Live bait

[Phishn_Phool]

I agree live bait is NOT cheating.  I want to see this guy catch "little bluegill" on a 12 inch wild shiner.  If you fish a red wiggler you catch bluegill, but guys fishing large wild shiners are not catching bluegill nor are they cheating.  I just wish I could do it a little better

                                         CPR ;D

[George Welcome]

Doing it better:

Here's a few tips -

1. Hooking - very important for what you want to have the shiner do.

If you want surface activity the hooks should be placed just before or aft of the dorsal fin. Be careful not to go too deep. Before the fin pulls the shiner upward as they swim away, and aft the fin will pull them up even quicker.

If you want the shiner to swim normal hook them through the bottom lip and out one of the nostrils.

If you want the shiner to swim down and forward hook them just aft of the anal fin and forward of the anal opening.

Unless you are in heavy weeded areas or very woody areas get rid of the float and fish them free-lined. If there is current present, (an ideal situation), consider adding a split weight or even Carolina rig them to keep them down in the column.

Hooking: There always has to be the tough part to any technique and with shiners this is definitely the hard part. You must have a straight line between you and the fish. Any bow or loose line will translate to a miss. Sometimes you get lucky and the bass will accomodate this by swimming directly away, but this doesn't occur always. Many times they will swim back towards you and when this happens you have to reel to the fish. You cannot sneak up on a bass Any nudge before the hookset and the bass will spit the bait. If you have to reel, reel quickly until you have that straight line and then set. (This timing takes practise)

The other key to successful shiner fishing is to be patience. Whether using a float or free-lined remember that the bass has to actually have the shiner positioned so that your hookset is made when the hook is in their mouth. Just because the float goes down, or the shiner starts getting pulling doesn't mean this is so. Give the bass a chance to position the bait properly and even then take your time.

Use the proper hook for the shiner size: Kahle hooks work best and result in the least gut hooks.

Learn to remove hooks if they do get gut hooked through the gills!!!!!

[roadwarrior]

I used to fish with kahle hooks, but now I use #6 Gamakatsu Octopus Circle Hooks exclusively. There are several advantages, especially when fishing a split shot rig on a river.

Most importantly, 95% of the time the fish is hooked in the side of the jaw, the rest of the time in the upper or lower lip. Gut hooks are VERY rare.

You NEVER set the hook, the fish sets the hook. This comes in particularly handy when you're bumping a rocky bottom, reducing hang-ups by at least 50%.

Third, the small hooks do less damage to the minnow which keeps it active longer. Maybe the bait looks and acts a little more natural, too.

[George Welcome]

My location gives me access to both salt and fresh water, and if we do salt water fishing, the circle hook is the only way. Unfortunately with the larger golden shiners the circle hook doesn't work as well. However, for the smaller baits such as minnows they would definitely be the way to go.