How to Hook a Cricket Fishing Bait

If you plan to fish with crickets or grasshoppers, you will have to learn how to get them to stay on your hook. Ideally, they will still be alive when you cast, as a live insect attracts the attention of the fish better than a dead one. A dead cricket is still good bait, however, as long as it stays on the hook.

Things You'll Need

• Fine fishing hook
• Split shot weight
• Fishing rod and reel

Instructions

1. Hold the cricket firmly but gently in your left hand if you are right handed. The head should be facing to the left, and the cricket should be upright. Alternately, you could hold the cricket with the head pointed up and the belly facing off to the left.

2. Slide the hook gently into the collar of the insect, just behind the head. You should insert it shallowly, as pushing it too deep will kill the cricket.

3. Add one or two split shot weights to the line just above the hook to help the cricket itself sink. In still water, you will want to add a bobber a little farther up the line to keep the cricket in relatively shallow water where they are usually found by the fish. In moving water, the bobber is unnecessary.

References

• The Complete Idiot's Guide to Fishing Basics; Mark Toth; 2000.