Summer means a lot of things to a lot of people. For children, it means the freedom from school and a chance to make great memories with families and friends. For others it means vacations and lying out by the pool, relaxing the day away with a good book and a cold beverage.
However, for fisherman, the long days and the warm weather associated with the summertime means a flurry of pan fish like bluegill—fish that are fun to catch and even better to eat. And while catching the smaller bluegill in your local lake or reservoir does not present a lot of challenges (they will basically bite on anything), anglers hoping to land the bigger and wiser blue gill will need to employ some special strategies to encourage a bite.
To help you do just that, in this article we will cover several of these big-bluegill fishing strategies, ultimately showing you the best way to catch some of the biggest bluegill of your life when the next summer season rolls around.
Fishing for bluegill can be a lot of fun. Not only are these panfish great-eating fish, their shape allows them to put up a great fight—so much of a fight that even the smaller bluegill will make you think you have a heavier fish on the hook. When searching for big bluegill, there are several things you can do to increase your chances. These include:
SKIP AHEAD
Make Sure Your Bait Is Fresh
Whatever type of live bait you might choose to entice the big bluegills should be very fresh. Whether you intend to use minnows, leeches, nightcrawlers or any other type of live bait, you will need to take care to retain the health and activity of those baits if you want to entice a big bluegill bite. When bluegill fishing is hottest—in the summer months—this means you will have to keep your baits cool and out of the hot summer sun. Keep in mind that the oxygen holding capability of water decreases as the water temperature increases. Therefore, always use insulated coolers and aerators to maintain well-oxygenated water levels for healthy live bait. One way to check? If the minnows or crawlers are already coming to the surface of your water cooler, they are already stressed. This means you will have to change-out the water as often as possible. You can also add frozen water bottles to your containers to keep the temperatures down. If you are planning to use nightcrawlers, they should be stored in coolers with ice packs and kept out of the sun. Simply put, healthy and active baits are the best way to ensure a large bluegill catch.
Fish Deeper Water
When fishing on a large lake or reservoir, some of the biggest bluegill (and other sunfish) are known to congregate and live in the deep water for all but the spawning period, when they move to shallower water to lay their eggs. These large trophy-worth bluegill find solace and protection in the deep water. When here in the deep water the big bluegill are safe and secure from the onslaught of panfish fishermen tossing worms and minnows into the shallows for pint-size fish. Those wishing to have a chance with these larger bluegill should focus their efforts on outside weed edges and areas that offer transitions on bottom composition. These areas are prime feeding locales, as they offer stable water conditions throughout the summer season. For best results, experts recommend you try using slender spoons that get to the bottom of the lake quickly. These lures create a puff of debris each and every time they hit the bottom of the lake—a puff that attracts the bigger bluegill. Large bluegills are a curious type of fish and are known to race over to the commotion in an effort to determine if the bait is worth eating. To make these spoon-type lures even more enticing, trying tipping them with live bait or scented plastics that are known to get the attention of sunfish.
Use Less Weight
In natural settings, the types of foods that bluegills eat tend to fall slowly through the water. This slow movement allows time for fish to identify, assess and access the object of their prey as it makes it way slowly from the surface of the lake to the lake floor. A bait or lure that falls too quickly to the bottom will often get overlooked by big bluegills in the water, as the motion is just not natural. Thus, you want to stay away from heavy sinkers, lures and jigs. Instead, you might want to go with micro jig heads in the 1/80 – 1/16 oz. range. These jig heads, when fished on light 2- to 4-pound line, will provide a more natural presentation than heavier baits and jigs.
You should also keep in mind that the dressing on these jigs can also alter their fall rate. For instance, a thin, wispy, plastic tail on a 1/64 oz. jig head will fall more quickly than a flat creature style bait on the same size jig. Large and heavy plastic trailers have more surface area to them. As such, that surface area acts like a parachute of sorts as it displaces more water during the fall to the bottom. Natural dressing on jigs will also provide different fall rates and different action of jigs. Feather dressed jigs, for example, such as Custom Jigs and Spin Jigs, hold their shape better and present to the bluegill a larger profile in the water than marabou dressed jigs. Marabou has the benefit of a more natural breathing motion to its fibers but has a faster fall rate. Rabbit hair jigs hold their shape better than most natural materials and fall more slowly due to their dense air-trapping fibers. These small differences in the dressing materials of jigs can make a big difference in triggering bites from trophy panfish like bull bluegill.
Know How to Use Your Floats
The type of floats you use when fishing for bluegill can often make or break your fishing experience. Therefore, you should make the most of your time on the water by selecting the right float for different situations. The classic bobber works well in shallower water when using a sinking bait like a worm. In the shallows, they can be ripped forward and they occasionally make a popping sound that is known to attract fish to the bait that is suspended below the bobber. Slip floats are great in deep water, because they can be adjusted via the line knot to alter the distance between the float and the bait, thus allowing you to present the bait at any depth you wish. Finally, specialty bobbers, like the weighted Rocket Bobber, are ideal when you need to cast in the wind, offering you just enough weight to cut through the wind for a perfect cast.
Explore Hard to Access Areas
When fishing for the bigger bluegill in the lake, going off the beaten path to places that are not accessible to boats with outboard motors can really pay off. The bigger bluegills tend to be very smart. As such, they avoid pathways that are regularly traveled by boats or fished from the shore. Using a non-traditional boat can help you get to these hard to access areas. Kayaks, canoes, and float tubes, for example, allow anglers to present baits to unpressured fish in these areas. In turn, the fish are less cautious when approaching and taking a bait in these areas. To find these spots you can use your knowledge of the lake or, better yet, use Google Earth to locate waterways that other anglers are not fishing. Chances are, you will have to do more hiking and paddling to get to these untouched and pure waters, but once you arrive you will typically be rewarded with some of the bigger bull bluegills in the lake.
Use Baits that Make Noise
When using artificial baits, it helps if those baits make some noise underwater. Giant bluegills and other sunfish enjoy crayfish as part of their feeding plan; and crayfish are known to click their pinchers and scurry across rocks, making noise underwater. When simulating this, you can use lipless crank baits. Lipless crank baits are terrific noise makers and are known to get the attention of roaming and actively feeding fish. When fishing with these noisy baits, spool your reel with ultra-thin braided line in the 4-8 pound test range. This will enable you to feel every bump and vibration of the bait and will help ensure that you get the proper hook set when fishing in deep water. Try fishing these baits using a rip and drop retrieve system, and regularly allow your bait to make contact with the bottom of the lake to imitate the sound of a crayfish.
Fish near Structures
Structures like piers and platforms that go into the water are usually great places to seek out trophy-size bluegill. According to experts, “Structural elements attract and hold baitfish on a year-round basis.” Big bluegills know this, and thus know they can find food there on a consistent basis. As a result, they regularly frequent these areas.
image: Mike Cline [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
