Anyone use Japanese beetles or green June beetles as bait?

Has anyone here had any luck using Japanese beetles or the similar, but larger, green June beetles ("June bugs"), as live bait?

There's not much talk about using them on the internet, and I've heard that fish usually aren't too interested in Japanese beetles...perhaps becasue they are so hard and spiny?

However, they are so easy to catch off of my blackberry bush and other garden plants that they infest, that they are practically begging me to try them as bait. Likewise, those big green and gold June beetles that are buzzing all over neighborhood parks this time of year seem too big, chunky, and easy to catch for me to NOT try them.

So if I manage to get out to do a little fishing this weekend, I'll probably try them.

I have dumped my japanese beetle from my trap in my pond and nothing seem to want to eat them. I say ship them back to Japan so the can feast upon their plants.

I've cleaned trout in the past that had bellies full of them!

They work well for bluegills.

[QUOTE=artcarney_agr;459014]I've cleaned trout in the past that had bellies full of them![/QUOTE]
Makes my stomach hurt just thinking about it!

I've caught many bluegill off them and a few cats while fishing for bluegills...pretty fun to catch an 8lb blue on a 4 ft kiddie pole.

A few years back a friend gave me some flies tied to imitate Japanese Beetles and they worked great. We caught trout on the Cumberland and then I caught a lot of red ear out of a private pond.

I used to use them all the time when I was a kid always had luck with them