Blue Gill Fishing?

Question

Me and my family love to fish for blue gill. Every year we travel around 600 miles to the UP just to go fishing. Some years we'll catch alot, other years we wont. We usually fish on a private lake that isn't fished very often and expectantly not for blue gill. It's a shallow lake with lots of weeds. we usually fish just outside of a weed patch and we use wax worms for bate. we use several different colored skirts. But we are not expert fisherman so does anyone know how to help us maximize our fishing fun? Like what time of day is it best to fish (we found that we only caught them at sunrise and sunset). Also how does weather play into it? and what are some other helpful hints and ideas for beter fishing?

yea we noticed that there seems to be hole, bc my brother and could be in the same boat and have the same depth and the same bait and everything and i could be only 2ft away and he would catch them like crazy while i wouldnt get a bit

Answer 1

During the summer months all the largest male blue gills will be on the beds. Find the beds "they look like inverted saucers" and you have found the big gills in large numbers. Usually the beds will be shallow near the shore so they are easy to find.

Answer 2

We were recently nailing a lot of bluegill on just worms in a pond near Sutton, MA. Just a little shore fishing without a lot of special gear at all.

I had a weighted bobber so that my worm could just float about and sink in the water. I often got a hit shortly after putting the line in.

We also fished around 3pm and up until about 5 or 6. We were in a shallow area with lots of grass. There was a particularly grassy spot, like a little hill in the water, that seemed to yield the most fish.

Answer 3

Early morning and late evening are usually the best times to fish, for any species. I've always found that when the wind is in the east, fish bite the least, in the west, fish bite the best. And fish always bite right before a storm. Live worms and grasshoppers are always good bait for fish like bluegill. Any small insect will work. As far as artificial baits go, small jigs and spinnerbaits, with light colors, like white and yellow usually work really well. And like you said, fishing on the edge of the weeds is a good idea. If the water is clear, look for their nests, and fish near them, you might get some bites based on the fish being defensive, not hungry.

Answer 4

I realy like fishing for gills with small ice jigs or flies with a clear casting bobber. No sinkers if you can get away with it. I've found when I fish shallow bigger gills will hit bait ontop of the water or slowly falling, looks more like a bug. Last week here in beautiful Wisconsin I limited on 8-10 inch gills fishing in less than 3 feet of water and thick weeds. I had 3 pound line. I always use waxies or spikes

Answer 5

I prefer using worms such as the scented small biodegradeable ones because real worms are reallly a hastle and they rip off the hook real easy.

Sunset and sunrise are the best time for fishing yet a fishing days catch can be determined by weather.

Sunny nice days are prime days yet thunderstorms can scare the fish away for a while. light rain can be used at ur advantage, yet it is not really good. Cold fronts are bad yet warm fronts approaching is good.

I normally use a bobber and octopus hook for hooking the fish.

Good luck fishing!!!

Answer 6

If you are going to drive 600 miles to fish for Bream (Bluegill is a type of Bream)...you should fish Lake Wheeler in North Alabama...the Shellcracker (Largest type of Bream) go on bed in late May early June...you can catch them one right after the other wading the shallows...I have caught 200 big ones or so in a day...best time to fish for Bream is when they are on bed...they will attack anything in their bed and 100's bed together...but on an average fishing day...early morning and late evening is the best time...try using maggots or red worms...crickets work well too...

Answer 7

Larger 'Gils like small jig's & Beetle Spin's. Use Berkley "Gulp" product's for a "change", ( they are more durable than live bait & they are essentially "fish food" that is bio-friendly!)

Flies (for fly-fishing) are another great "lure" for Bluegill's. They love small "Wooly Bugger's" and various Bett's Popper's.

If I was gettin' "serious" about catching a bucket full of BIG 'Gil's I would use a "cane pole" and crappie minnows & cut-up pieces of earth-worm's/waxworms.

Bluegill's LOVE weedbed's and "structure". If I wanted to "chum them up", I would make some chum outta old bread, cracker meal, and "fish food" from Walmart. Make a "slurry" and add bread. Make Golfball/baseball sized ball's and throw out where your gonna fish at least 4-6 hours before you decide to fish. Throw a BUNCH of chum and your fishing hole will be a "hot spot" that 'Gil's, Catfish, Bass, Etc will slowly congregate to over time!

