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Crickets are one of the best baits you can use for catching panfish. They will catch fish when every other kind of bait won’t. Here are some tips for catching, keeping, and fishing with crickets.
Catching crickets:
There are a few ways you can catch crickets. The first way is to go out early in the morning and look for them around woodpiles or around rotting vegetation. If you go early before the morning dew is gone, you will find the crickets will be much easier to catch. Be careful though, snakes like to hang around woodpiles as well.
Another way to catch them is to bait them. Coat some bread crumbs with sugar and spread them on the ground in the evening. Cover the bread crumbs with a newspaper. In the morning lift up the newspaper and collect the crickets.
Another way that I have heard of catching crickets (but have never tried) is to hollow out a loaf of bread leaving a small hole in the crust. Set the loaf out at night and in the morning shake the crickets out.
If this sounds like too much work then you can always just go to the bait shop and buy some. Where I live they are $1.25 for 25 crickets.
Keeping the crickets:
A well-ventilated container is needed for keeping crickets. An aquarium or a five-gallon bucket with a wire mesh cover is a good choice. Make sure the cover fits tightly so the crickets don’t get out. Line the bottom of the container with 2-3 inches of potting soil. Crickets need some sort of cover. Egg cartons or paper towel rolls placed in the bottom of the container are good choices. Cornmeal or dried dog foods are good choices for food for the crickets. The amount will depend on how many crickets that you have. If you overfeed, the excess food will begin to spoil. This can be bad for the crickets. Be sure to have a water supply for your crickets. A good way to keep water in the container is a sponge soaked in water. Another source of water would be a small piece of fruit. This supplies both food and water. Again you must be careful not to let it spoil.
Fishing with crickets:
The most common way of fishing with crickets is with a float or bobber. I use a #8 or #10 live bait hook. Add a split shot about 6 inches above the hook. Use as little weight as possible. This will make the cricket fall through the water at a more natural weight. Insert the hook right behind the head of the cricket and let the barb of the hook exit the middle of the back. A pencil style float is a good choice for panfish. Start with the bait set a 3 feet below the surface. If you do not start getting strikes within a few minutes, raise or lower the bait until you start getting strikes.
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