In Search of Mid-Summer ‘Gills

In Search of Mid-Summer ‘Gills

By Steve Weisman

As a bluegill fishing fanatic, I love the month of May through mid-June. It’s spawning time, and this time period is a fantastic time to target big bluegills and lots of them. No matter the lake, they are in the shallows on or near their spawning beds. They are actually so easy to catch, especially the big fish, that I encourage selective harvest during this time. This is a time that we can literally catch five-gallon buckets full of big bluegills. That’s the reason for the 25-fish limit on all public waters.

When you are catching those nine+ inch bluegills, I encourage you to keep enough fish for a good meal, but let the rest go for another day. Here on the Iowa Great Lakes, my family and the friends that I fish with try to follow this. Our hope is that letting some of those big bluegills go will help the fishery. We do it for walleyes, largemouth and smallmouth bass and musky, so why not our big bluegills?

Enough of my soap box plea; let’s get back to catching bluegills. However, we are going to shift from the spawning time and look at mid-summer, when it takes more time to find big bluegills.

Search mode
To me, this is a huge key for success. If I don’t know the lake very well, I will first check with a local baitshop or a panfisherman that I know and get as much information as I can about general areas for finding bluegills. If possible, study a lake map looking for deeper weedbeds. Often times, I will go on search mode with my Humminbird 998C using both down view and sideview just to see what these weeds look like. Now sometimes, these fish will be right in the weeds. Lakes with good water clarity will often have weeds that grow several feet in height. On a lake like West Okoboji in the Iowa Great Lakes, the weeds might be pushing 15-20 feet. So, I will look for pockets and openings where I can put my bait. Sometimes, if the bluegills aren’t biting in these areas, I will move along and look for bluegills suspended away from the deep end of the weeds. If I can find them, they are often some of the bigger fish. However, you might have to move to keep with them!

When I fish an area, I don’t sit in one spot for very long. My electronics will let me know if the fish are there. If not, I will move along the area until I find aggressive fish. Each time I get into the bluegills, I mark the spot on my locator. Over the years, I have found that there are several spots that hold fish year after year. As a result, I have a lot of waypoints that I can go to.

Drifting the weeds
I stumbled on to this several years ago in the summer, when I was drifting and trolling over weedbeds for walleyes pulling a spinner and a nightcrawler or leech. Yes, I caught walleyes, but I also caught lots of bluegills, perch and crappies with this presentation. They would come right up out of the weeds and attack the bait. Unfortunately, I lost a lot of nightcrawlers to those same panfish.

So, I began to focus on those panfish more. I would use the same strategy as I had trolling for walleyes. Only now it was for panfish. I would go to a smaller mini jig with a plastic tube skirt. Of course, after a while, anglers always get their favorite colors. My favorite tube colors include yellow, white, yellow/white and red/white. However, there are dozens of colors from which to choose. There are also power baits that can be threaded onto these jigs. I will tip these jigs with a piece of nightcrawler, a tiny leech, silver wigglers or wax worms.

The key to this presentation is to cast the jig away from the boat and then drift or troll slowly over the weeds, making the jig hop just right over the top of the weeds. Keeping the rod tip up as you hop the jig helps you control the depth of the jig. I have used a splitshot at the head of the jig, if the wind is causing me to drift too fast.

What is really crazy is that this presentation still catches walleyes, largemouth bass and northern pike using this presentation. And let me tell you, those panfish whack the bait when they go after it.
Using the anchor

This is a presentation that I use a lot. However, years ago, I gave up using an anchor. An anchor loaded with weeds is a tough pull up out of the water. Even with an electric anchor there were times that I had to help pull the anchor up. It’s definitely a backbreaking job.

So, I now use a Minnkota Terrova I-Pilot as my trolling motor and also as my anchor. Now, it does shift a little bit and won’t hold me in one exact spot, but deploying and raising the Terrova is a much easier task, and I can deal with a little slipping. I consider it an anchor system. I have found this to be true. The difference between no fish, small fish and big fish can be only a few feet when you’re fishing these weeds. It’s really easy for me to bump the boat along, using my locator as a guide.

Lures and baits for anchoring
Some anglers will use a slip bobber rig with either a plain hook or a tiny jig (1/64 to 1/80-ounce) tipped with a Belgian worm (red worm, leaf worm), a small to medium leech, a wax worm or silver wiggler – in that order. For this presentation, set the bobber to match the weed depth, trying to be about two feet either above the weeds or off the bottom when fishing the deep weed edges. Some of the largest bluegills I have caught over the years has come on one of those smaller, wiggling leeches. The leech seems to trigger the bigger gills and helps keep the little ones away. Plus, bonus fish (smallmouth bass, largemouth bass and walleyes) love leeches, too.

The slip bobber allows us to fish a lot of area because you can anchor on the wind side of the weedbed and then cast with the wind. We can also cast on all sides of the boat. Many times using the fancast method, we will find one spot that seems to hold bigger bluegills. It’s then pretty simple to hone in on that spot where the bigger fish are located. A slip bobber bouncing in the waves often will trigger a fish.
The other option is straightlining right over the side. This is my favorite method, because I love to feel the bite. Nothing can beat that strike. One tiny jig I have found works well is Clam’s tungsten Dingle Drop jig. The tungsten helps it get down to the bottom quicker, and you can also feel it better.

I have found a Shuck’s Jigger Minnow works really well. Everybody has a favorite color, but I really like the green/gold color on West Okoboji. It’s really pretty simple. Just fish this right over the side of the boat without a bobber. It gets down quickly and also offers a lot of flash and glitter. Just a subtle jiggle, jiggle works great.

Best weather conditions
First off, we go fishing when we can go fishing. Being retired, I can pick and choose my times, but most people can’t. So, you go when you can go. However, I’ve found that the best bite usually occurs in calm waters, and sunny days are better than overcast days. Of course, in Iowa, it seems there is wind most of the time, so it works best if you can fish the calmer side of the lake.

Fishing for and catching these feisty panfish is great fun. Plus it is definitely a great way to get a youngster hooked on fishing!