Wait for Ingun's responce. He is an AVID 'Gil-chaser. He will have some cool "tips" for you.

Good luck!

Answer 8

Bluegills are a blast to catch and if youre lucky to get some good sized ones, delishous. You can always use simple presentations like a bobber with a small splitshot, a small hook and a small chunk of night crawler. Wax worms work well but ive noticed in the past that theyve gotten wise to them after fishing with them a while so try nightcrawlers or even insects like grasshopper or helgramites. Try using a small colored jig (my fav color is pink...i dunno...they seem to like that color) if you want to use artificial you can use a small hook with a sliver of purple plastic with no weight as well. Just jig it a little and thell grab it. As far as size..think ice fishing jigs. I use them all year round and they work great. You can also activly fish for them if you hate the "sit and stare at your bobber" kinda fishing. You can catch them on small spinners like mepps or beatle spins (which may work better for you considering the weedy conditions..make sure you use a smaller size though). There are also small spoons you can use like the castmaster. Just cast em out and slowly reel em in. Simple stuff.
As far as weather goes i dont really think it matters too much. Time of day, id go with early morn or late afternoon but if youre in a good spot youll catch em all day long. theyre pretty varacious when it comes to feeding so if theyre there youll catch em. If you only get a few or none at all...go fish a different spot. It sounds kinda dumb and obvious but most likely theyre not on your spot if youre not catching em ...so move. Its like when i ice fish...ill pop a dozen holes. At one hole ill get nothing. At another hole ten feet away ill catch a limit of big slabs. It just kinda works out that way so dont be afraid to try new spots. I hope this helps you catch more and put more in the fry pan. Good luck!

Answer 9

This time of year I am using crickets because of all the larve in the water but I never take just one bait,also baby leeches,waxy,wigglers....!
If you want to catch summer gills and lots of them find a forage weed bed(this is a shallow weed bed) that has many larve,minnow fry and other aquatic creatures holding in it.Yes this can be tough to find but look for adjacent deep water little unseeable rings forming on the surface these will be from very tiny minnow fry and the gills feed heavy on them plus the planktons draw in everything to feed on them.
I spend time finding deepwater holding area's for my best gill fishing look for water in the range of 12' to 26" depending on the thermocline of lake.Summer gills dont always hold on structure but may be just off it holding in deeeper waters.These fish are easily caught in the heat of the day with sunlight over head this has been the best time and the only time I fish for gills in the summer.I head out around 1:00pm and fish till the shadows cast from sun when bait fish move out and get balled up from bass and gills then I start my bass fishing,lol!
I look for flats of deeper water just outside of weedlines with some deep water weeds in it or some kind of potiential cover nearby.IE: - shallow weeds(3 to 8 feet with a drop to 12 or more feet)inverted deep water points,heavy grass beds then breaks to deeper water and remember those heavy weed beds the temp ranges in those can be up to 6 to 10 degree's cooler meaning higher oxygen levels.
My main rigs are a slip cork with a long shank fine wire hook or custom ant or the dropper rig - bell sinker on bottom come up 6 to 16 inches with live bait off a long shank hook alsocalled (TIGHT LINING)!My next method is the fish finder method trolling over area's with a custom made lure and keel weight.This way will produce any active feeding fish and once I have hit several from one spot I set up and anchor for still fishing.
Remember this a lake looks good all over but certain area's wil out produce others so read you topo map if one is availible!
Summer gills will often feed better in direct sun when predators shy from the light!
Find spawning minnow area's for fry!
Rocks will produce because of crustaceans hatching!
Never say they cant be here!(I have found summer gills to be suspended in open deep 35 foot of water)
This is not all but a good start for gills or any panfish so good luck and enjoy!

Answer 10

the best fishing for anytype of fish is when there is an overcast (cloudy) day because the fish will not be in deep water, when it is hot the fish will be deep down. or in the morning or night.