By Andrew Ragas

Article Posted: January, 2007

I'll admit it. As big into Bass, Pike, and Walleye fishing as I am, I love to fish for Bluegills. My love and appreciation for bluegills began when I was a young angler. As a youngster, I often sat on our dock in northern Wisconsin and spent my days flipping a leech, worm, or minnow under a bobber and hauled in bluegill after bluegill. Soon, I would come to the realizations that this was like shooting fish through a barrel. There was no real challenge in catching dink, juvenile bluegills on a repeated basis. However, as I grew older, the line to solely catch big, adult bluegill needed to be drawn somewhere.

The drawn line? Yeah, stay away from live-bait!

As productive and succulent as leeches are, they and other forms of live bait are not necessary for catching bluegills on a consistent basis, especially the large ones. In today's angling world, many people focus on BIG bluegills with live-bait offerings, and in result, they always have to sort through the small juvenile fish in order to get to the larger adult fish. Like all lures, live bait has its periods where it is unbeatable. I can attest to that. However, rather than use messy live-baits, I would like to preach to you about the art of fishing for BIG BULL bluegills with artificial baits (plastics & hard minnow baits).

Seasonal Locations

Bluegills are a schooling fish, and like all fish, weather plays an enormous role in the seasonal movements and locations of fish.

My favorite seasons for catching BULL bluegills are spring and summer.

The spring season will most-likely be the season that is loaded with action. This is due to their spawn. In the spring, the action will be at its peak as the larger adult bluegills come from the depths and move in to the shallows. This generally occurs when water temperatures reach 70-75degs. Bluegills spawn in groups on beds which can resemble a colony. In order to identify productive looking spawning grounds while bluegill hunting, look for the disks that line the bottom. Generally speaking, the larger the nest, the larger the bluegill.

During the spring spawning season and like most fish, those that spawn in the shallows are vulnerable to predators. In this case, we, the fishermen are the predators of bluegills. Remember folks, just like our catch & release only spring Bass fishing seasons, take bluegills into consideration, especially the giant adult fish. They are valuable to the ecosystem for their nesting capabilities. It would be rather unfair to harvest all 25, or even 50 bluegills for supper that are spawning. Anyways, just keep that in mind to prevent our waters from being over fished. This happens everywhere because people think bluegills are an unlimited resource, regardless of their abundance - this totally is NOT the case!

Generally, during the spring season, bluegills can be caught on everything. They attack baits of all shapes and forms with such power, which can leave you thinking whether or not it is a Bass on the end of your line. Just like the characteristics of Bass during their spawn, bluegills will simply attack the lure to protect its nest. They will not be hungry.

Shortly after the spawn, Bluegills will leave their nesting sites in search of food. During this period, they will be roaming the shallows along with the smaller juvenile bluegills. Once again, bluegills can be taken on a wide variety of baits and lures.

Then after the transition period, bluegills, especially the larger ones, will become residents of the deeper water, and will often be found suspending and occasionally traveling through the shallow waters in schools. This occurs during the summer months and lasts for the remainder of the fishing season.

Bait and Tackle

As previously stated, most of the larger-sized bluegills I catch result from using artificial lures. Due to using baits such as plastics & small crankbaits, I am able to weed out all of the smaller, annoying fish.

As far as tackle in concerned, many bluegill anglers use rods that are anywhere from 4 to 8-feet in length. I find rods anywhere from 5 to 7 feet, varying from ultra-light to medium actions to be optimal for hunting down BULL bluegills. Personally, I like to use 6 and 6.5ft light, and med. light action rods spooled with either 4 or 6lb line (some anglers use 2-lb line so keep that in mind). I feel that is my magic number for bluegills. However, with rods and reels, it all comes down to personal preference and what you feel comfortable using with.

When fishing for bluegills, there are three categories of baits that I consider to be for bluegills. These three categories are minnow baits, invertebrates, and nymphs/random plastics.

Minnowbaits  (minnows/ shad-tails/ grubs)

Minnow baits are the baits that resemble the small baitfish bluegills feed on. Minnow baits seem to work best when fishing for bluegills that roam the depths (suspend). I work minnow baits in a few ways.

1) By drifting with the wind, controlling the boat with the trolling motor, and paying attention to the locator. I periodically let line out and let the wind do the work for me, and mark the lure to where I see fish marked on the screen.

2) Anchor and cast. This method works best when you find an area that has a nice concentration of fish present. Such areas may be near drop-offs, mid-lake weed beds, sunken islands, and downed timber.

Besides plastics, hard minnow baits and crankbaits [not shown] are another excellent option. These work great with a simple cast & retrieve method, and when trolling.

Invertebrates  (craws/ leeches/ worms/ hellgrammites)

Invertebrates are quite possibly my favorite baits to use for bluegills. Invertebrates are found in all bodies of water and are a key part to a BULL bluegill's diet.

Invertebrates are excellent to use when bluegills stage near the shallows, when they sit on nests during the spawn, and whenever they roam the shallows in search for food.

Here are some of the better ways in how to fish with plastics that resemble invertebrates.

1) Insert the plastic onto a small, 1/32oz or 1/16oz jig and crawl the bait along the bottom near the bluegill bed.

2) Work it under a float with a slow swimming retrieve.

3) Vertical jig for suspended bluegills.

Nymphs & Random Plastics (tubes/ puddle-jumpers, grubs)

Nymphs and other forms of plastic are the final favorites of mine. Just like invertebrates, nymphs are also found almost anywhere and are another key part to the diet of a bluegill. These baits in particular can be used anywhere where there are bluegills present.

Nymphs, tubes, and grubs are excellent to use near bluegill beds, when fish are suspended, and when fish come up to the surface to feed.

There are a few good ways to work invertebrates.

1) Under a float.

2) Casting them up to the bluegill bed.

3) Working them for suspended fish.

Now that you have knowledge of the three categories of baits for bluegills, lets move on to the concluding section; techniques and presentation.

The typical spawning female bluegill. This one inhaled the tube!

Techniques and Presentation

Hunting down large bluegills requires some skill and finesse. Fishing for larger bluegills with artificial lures gives the angler a greater challenge than fishing with live bait and sorting through all the dinks. It should prevent you from reaching boredom.

When fishing for spawning bluegills, there are a few things you must keep in mind.

First, spawning bluegills will not eat your baits because they're hungry. They will attack the baits in order to protect the nest.

Second, when bluegills are in the shallows, they are very skittish. When fishing in your boat and when on shore, keep a very low profile and try to eliminate the shadow caused by the sun. When fish are shallow, they darn right know what's going on from up above.

Third, make long casts to the intended targets. This will prevent you from spooking the fish.

Finally, bluegills are a schooling fish. Remember, if you catch one, others will be nearby.

If allowable, make long casts towards the beds. If you try this, your chances at catching larger fish increases.

As larger bluegills leave their spawning grounds and progress towards the depths, catching them is another story that requires even more skill.

Anyways, as long as you paid attention to what I said about the minnow baits and nymphs, you'll be fine and dandy when fishing for suspending fish. If allowed, give trolling a try on your local waters and see how it goes.

As of now, it appears that everything on catching BULL bluegills has been covered. Seasonal locations, movements, baits, tackle, techniques, and presentation. Hopefully when it comes to catching bigger bluegills, you have the general ideas of what to use and look for.

Next time you're out on the water, forget about the live bait. It's costly, messy, and not worth the hassle. Sure, it's great to use and has its peak periods, but believe me, plastics and artificial lures are the way to go if you want to avoid the small fish and only catch large bluegills.

I've got my bluegill game-face on.. Where's yours?