so me and my friend went out this morning to a local pond that is filled to the bream  8-) with bluegill. we caught like 15 in about 15 minutes and then headed off to another pond that has a bunch of 10+ lmb swimmin around in it.  we wet our lines and sit down. about 15 minutes in my bluegill starts freaking out and going in circles until it gets hammered. i go to set the hook but MY LINE HAS SOOOOO MUCH SLACK IN IT!!!!!!  > > i have to reel in for at least a second to get another hook set in, but i miss the bass and end up with a dead bluegill with huge scrape marks down its side.  time goes by and my friend gets some hits also but with no success (one of them was my fault :-/).  so i put a new gill on and toss em out there, and after about 10 minutes i see my gill on the surface jumping out of the air.  i look behind the gill and there is a nice bass chasin it with its mouth out of the water.....it was awesome.  then everything stops for like 5 seconds then..........wham the bass kills the small gill!  i reel it in for my first bass landed on live bait . not a monster at all but a nice 2.5 lber. it was a fun outing with that one fish but i wish we could have hooked up with one of the monsters that live in that pond. have to get em next time

sounds like an overall fun day Hudson.

next time reel in the slack BEFORE you set the hook   ;D

will do dave. i was sooooooo mad at myself for such a rookie mistake. i guess i thought i would give the gill 5 feet of slack :

live bait can be alot of fun.

It's not the unfair advantage that some people think.  Live bait fishing has it's own set of required skills.

I've tried it recently without success but I don't see why people WOULD have a problem with it. I'll use a live gill in a heartbeat if I know I'll have the chance to catch a big one.

Watching that baitfish get nervous and scatter is awesome! Its such a devasting hit  

Oh it is no where near a give away I have fished gills at ponds for a good amount of time with even a nibble.

Sounds like an exciting day!

Try using braid if you arent already using it

Ive been doing this at my local golf pond. I like it cause it fun watching the blue gill go crazy when the bass start in on em haha. Kinda morbid but its fun to watch nature. How do you guys run your hooks in the bluegill. Ive only tried one way and they dont stay alive long.

i just  hook it through the lips, and ive had one stay alive for more than 20 minutes. i need a livewell though

I eye hook them, get as close the spot that would be there nose

just like pierceing his nose

this way he still has the ablility to swim, an pretty much freak out when a big one is chaseing him.

I give them just enough slack that the line just droops past the tip of the rod.

memo

Ive been doing this at my local golf pond. I like it cause it fun watching the blue gill go crazy when the bass start in on em haha. Kinda morbid but its fun to watch nature. How do you guys run your hooks in the bluegill. Ive only tried one way and they dont stay alive long.

Makes me think of the Planet Earth scene where the great white is chasing the seal.

Only on a smaller scale. ;D

I've never fished with live gills for LM but I do however fish with them in my family owned pond for 15+ lb flathead and man is it fun to see your rod bow over.

1: Bring the hook up through the bottom lip and out through a nostril. 2: Put the hook just behind the anal fin. 3: Put the hook just in front of the dorsal fin.

There are some more subtleties but the above will cover most applications.

Number one is general use - Number two will make the bait swim down and forward. Great for getting them to swim into grass. Number three makes them swim upward and give more surface activity.

Never attempt to set the hook with slack line. You must be taut to the fish.

When I lived in Kentucky we would seine a cooler full of crawdads from the creek use them to fish for Kentucky (spotted) bass on Lake Cumberland.  

We would use a #2 crappie hook with a split shot or two on the line and just drop them over the side of the boat off the points.  Four people could fish out of our old 14 foot Starcraft boat without getting in each other's way.  Every one in a while we would catch a smallmouth.