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Big bluegills fall into three categories: Keepers, Nice Ones and Pigs. Let’s talk about how to catch pigs. You know the type – slabs that are wider than the span of your hand, with bullish heads and a fighting attitude that makes Mike Tyson look like the Avon Lady.
There’s no better time to specifically target these monsters than during the spring spawn, when they’re concentrated, visible and vulnerable. To capitalize on big bluegills, two conditions must be met. First, you need to be on a fishery that harbors trophy sunfish. And second, you’ll want to hunt the fish in water that’s between 68°-70°. That’s the temperature range at which big females move up to the beds to deposit their eggs.
Now, keep in mind that the window of opportunity for sight-fishing jumbo female bluegills on spawning beds is quite short – often only a couple of days. So be ready; arrange for vacation days at work if you have to; and attack with the right equipment and search-and-conquer strategy.
SEARCHING
My favorite way to search for spawning areas requires two people (both wearing polarized fishing sunglasses). One guy drives the boat and does his share of looking. The other guy, up at the bow, is on full-time surveillance duty while searching the shallows. You can cover a ton of water this way, even at pretty good speeds, and locate numerous bed clusters as you go.
If I’m solo, I’ll do my speed-scouting from the bow and cruise fast with the bow-mount trolling motor. Having serious power is a must. An Optima battery with a fresh charge will give you all the juice you need to put the pedal to the metal for long periods of time.
Likely haunts include reed beds with a clean sand bottom, edges between weeds and sand, beaches that have been weed-rolled by the cabin owner, boat docks, deadfalls, stumps or other types of cover. You probably noticed that the common denominator here is sand. Bluegills spawn in sand. But don’t overlook what might look like a mucky bay at first glimpse, because beneath the silt you’ll often find nice sand. Beds in silt are harder to spot than dished-out beds in clean sand. The male sunfish will fan through the silt layer and create almost a “column” down to the sand below.
As you scout, note the numbers and sizes of the fish you see. Are they all males? If so, the big females haven’t moved in yet but are somewhere nearby. File these spots in your memory bank or mark them as waypoints on your GPS – and rank them in order from best to worst. After you’ve scrutinized several spots, return to the location(s) with the most promise and get busy.
CONQUERING
OK, you’ve found a good “honeycomb” of bluegill beds with big females on-the-nest and have dropped the anchor. Maybe some of the fish spooked and scattered. Hang tight. They’ll be back. Now what? These fish aren’t interested in eating. Instead, they’ll take a bait to DEFEND their nests. So your intent here is to agitate the bluegill. Piss her off.
One of the best ways to get a female bluegill mad enough to strike is to drop a big leech on her nose. Leeches are very threatening creatures, and she will intercept the intruder if it gets too close. And the bigger the leech, the better. First, because it’s more threatening; second, because it will keep dinky fish from trying to tackle the oversized morsel.
Hook the leech right through its sucker using a #8 - #10 Aberdeen hook. The long shank on this hook makes removal easier. Sometimes, having a splash of color with the leech incites a more aggressive reaction from sunfish (and also makes the bait easier to see). That’s when I’ll typically switch to a teardrop-style ice jig with a leech. Waxworms and angle worms often work well too.
Peggable bobbers are ideal here (try a Thill Bite Strike Float), which adjust quickly without stressing the line. Cast beyond the target fish, slowly reel until the float is above the fish, and let that wiggling leech sweep down on a pendulum path. Works like a charm. If the beds you’re fishing are in cabbage or other semi-dense vegetation, using a slip bobber works better by allowing the bait to drop vertically into the weeds and down to the fish.
Another deadly tactic comes from Nate Berg, one of my cameramen: Take that same Aberdeed hook, WITHOUT a bobber or any weight, and thread on a fat chunk of nightcrawler. Pitch this to the bed and it will sink very slowly down to the fish. The slow descent gets bluegills extremely ornery and aggressive. This presentation is the ace-in-the-hole when other baits don’t get a response from skittish females – especially in very shallow water. Sometimes you might need to lay the bait right INTO the bed to get a strike. Do whatever it takes.
When a fish does take your presentation, expect it to quickly spit the bait away or swim from the bed and spit the bait a safe distance away from her eggs. Pay very close attention, visually, to where the hook tip is in the fish’s mouth. If she’s just dragging the leech/crawler/whatever by the tail, don’t set the hook. Wait for her to get the business end of the hook fully inhaled before your hookset. Persistence is the key to sight fishing for bluegills. If you stay at it, nearly every fish you target will ultimately be yours to catch.
There might not be anything better than a fish fry of fresh bluegills. And there’s no better time to have a blast filling your limit on big, big sunfish than during the spawn. Plus, if you have a youngster in your life, it’s a great way to introduce kids to the excitement of angling with a fish that, pound-for-pound, fights harder than any other species.
Good Fishing!
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