Fishing with Jap Beetles?

jdgreg · Jun 27, 2006

Anyone try this? When we go out on the boat, the kids and I will usually drown a box of worms fishing for blue gill. May as well try to find something useful for the darned things!

Farmwithjunk · Jun 27, 2006

Let me know if they do any good. If so, I'm gonna clean out every lake in Kentucky! Those blasted things are like ants at a picnik around here.

ejtaylor822 · Jun 28, 2006

Farmwithjunk said:
Let me know if they do any good. If so, I'm gonna clean out every lake in Kentucky! Those blasted things are like ants at a picnik around here.

I mainly fly fish and have a couple of flies that resemble a japaneese beetle that is very effective right now, at least for the bass and bluegill in my pond. I will cast it near some cover and they come after it. The most effective is actually hitting the leaves and letting the fly drop to the surface – man, they go NUTS! Of course, this method sometimes results in getting caught in the bush if you overshoot the leaves.

May try to bait up some real beetles on the baitcasting rod this weekend to see what happens. You guys are right, gotta find something useful for these things.

ToadHill · Jun 28, 2006

I've never tried the beetles but the white larve work well for Bass.

Dargo · Jun 28, 2006

I've thrown Japanese beetles into my lake and had bass hit them only to spit them out right afterwards. Apparently they must taste like crap. I think that is part of their self defense and why they are so numerous; not many of our natural species here in the U.S. care to eat them. Your results may vary, but my bass and bluegill don't care for them.

OldMachinist · Jun 29, 2006

I've been dumping the full bags of beetles in my lake for a couple of weeks and the catfish and carp love them. The bass don't even come up for them anymore. I've got so many beetles I was changing bags every 45 mins. Now I've cut the bottom off the bags and clamped them to a piece of pvc pipe connected to the lid of a 5 gallon bucket. The bucket is full by the end of the day and you should see the fish go crazy in the evening when I dump that bucket.

Dargo · Jun 29, 2006

Are your Japanese beetles really that thick this year?? I've had huge problems with them in the past eating my oak trees. Hmm, maybe my spraying has worked. I'd read on one of the Purdue ag pages that if you spray malathion on your yard about the time they emerge from grub form that you'll kill them. I've done that for the last couple of years and have noticed that my swarms have gotten smaller. This year I've not seen but maybe a half a dozen or so of them in the 12 acres I mow and consider my "yard".

Farmwithjunk · Jun 29, 2006

ejtaylor822 said:
I mainly fly fish and have a couple of flies that resemble a japaneese beetle that is very effective right now, at least for the bass and bluegill in my pond. I will cast it near some cover and they come after it. The most effective is actually hitting the leaves and letting the fly drop to the surface – man, they go NUTS! Of course, this method sometimes results in getting caught in the bush if you overshoot the leaves.

May try to bait up some real beetles on the baitcasting rod this weekend to see what happens. You guys are right, gotta find something useful for these things.

I've tried the technique described where you're bouncing off leaves above the water. My wife calls it tree trimming when I do it. Most of the times I've done it, that wasn't my intention.

OldMachinist · Jun 30, 2006

Yes the beetles are bad this year. I have domestic ducks that roam freely around and in my lake so spraying anything on the lawn is not good.

ejtaylor822 · Jun 30, 2006

Farmwithjunk said:
I've tried the technique described where you're bouncing off leaves above the water. My wife calls it tree trimming when I do it. Most of the times I've done it, that wasn't my intention.

I like the "tree trimming" phrase - will have to use that one.

Sometimes, it is not my intention either

.

Matter fact, last night, I overshot too far into the limbs and lost one of my favorite flies

. Was getting too dark, but this weekend think I can get up in the tree and possibly find it. Hopefully, it will not lead to an embarrassing story......