Nightcrawlers or Dillies

I'm taking my fiancee's little sister fishing. Generally I avoid worms because I think its boring. But I just want to get something on the hook so she'll have fun. I'm planning on using a bobber and a #8 or #10 hook on a 2 ft leader. The lake has brown bullheads, smallies, perch, and some trout as well. (But the trout are pretty deep.) Am I better off with nightcrawlers or dillies, and why?

I usually say nightcrawlers, doesn't matter the size of the fish they will always eat one.

Couple of things to keep in mind....nightcrawlers will probably be too big for size 8 or 10 hooks.

Also nightcrawlers can be expensive if you are buying them from a bait shop or pet store. They are free if you catch your own.

A cheaper alternative is canned sweet corn. The carp and bluegills love it.

When fishing with children especially young girls there is a yuck factor to using live bait. Sometimes cutting up or pulling apart a worm will totally gross the kid out. So that may mean you are the one baiting the hook every time a fish steals the bait.

Other good alternatives to live bait are:

Soft sandwich bread
hot dogs (good for catfish)
Baloney
Cheeseballs

I also recommend getting a quill type spring lock bobber with a lead weight. The cheap red & white plastic ball type bobbers are just that..cheap. The splash down from a big bobber tends to frighten the fish.

Use baitholder hooks with the barb flattened down...safer for you and safer for the fish. However, you will miss hooking up and/or landing some fish.

Good luck with your trip.

+1 on hot dogs for cats. Action will be fast for then this time of year!

Just my 2 cents on this one, I have been told by many old timers corn does work great but most fish can not digest it, so it can kill them.

Just my 2 cents on this one, I have been told by many old timers corn does work great but most fish can not digest it, so it can kill them.

i don't think this is 100% true. We as humans cannot digest corn, but it doesn't kill us.

There was a study I read about a fish hatchery in Illinois that had 2 pools of trout, one was fed normal cheese trout feed, the other corn.

No trout died, or suffered anything strange, but the corn fed trout were about half the size of the cheese fed trout over a 6 month period.

Corn is carps favorite dish, but you have to wait so long for one, they aren't good to fish for with kids most of the time.

+1 on hot dogs for cats. Action will be fast for then this time of year!

What's the setup to catch Brown Bullheads?

+1 on hot dogs for cats. Action will be fast for them this time of year!

What's the setup to catch Brown Bullheads?

egg weight with a split shot to keep it from the hook is what I have always used. You can also use a swivel kind of like a carolina rig. a #4 or #2 hook. cut the hot-dog about 1-2" long and hook it width wise through skin (in one side, then out the other). then just cast it out there and keep an eye on your rod tip, they like to mouth the bait very softly before taking off with it, so be ready!

edit: Make sure to use the cheapest hot-dogs you can find, the ones that leave that oily film on top of the water after you boil them. They have always seemed to work the best for me.

My son would like to go catfishing. Any good places close to Boston?

No better spot than charles river.

Any specific spot that would be good? I heard the area around I-95/I-90 is not a bad place to try.

I am looking for shore fishing though.

the river as a whole is full of bullhead and channel catfish. all ranging in size. I caught a 14lb channel on the waltham stretch, off one of the piers on the riverwalk just off newton st. I can't say I have ever fished the spot you are talking about though, so just give it a shot!

use hot dogs, dead shiners (let them sit in a gallon milk-jug for about 48 hours) or freshwater clams if you can catch some (again, we used to catch them along the waltham stretch of the charles.)

Just my 2 cents on this one, I have been told by many old timers corn does work great but most fish can not digest it, so it can kill them.

This is mostly one of those old wives tales. It's true that you can't give them dried feed corn. If you use it, you need to soak it overnight and then boil it. Canned corn is no problem. Corn is probably the most used bait for carp, and if it harmed them, there wouldn't be any carp left.

The Great Value brand from Walmart is cheap, and the kernels are really big. If you're going to be carp fishing a lot, you can buy a 50 lb bag of dry feed corn at an Agway and soak and boil it as you need it. It will last you all year.

Just my 2 cents on this one, I have been told by many old timers corn does work great but most fish can not digest it, so it can kill them.

This is mostly one of those old wives tales. It's true that you can't give them dried feed corn. If you use it, you need to soak it overnight and then boil it. Canned corn is no problem. Corn is probably the most used bait for carp, and if it harmed them, there wouldn't be any carp left.

The Great Value brand from Walmart is cheap, and the kernels are really big. If you're going to be carp fishing a lot, you can buy a 50 lb bag of dry feed corn at an Agway and soak and boil it as you need it. It will last you all year.

I have heard it all about corn, a lot of urban myths are floating around. For years i was told by uninformed people that corn was illegal to use as bait, corn cannot be digested, corn gets stuck in a fshes digestive tract and that corn kills all species of fish that eat it. The truth is that corn is LEGAL to use as bait is massachusetts and is safe for all species to eat. I was told all i needed to know about corn by a mass. wildlife officer.
http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/fisheries/fisheries_home.htm

Just to follow up - corn actually is illegal in Rhode Island where they stock trout. Carp fishermen aren't allowed to use corn in some rivers because they are the only state to think that corn will harm trout.