Thread: Bluegills beating Red Ears to the Bait

I'm no shellcracker expert, but I do think that bluegill are more opportunistic feeders and are generally more numerous. About the only time I catch shellcrackers exclusively is during the spawn. One dock I fish literally has bluegill spawning in a spot on the right side and shellcrackers in a spot on the left side. In general I've found that I catch a higher percentage of shellcrackers when fishing without a float, but still usually catch more gills than crackers. Most pictures folks post here usually only have a few redears sprinkled in with a bunch of gills.

I would use a heavier weight to get it down to the bottom quick. Shell crackers almost always are on or close to the bottom. Ice fisherman use this technique to get their offerings down past the smaller Gills to get to the bigger ones underneath them.


Regards

Fish on the bottom for shellcrackers with 2" red worms or night crawler pieces. I do a drop shot with hook 12" above the weight and reel in slowly once you hit bottom. I still catch several bluegill this way, but catch a much higher rate of shellcrackers than when fishing with a float or mid depth of the water.

I agree with Alphahawk. You have to quickly get past the smaller Bluegills and get to deeper water, especially if you are using a wax worm. A 1/8 sinker about 12 inches above your hook will get you to the bottom fast. When you touch bottom crank the reel about four times. That should put you in a good strike zone for shellcrackers.

Ok, let say all things being equal, and both types of fish are at the same depth in equal numbers, would one catch 50/50 bluegill and shellcrackers or would the bluegill dominate ? I say this because spots I fish aren't all that deep.