Sculpinitus

[Nighthawk]

fishing pal Dave Tucker and I got into them Thursday on Taney sculpins. it seems like we got anywhere between 1-3 strikes per cast and we landed 25 fish between us, including a nice 18"er for me.

[Flyguide7]

Sculpins are amazing baits! Just a huge pain to get. In one hole on the White in AR my buddy and I caught 12 big browns out of one hole. That was a several years ago now since we tried it. There were a couple of local bait shops that had frozen ones for about 50 cents apiece.

[gotmuddy]

I like catching sculpins, but I havent ever had luck fishing with them.

[Brian K. Shaffer]

Are we talking sculpins as bait or flies here ? Just curious.

[Bird Watcher]

Are we talking sculpins as bait or flies here ? Just curious.

I'd say YES.

[laker67]

I really was thinking just a "maybe"

[Nighthawk]

rabbit strip sculpin fly. sorry for any confusion.

[Phil Lilley]

Live sculpins or real dead ones are good baits too. Unfortunately, browns swallow them and you end up killing a good number of fish when released, even with the best intentions. That's why I don't use them anymore or promote using them, although they are legal to use below Fall Creek.

If you do use them, set the hook on the first bite and don't let them eat it. You'll miss a bunch of bites but you may have a better chance of hooking them in the jaw instead of the back of the throat.

[Brian K. Shaffer]

I remember guys that would catch sculpins at the boat ramp and then put a bell sinker in their mouth and sew it shut with mono.

Then rig up a front hook and a trailer hook coming out the tail.

It worked real good for them. Pretty elaborate and time consuming.. but they talked of catching 10lb+ browns often.

That was 1995.

[rps]

Barbless circle hook in through the mouth, out through the gills, and back in the tail. Let them hook themselves in the corner of their jaw. CR at its best.