook the cat. Always, Always, keep a sharp knive open by you, and one on your belt. If you get accidently hooked, you can cut the staging, or possibly get pulled over. That is why I also keep one on my belt as a safety.
