Ice Fishing For Bluegill
Bluegill can easily be caught throughout the winter, however, catching bigger bluegill is not so easy. To catch big bluegill consistently, you have to find some lakes and/or ponds that have big bluegill. Many lakes and ponds will have mostly small bluegill and that’s what you can expect to catch. Check the local fishing reports, call your bait and tackle shop, search online for fishing reports and keep track of what lakes produced bigger bluegill during the open water season.
In the winter, bluegill will typically school up near weed beds. During early winter, you can find bluegill in the same places that you found them during the end of fall. As winter progresses, bluegill will move deeper. Your keys to catching bluegill through the ice is finding weeds, move frequently if you are not catching fish, use small jigs and tip your jigs with live bait. Bright jigs typically work better. Red and green jigs work well, especially when you tip them with wax worms and spikes.
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Fly Fishing For Bluegill and other Sunfish
Fly fishing is fairly popular for bluegill and sunfish. These small panfish are what most fly fishermen target when they are first learning how to fly fish. The nice thing about learning how to fly fish at a nearby pond is that you will usually have plenty of room to cast, you will get plenty of bites and the fish that you miss aren’t going to cause you to lose any sleep. Bluegill and other sunfish in the 6 to 8 inch range can be caught in most ponds.
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Crankbaits for Bluegill (Micro Crankbaits)
You don’t hear about fishing with crankbaits for bluegill every day, but casting and trolling micro crankbaits for big bluegill is starting to catch on among bluegill anglers. One of the biggest keys to using tiny crankbaits for bluegill is to be fishing on bodies of water that have big bluegill. Once you find a trophy bluegill fishery, give tiny crankbaits a try. These tiny baits will take mostly big bluegill with the occasional aggressive little bluegill.
Light tackle is a must and don’t expect to limit out every time you try this technique. Most of the time, jigs and live bait will catch more fish, but crankbaits will allow you to catch some of the biggest bluegill.
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Kentucky Lake Bluegill: Fishing for Bluegill
Kentucky Lake has some big bluegill to fill your livewell with. There are lots of bluegill in the 6 to 8 inch range and many fish bigger than 8 inches. You will also catch plenty of smaller bluegill while fishing for the big boys, but using bigger baits will help elminate some of the smaller fish.
Spring is a great time to fish for them shallow along any type of cover along the shoreline. Rocky shorelines are a good place to start. Summer positions most of the bigger bluegill in deeper water. Brush piles in 6 to 15 feet of water will hold bluegill throughout the summer. A lot of the same areas that hold crappie will hold bluegill. Just fish a little shallower for the bluegill.
The mayfly hatch causes a buzz among the bluegill during the summer. Look for bluegill to be feeding aggressively on the surface along the shorelines. It may be tough to catch them though because of all the food in the water that you are competing with. Flies work well over here, but live bait will also do the trick.
Fall brings bluegill shallower again. You can find a lot of your bigger bluegill back in the bays and creek channels in the fall.
Winter fishing is tough. Fish deeper and fish slow. Downsize your baits as well. Small jigs tipped with little pieces of worms and wax worms will get some bites.
Good baits are worms, pieces of nightcrawlers, crickets and even small minnows. Small tubes work well for the bigger bluegill, but you’ll catch a lot less bluegill with the tubes than the live bait.
For more information on the lake, please visit Kentucky Lake.
Bluegill as Live Bait: Don’t Forget About the Almighty Bluegill
- Some anglers believe that bluegill are the best live bait for catching big bass. I disagree because I’ve seen the chub outfish a live bluegill by as much as 4 or 5 to 1 at times. I definitely wouldn’t rule out a bluegill as a great live bait for catching big bass though. The nice thing about using bluegill as live bait is the fact that they are so easy to catch for bait. There are many bait shops that I visit for bait that don’t offer any big live bait and if I’m looking to catch a big bass with live bait, bluegill may be my best option.
Bluegill can be used under a bobber, with a weight on the bottom or on a hook with no weight and no bobber. Anglers catch big bass on bluegill all year long, but I prefer to use bluegill as bait about a month after the bluegill spawn. You can easily throw a cast net along the shoreline of most ponds and catch recently hatched bluegill in the 2 to 3 inch range. In ponds, bass will absolutely attack these small bluegill early morning and late evening every day throughout early summer. This is the primary food source during the first month of summer for bass in many of the ponds that I fish. Sometimes, I have a hard time getting a bass to eat one of my lures, so I’ll catch a few small bluegill and cast them out. I’ll typically catch 4 to 5 nice sized bass with these small bluegill. Most anglers don’t even think about using these baby bluegill for bait, but you can really catch some nice bass every summer using this technique.
Bigger Bluegill for Big Bass…….
Bigger bluegill definitely do work for big bass. I was actually able to catch a 7 pound bass from a pond in Quincy, Illinois on a big bluegill. I saw a big bass attacking bluegill along the shoreline and I decided to catch one of the bluegill and throw it out as bait. I thought the bluegill was way too big, but within a few minutes, I had a 7 pound bass eat a big bluegill.
