Bluegill

Does anyone ever talk about Bluegill fishing?

I remember catching these little guys by the dozen when I was a kid.

I don't remember doing anything special to catch them. I usually caught
them while I was fishing for trout (I know warm water species vs cold
water species).

This makes me think that I remember catching them using cheese, or
salmon eggs, or marshmallows.

So, I was wondering if Bluegill really do bite on powerbaits,
powernuggets, and salmon eggs. I know from reading that they bite on
crickets and worms and minnows.

Anyone care to challenge my memories?

Thanks,

Ben

The little bluegills that you caught as a kid are the same species, but
another-critter-altogether from the big boss bull 'gills that give so much
sport to those who fish for them. Big bluegills in the 10-12 inch jumbo size
will weigh over a pound and give an unbelievable fight. They hunt in packs
of 10-30 individuals and are not afraid of any critter. (they are too large
for most pike to eat) At sunrise on still water, they will surface feed
with their eyes just below the water. Because of their round shape, this
will leave a crescent (their back) an inch above water and about 6 inches
long. Because they feed on line, this may appear as a single strange
critter swimming along the surface.

Once you find their depth, you can fill your limit with the big-uns, often
from a single spot. My best method is a weedy drop-off from 4-15 feet,
which I fish usually at 5-8 foot depth (sometimes deeper in bright sun)
about 10 feet out from the weeds at the top of the drop-off.

I fish 4# mono (on a 12' ultralight rod) with a gold plated light-wire hook,
beneath a quill float. (a real porcupine quill; I'm a snob) and a single
bbb shot. Bait is brown crickets. The biggest bluegills have the lightest
bite. They will either hit the cricket as it falls (the bobber will not
stand up), or they will swim up and inhale the cricket and sit in place.
(the bobber will rise 1/16 inch and appear otherwise normal)

If you begin catching small bluegills, fish further from the weedline. (Big
gills don't hang with small gills) Also try slightly deeper. Big bluegills
school together and travel together. Once you find the pattern, it will
generally hold good for the entire lake. Big bluegills are terrific
fighters, they will spin your boat around the anchor line. Use a landing
net; the weight of the big ones will eventually straighten out those light
wire hooks, and a 2 pounder flipping around the aluminum boat makes a
terrible racket.

The same basic bobber setup is also good for crappies. Use small minnows,
fish 8-12 feet deep off the same type drop offs. Crappie are more open
water fish, so fish further off the drop offs. I often fish crickets for
bluegills, and toss the same rig 12 feet deep with a minnow toward the
center of the lake for crappies. Crappies can often be found below the big
bluegills, but the largest crappies will be solitary hunters toward open
water.

Leeches are also great baits, and either gills or crappies will take them.
Leeches are for those times when nothing seems to want to bite. Be prepared
for slamming strikes using leeches on those days when action is slow.

I'm not really into salmon egg bait. It is a favorite for ice fishing, and
as a perch bait. The problem is not the bait--- it's the brine they are
packed in; eventually, everything in your box will turn to rust. (another
reason to use gold-plated hooks)

Pepperoni


"Ben" wrote in message
m...
Does anyone ever talk about Bluegill fishing?

I remember catching these little guys by the dozen when I was a kid.

I don't remember doing anything special to catch them. I usually caught
them while I was fishing for trout (I know warm water species vs cold
water species).

This makes me think that I remember catching them using cheese, or
salmon eggs, or marshmallows.

So, I was wondering if Bluegill really do bite on powerbaits,
powernuggets, and salmon eggs. I know from reading that they bite on
crickets and worms and minnows.

Anyone care to challenge my memories?

Thanks,

Ben

Ben wrote:


Anyone care to challenge my memories?

I'll be 51 this month, and I still remember the first fish I ever
caught, it was a blue gill, caught on a cane poll, and a grass hopper, I
caught in the grass beside the pond, out of my great aunts farm pond, I
was three, the fish was 3 inches long.

This started my love for fishing, when I was 4, after a rain , I would
grab my little cane poll and try to fish in mud puddles, to the laughter
of all who came by,, but it was fun to me, pretending to catch fish at
every opportunity.

Since then I have caught I would bet over ten thousand blue gills and
shell crackers,, I still sometimes take fishing trips, with the only
fish targeted are blue gills, all the bass gear stays home so I won't
even be tempted to use it. I grew up in the south, where bream are
literally everywhere, any place that holds water all year, and there are
bream there

I have caught these fighting little beast on everything imaginable, from
bread balls, to raw bacon, any insect I could find, that I could get on
a hook, including even wasp larvae from those paper nest they build. Of
course crickets are the best bait for them, followed by worms, but one
that nobody thinks about that is awesome, is cut up pieces of shrimp,
you can get 20 baits out of a single shrimp, it makes it one of the
cheapest baits that will stay on the hook long enough to hook the fish.

My largest bream caught was a 3 Lb 9 OZ shell cracker, caught on a huge
glob of worms, when I was taking a lunch break,, Instead of casting to
the beds where I had been landing fish after fish,, I threw out on the
other side of the boat into deep water,, wanting to be undisturbed while
I ate my lunch,, but perhaps a catfish might get on it, two bites out of
my sandwich, and the rod nearly went over the side, man what a fight on
that ultra light rig and four pound test line. It was a female full of
eggs waiting her turn to visit a male on the beds. I caught 4 more over
a pound that day in that deeper water off the beds.

