This weekend I took my God-daughters fishing for bluegill in their neighborhood lake.  They grabbed their mom's leftover shrimp from dinner the night before to use as bait.   It had been marinated in zesty Italian salad dressing for a couple hours prior to dinner, and then left in the fridge all night after dinner was over. 

We all three fished the same basic bluegill rig,  a # 2 hook with a split-shot under a bobber and we would cut off maybe one-fourth of an individual shrimp tail to bait the hook.  The results were pretty surpising.

We all caught bluegull, from tiny little juveniles up to decent size.  After about 30 minutes we began pulling catfish out left and right, up to 3-4 pounds.   Most amazing of all, I pulled out a 3-pound largemouth and a 2-pound largemouth -- first time I've ever caught a largemouth on a bobber rig. 

Just thought I would pass on this bait idea, it worked like crazy for us.

Who'd though salad dressing could be so effective!

hey great tip, I'm going to be more careful when throwing out leftovers from the fridge.
Brian

Just wondering, a #2 hook for bluegill? I normally fish with #4 hooks for walleye! Thanks for the tip on the shrimp, I knew raw would work but never tried cooked. Tom

It was all we had. It turned out for the best, we would have been out of luck with # 8 hooks when the catfish and bass started biting.

can you say straighten hook lol