I have heard plenty of stories from other anglers that use big bluegill for bass as well, so I know that big bluegill work for big bass. I prefer using a big chub, but you may want to give bluegill a try.
- Fishing Tip From Kevin Sewell
- Fishing w/Kevin Sewell
Fish Relate To Cover and Structure
Cover is essential to most fish species. Weeds, docks, wood, brush, flooded grass, reeds and fish cribs are all types of cover that fish love. You can expect to find many different types of fish around cover throughout the year. The depth of the cover plus the current water temperature will dictate what types of cover fish will be using. Sunny days will also help push fish into cover as they try to find some shade.
Structure is the different bottom countours. A flat bottom contour usually doesn’t hold many fish. A bottom that goes from 4 to 6 feet down into 15 to 20 feet may be a good area to fish. Many types of fish will come shallow to feed, but they like having deep water nearby to escape to. If there was cover on this piece of structure, this area would be even better. There may be fish cribs or brush piles or a weed line along this dropoff. If that’s the case, this will probably hold all types of fish at some point - bass, bluegill, crappie, walleye, northern pike, muskie, etc.
Try to find areas that have shallow water with deep water nearby. Any humps or sudden drop-offs are good areas to start with. If you can find cover in these areas, you may have found the best spots in the lake to fish.
Cover and structure are very important to fish and most anglers can put more fish in the boat by finding areas to fish that have irregular bottom countours that have some type of cover as well.
Jig Fishing Boat Docks
Boat docks are great cover for a variety of species such as bluegill, perch, rock bass, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and walleye. Most fishermen that target docks are bass fishermen though. That’s because docks almost always hold bass from spring through fall, especially if there is access to deep water nearby.
To catch bass on the docks consistently, there are a few things you need to know. During low-light conditions, bass may not be holding as tight to the docks. Bass like to use the docks because they shade certain areas from the sun. During low-light conditions, there is nothing to drive them way underneath the dock. You may still catch plenty of bass under the docks, but there will be bass spread out around the docks and within a 50 to 100 foot cast from the docks.
During sunny days, the docks will provide shade for bass and they will take advantage of the shade almost every time. When the sun is straight up during the middle of the day, expect to have to make casts way underneath the dock. This is where they will be. When the sun is not straight overhead, the shade will actually be under the dock and out to one of the sides of the dock. Most of your bass will come from the shady areas. If your lake has a lot of docks to fish, just concentrate on the shady areas and keep moving. You’ll catch more bass by the end of the day this way.
To make the most out of each dock, try to fish the edges of the docks first, then move farther and farther underneath the docks. This way, you up your odds of catching multiple fish off of each dock. If you cast way underneath with your first cast, you may spook some of the other fish if you get a bite and pull a bass from way underneath. Work the edges first then go underneath. You’ll catch more bass using this technique as well.
Fishing Resources:
- Shop Bass Jigs
- Largemouth Bass Fishing Library
- Smallmouth Bass Fishing Library
- Top Bass Fishing Trips
Fishing With Slip Bobbers
Slip bobbers will help you catch more and sometimes even bigger fish. Slip bobbers help anglers to suspend a bait directly over some type of cover or bottom structure in deeper water. This allows anglers to present their bait more naturally to deep water fish, which is a huge advantage.
The biggest key to fishing with slip bobbers is making sure you’re on a good spot. Slip bobbers were meant to be fished still, so you must find some productive spots to fish if you are going to do any good with the slip bobber.
Another important thing to remember is how deep to set your slip bobber rig. Using your depth finder, find the depth of the cover or structure that you’re going to fish and set your slip bobber knot accordingly. If you are fishing for suspended fish, make sure to set your slip bobber rig deep enough to get down there, but try to keep your bait just above the fish. This tends to work better.
Slip bobbers work for all types of species in fresh and saltwater, but they are most commonly used for walleye, smallmouth bass, crappie, bluegill, perch and other types of panfish.
More Live Bait Fishing Information
Bass Fishing With Minnow Baits
Minnow baits are similar to crankbaits, but they are much longer and skinnier, hence the name minnow baits. These lures resemble all types of minnows and other bait fish that bass love to eat. These longer lures tend to work better in waters that bass are feeding on longer, more slender bait fish. One example would be perch. In a lake that has lots of walleye, smallmouth bass and perch, a minnow style bait may outproduce better than a regular crankbait because the smallmouth bass are consistently feeding on perch - which are longer and slender than a bluegill.
Minnow baits are also great baits for walleye and northern pike, but they will also work well for catching big largemouth and smallmouth bass.
Bass Fishing Resources:
- Shop Minnow Baits
- Crankbait Fishing Tips
- Largemouth Bass Fishing Library
- Smallmouth Bass Fishing Library
- Top Bass Fishing Trips
Big Bluegill on Lake Geneva
Small waxworms on ice fishing jigs with a drop shot rig work wonders. 12 to 18 feet of water. Occasional smallmouth bass with lots of rock bass mixed in as well. Find weeds and you’ll find fish. Watch your depth finder. No boat control, no fish. Lake Geneva is like one big cliff under water.