One of the problems in bream fishing is the fish swallowing the hook,, I
have fixed that problem with my new hook design, it will be on the
market real soon, it totally eliminates gut hooked fish, in any species

--
Rodney Long,
Inventor of the Long Shot "WIGGLE" rig, SpecTastic Thread
Boomerang Fishing Pro. ,Stand Out Hooks ,Stand Out Lures,
Mojo's Rock Hopper & Rig Saver weights, Decoy Activator
and the EZKnot http://www.ezknot.com

Gills rock, slip bobber and a 1/2 in chunk of worm works just fine.




The Durango 95 purred away real horrorshow. A nice warm vibratey feeling all
through your guttiwuts.

Ben wrote in message
m...
So, I was wondering if Bluegill really do bite on powerbaits,
powernuggets, and salmon eggs. I know from reading that they bite on
crickets and worms and minnows.

In my experience, bluegills will readily take a variety of
appropriately-sized artificials, such as small spoons and crankbaits, like
Mini Fat Raps or #3 Rapala Floaters or Countdowns.

Like everyone else mentioned, 'gills might be the best fighter out there on
an ounce-for-ounce basis.

Ben writes:

Does anyone ever talk about Bluegill fishing?

Anyone have ideas for catching bluegill and *not* catching bass?

We stocked a 2-acre pond here in Illinois a couple years ago with 3-5
inch bluegill and 1-2 inch largemouth bass. The bass are now about 10
inches, and are very aggressive. They hit any sort of live bait or
spinner in a hurry, and it seems like the bluegill never get a chance.

Our pond information says we need to be harvesting a lot of bluegill
now, to keep them from getting overpopulated. We just can't seem to
catch them, and the bass we catch instead just aren't big enough yet.


Thanks,
--
Aaron

Aaron Baugher wrote:
Ben writes:


Does anyone ever talk about Bluegill fishing?


Anyone have ideas for catching bluegill and *not* catching bass?

We stocked a 2-acre pond here in Illinois a couple years ago with 3-5
inch bluegill and 1-2 inch largemouth bass. The bass are now about 10
inches, and are very aggressive. They hit any sort of live bait or
spinner in a hurry, and it seems like the bluegill never get a chance.

You need to be using very small natural baits, try crickets, on a number
8 long shank hook,, small red worms, wax worms, mealy worms, another
great bream bait is raw shrimp,, cut it into pieces just big enough to
cover the end of that number 8 hook,, you can also cut up a few and
scatter it in the water where your going to fish.

Although many bream are caught on lures,, it is not the most productive
way to fish for them,, and like you say you have little bass jumping on
those lures before the bream can. You will still get a bass or two that
hit the bream baits

--
Rodney Long,
Inventor of the Long Shot "WIGGLE" rig, SpecTastic Thread
Boomerang Fishing Pro. ,Stand Out Hooks ,Stand Out Lures,
Mojo's Rock Hopper & Rig Saver weights, Decoy Activator
and the EZKnot http://www.ezknot.com

Rodney . writes:

You need to be using very small natural baits, try crickets, on a
number 8 long shank hook,, small red worms, wax worms, mealy worms,
another great bream bait is raw shrimp,, cut it into pieces just big
enough to cover the end of that number 8 hook,, you can also cut up a
few and scatter it in the water where your going to fish.

Just wanted to report back that this worked well yesterday. I used my
smallest hook (not sure of the size) and some small worms, and caught
several bluegill. I still caught a couple bass, but not as many as
when I used lures or bigger bait. I'm going to pick up some #8 hooks
today. Thanks!


--
Aaron

"Ben" wrote in message
m...
Does anyone ever talk about Bluegill fishing?

I remember catching these little guys by the dozen when I was a kid.

I don't remember doing anything special to catch them. I usually caught
them while I was fishing for trout (I know warm water species vs cold
water species).

This makes me think that I remember catching them using cheese, or
salmon eggs, or marshmallows.

So, I was wondering if Bluegill really do bite on powerbaits,
powernuggets, and salmon eggs. I know from reading that they bite on
crickets and worms and minnows.

Anyone care to challenge my memories?

Thanks,

Ben


I lived in Louisiana for nine years very near the Atchafalaya Basin. Some
of my fondest memories are "bream" fishing. That is what they call
bluegills, although they have several species. Redears. Pumpkin seeds.
Chinquapin. Shell crackers.

People think of small fish, but they get pretty good sized. Once a friend
of mine caught a 20 ouncer. We would catch so many as big as our hand or
bigger that once we filled a 44 quart Igloo ice chest, one of us would
declare, "That's all I want to clean." One guy had a round cage we would
drag behind a boat, and it would scale them. At Toledo Bend, they had
things that looked exactly like commercial clothes dryers. You dumped your
fish in them, put in some quarters, waited for the buzzer, and all were
scaled.

But I never cleaned them without getting stuck about umpteen times.

If you hit them at the right time of year, and on a hump or a bed, there
isn't a lot of fishing that's any better. Worms, crickets, jigs, beetle
spins, a strip of squid, a small piece of shrimp, anything. And a slip
bobber worked very good to land it and have the bait drop straight down. We
used Buck's Black Widow graphite poles 10 to 16 foot long to swing it in to
them. Also used pushbutton reel setups.

Some really good fishing.

Steve

If you fly-fish, try a small popper. The bluegills will knock its socks off!



"SteveB" wrote in message news:emPBc.23440$8r5.23377@fed1read03...
"Ben" wrote in message
m...
Does anyone ever talk about Bluegill fishing?