Do smallies eat bream? Would they make good live bait where legal? Let me know.

Not that I've seen. Though smallmouth will attack anything that threatens their bed.

Yes & Yes

oe

Yes, my buddy caught this one with gill. He had a gill on then on another pole caught a catfish so left gill in water til he landed the cat. He then started to bring in the gill when this guy hit.

Yes. I was fishing near a guy one time who had two poles. One for for catching sunfish and the other for smallies. If the sunfish were small enough, he would use it as live bait for the smallies. He was getting quite a few hits on them. He told my buddy and I that it is legal to use native fish as bait as long as the fish are caught where you are fishing. You cannot catch the bream in one pond and fish them in another. I hope this helps!

A few weeks ago, fishing on the upper portion of Pickwick, we found a big fish

floating belly up. As we approached the fish it wiggled. I netted up a 4.5-5lb

smallmouth with a 1lb+ bluegill stuck in her throat! I really didn't think the

bass was going to survive, it took two of us to get the darn gill out, including

knives and pliers. However, we released the fat girl and she swam away seemingly

unfazed.

Note: I don't fish bluegill for smallmouth and don't

personally know anyone that does.

They just don't coexist around here, outside the spawn. I do catch quite a few smallmouth that puke up white bass and white perch...

Well I talked with twra and in TN they are on the list of legal species to catch and transport as live bait as long as they are under 4". Well I just happen to have access to some water with a lot of small ones in it. I am gonna try it on Friday. I will post the results after.

Just because you catch with them doesn't mean they are forage.

But good luck, and take pics!

They just don't coexist around here, outside the spawn.

Oh boy............you might want to back off that stance. On my lake they most certainly do, and they sure as heck do on "C" and "H" lakes as well. Seen them, as you say, "coexisting" many many times out side the spawn for it to be a fluke. And I assure you that they eat them. I agree they might not be the perfered choice in food, as they tend to chase alwives on one lake, perch/crawdads on the others, but SM are incredibly agressive, some times to the point of stupidity. If there are bluegills in a lake with SM, SM have eaten bluegills (along with any thing else that swims in the lake).........period. I don't advocate as using them as live bait either.

Just an intersting note........I have cleaned a fair number of perch that I have caught through the ice out of my home lake, not giant perch but small "keepers", usually 8-10 inches long. When I catch them out of deep water (30') the stomach contents are usually blood worms. When I catch them out of shallower water (4 to 12 fow) the majority of them are filled with...................small bluegills and crappies. How many people would say bluegills and crappies are a main forage of yellow perch?

Oh boy............you might want to back off that stance.

It's not a stance or edict....it's an observation. I fish Erie and Ontario mostly. Where I catch smallies, I NEVER catch sunfish. Drum, gobies, perch, yes.

It's not a stance or edict....it's an observation. I fish Erie and Ontario mostly. Where I catch smallies, I NEVER catch sunfish. Drum, gobies, perch, yes.

Agree......never SM fished on Ontario, but I have been on Erie enough to know that your right, not many bluegills out there, in fact IDK if the would even be around too many when they spawn there either.

Here's the thing > Sure an agressive Smallie will eat a small Bluegill, or other sunfish, but probably even a lot more often than that, it will eat a crawler ! {fished correctly, of course} So why bother with gills ? The crawls are just too easy, and very effective.

Peace,

Fish

This is how much I like fishing live worms

Lol, that's awesome.

I've never seen a smallmouth spit up bluegills here either.Crayfish on the other hand is a different story.Not to say they won't eat a bluegill though.I just never seen it happen to be honest.

Worms or crayfish would be the better choice for smallmouths.

theres a lake in central pa that has smalies.. yellow perch. rainbow smelt. and bluegill.. they also stock fingerligh brown trout, no other fish in the lake......... during the late pre spawn, spawn, and early post spawn i see the smallies attacking young bluegill very often.. not their major forage for most of the year but certainly they will eat them when they are in the same areas

Sounds more like territorial behavior than forage.

Sounds more like territorial behavior than forage.

true but they are eating them nonetheless