When fishing any live bait fish (including perch and bluegills) I hook
them either in the tail or lips, and I remove a few fins, but not to the
point where I kill them. Like you said usually you don't have to go to
those extremes (clipping fins), but sometimes it is the only way to get
them to even consider your bait.

Chris
Bob La Londe wrote:
I used to use minnows for bassing all the time. Usually whatever I could
catch. I actually had a pretty good setup for minnow fishing including a 55
gallon plastic barrel for my bait. Anyway, I was watching Mark Sosin's
Sal****er Journal the other evening and he had an interesting technique.
His bait was dead, but I was wondering how well it might work for large
shiners or or other live bait fish. He slid the hook and line in the mouth
and out through one gill. Then he put the hook in the side of the fish
about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way back so it layed semi flat along the side of the
fish.

When I used minnows for bass I just hooked them through the lips. In most
good bass spots the minnow got clobbered so fast it never mattered how long
the bait lasted, but I was wondering if Mark's method might work better for
those guys who drift and troll big shiners for smalleys in places like Dale
Hollow.

Would the line through the gill damage the gill and kill the minnow quickly,
or would its small diameter allow the water to flow better than a typical
lip hooked minnow allowing it to stay fresh and lively longer?

Hmmm..... I may have to dig out my throw net and go catch some minnows.