Live Sunfish For Largemouth

[ozark trout fisher]

So this is kinda random, but I'm just curious if a lot of other people out there use live sunfish when fishing for bass... This time of the year, its about the only bait I'll use for bass, as it almost always produces a few nice bass.

So does anyone else out there use this

[KCRIVERRAT]

Hey Fisher, never fished with perch for largemouth. Just a story about an incident concerning your question. In-laws lived on the Rock. Was on the pontoon watching my sister-in-law reel up a longear she had caught on a worm. I guess in about 5 to 6 feet of water before she brought the thing up, a big LM (6 or 7#'s maybe), shot up out of nowhere and engulfed the thing. What a sight! It got the longear, but we didn't get it... guess that fish is even bigger now!

KC

[TroutRinger]

I don't really have any objection to it, but I thought it was illegal to use a species of game fish to catch another. I could be wrong though. That said, when I was much younger and on vacation with my family in Florida, I caught several bass in the 4 pound range on the condo complex lake using sunfish.

[slider]

We used them one spring down at Galena on white bass. They wouldnt much more than hit the water than a white would have it. Seems like they talked about what was legal and what wasnt on another thread this spring. I cant remember what the regulation was though. Slider

[Kicknbass]

When did sunfish become game fish? The're fun to catch, but I don't think the MDC considers them game fish, other states may, but not the MDC.

[TroutRinger]

When did sunfish become game fish? The're fun to catch, but I don't think the MDC considers them game fish, other states may, but not the MDC.

That may very well be true. I just remember seeing a sign in a park or at a lake one time that said something about how it was prohibitted to do so. That could have also been unique to that location.

[smallmouthjoe]

Don't people use sunfish for trot lines?

[shaker]

Years ago, early 60's, I would catch blue gills and perch and use them on trot lines and limb lines while on family vacations, usually stayed at Viney Creek. I don't remember catching any bass on the trot lines but more often than not if you had a fish on the limb line it would be a bass. Never over 3 to 4 #'s but they eat just as good as everything else we caught.

[Phil Lilley]

Blue gill are not a game fish in Missouri and thus can be used for bait. Most commonly used for catfish on trot and limb lines.

[ozark trout fisher]

Hey Fisher, never fished with perch for largemouth. Just a story about an incident concerning your question. In-laws lived on the Rock. Was on the pontoon watching my sister-in-law reel up a longear she had caught on a worm. I guess in about 5 to 6 feet of water before she brought the thing up, a big LM (6 or 7#'s maybe), shot up out of nowhere and engulfed the thing. What a sight! It got the longear, but we didn't get it... guess that fish is even bigger now!

KC

That sort of how I got started on the technique... Awhile back while bluegill fishing, I hooked a nice sunny, and just before I brought him ashore, it was engulfed by a very large bass. Of course the Bluegill had swallowed the hook, so there was no way for me to actually bring the bass in, but it was still a pretty cool experience. The next cast, I caught a bluegill, rigged him on a plastic worm hook, and caught a 4# bass. It's been one of my favorite techniques since.

An interesting not... In years of using this technique, I can count on one hand the number of times I have deep hooked a bass using this technique.