I just recently started trying to catch bass on live bluegill and I've read several ways to do it, where to hook them, what size hooks, etc. I'm just curious how the bass actually gets hooked. It seems like a silly question but I'm not understanding it on a fundamental level like I do using soft plastics for example. If the bass swallows it head first and you have the bluegill hooked through the lips, are you literally required to pull the hook set where it flips the bluegill around and then hooks the bass' mouth? I'm not seeing how the bluegill will actually move very much once the bass has it engulfed, given the direction of its spines. Is the goal to rip the hook out of the bluegills mouth?

Same with hooking behind dorsal fin, although I can envision that working a little better given the hooks position relative to the bass' mouth, but wouldn't the bluegill still have to pop out of the bass' mouth backwards and through the bass' lips, or are we assuming the bass has such a tight grab that the roof of the bass' mouth is basically applying pressure right on the hook? It just doesn't make intuitive sense to me nor does it induce confidence that the hook ratio is very good with this technique, or is this simply the risk of using live bluegill?

I hope this makes sense and maybe some of you know how to answer my curiosity. Thanks

1 hour ago, LTDan8 said:

I just recently started trying to catch bass on live bluegill and I've read several ways to do it, where to hook them, what size hooks, etc. I'm just curious how the bass actually gets hooked. It seems like a silly question but I'm not understanding it on a fundamental level like I do using soft plastics for example. If the bass swallows it head first and you have the bluegill hooked through the lips, are you literally required to pull the hook set where it flips the bluegill around and then hooks the bass' mouth? I'm not seeing how the bluegill will actually move very much once the bass has it engulfed, given the direction of its spines. Is the goal to rip the hook out of the bluegills mouth?

Same with hooking behind dorsal fin, although I can envision that working a little better given the hooks position relative to the bass' mouth, but wouldn't the bluegill still have to pop out of the bass' mouth backwards and through the bass' lips, or are we assuming the bass has such a tight grab that the roof of the bass' mouth is basically applying pressure right on the hook? It just doesn't make intuitive sense to me nor does it induce confidence that the hook ratio is very good with this technique, or is this simply the risk of using live bluegill?

I hope this makes sense and maybe some of you know how to answer my curiosity. Thanks

Use a large octopus style hook, don't hook the bait too deeply, reel down until the rod loads, and then come back on it solidly. I'm not sure what exactly goes on in there, but doing the above results in over 95% hookups. 

Just make sure it's legal to use live bluegill as bait in your state. For example, MN prohibits use of bluegill, perch, crappie, sunnies as bait - live or dead.

Anytime I used bluegill as a kid, before I realized to is not legal in my state, when we set the hook the intent was to rip it out of the gill and get it stuck in the bass