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Spring Techniques
In the spring look for spawning fish by following the scent of bream beds. Follow your nose: the bedding bluegills disturb the lake floor, which releases air bubbles and the aroma of decaying vegetation.
Summer Techniques
Look for mature schools of bluegills by gradually fishing deeper water. Use ultra-light spinning equipment or a light outfit and fish worm bait or crickets on a No.10 hook, weighted lightly to reach the bottom.
Row or troll along the shore where the smaller bluegills bite, then move into deeper water for slightly larger bluegills, then row parallel to the shore into slightly deeper water where no bluegills bite. At this point, slowly row into deeper water while fishing the bottom.
Bluegills stay in a very small area, and anglers should slowly fish deep weedbeds, submerged islands, floor depressions, and areas preferred by largemouth bass. Once an area of mature bluegills is found, continue fishing the spot yearly.
To catch deep-water bluegills, use worms or crickets, catalpa worms, pieces of shrimp, grubs, a lightly hooked triangular inch of pork rind, or try tiny spoons, spinners, and jigs.
Look for the big bluegills near shore weedbeds in the early morning and late afternoon. In the shallows, use tiny fly-rod poppers, a wet fly, nymph, or tiny sponge-rubber spider. Casting in shallow water may spook the fish; gently throw the fly and use leaders at least ten feet long.
Winter Techniques
In the winter, look for bluegills in the deep parts of the lake. Fish the same areas as in the summer, or over deep weedbeds and on the deep side of weedy drop-offs. Ice fishing requires drilling numerous holes in the ice before the tightly packed schools are found. Bait dangled over a few feet from the schooled fish will be ignored.
Winter tackle includes an ice-jigging rod or ultra-light spinning equipment for deeper ice fishing. Other anglers might use an eighteen-inch rod with a spinning or baitcasting reel.
Bluegills love bait in winter. Try baiting mousie grubs on dropper hooks spaced a foot apart with a weight tied to the end of the line. Using three hooks increases the likelihood of hooking a bluegill in cold water when the fish refuse to move more than a foot to take the bait. Locating big bluegills in deep water is a challenge and a test of patience in any season.
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