Thread: Spider rigging for bluegills anyone?

Hey,
I am in the process if researching spider rigging for crappies(currently not a big crappie fisherman) and wondered if the set-up would work for bluegills and if anyone had tried it?

I live on a 5acre pond and fish it for bass/bluegill(no crappie in it) but like to get out on the lakes to bluegill fish and plan to try and learn more about crappies at the same time.

Just wondered if many had tried this and if their experiences were good/bad?

Thx Max

BTW, the bluegills are eating crickets up right now!!!

I do it in a few weeks and right after the ice is out. Although I do it from my kayak it is pretty much the same thing. 3 rods of 3 different lengths with 2 different lures and baits on each one set at different depths. Once I find a couple gills, every line gets switched to the one they were hitting. In fact I often immediately cut back to one rod with 2 baits about 14 inches apart with the bait they prefered at the depth they were hitting and then just sit over or drift over that spot. Can be pretty easy to pull a couple dozen good ones once you find them with the spider rig set up. The spider rig is basically just a searching tool for me but it works well for gills just as it does for crappies.

I was spider rigging for crappie last saturday and I was catching the heck out of bluegill and redear. So yes it will work. I even caught a double on LFT baby shad jigs.

Not to downplay "spider rigging" but a cpl yrs ago a fella on this site contacted me to enter a crappie tournament with him. I told him I only fly fish ,but that was OK with him. He setup spider rigging and I felt it was a pain in the butt. All he kept doing was hitting cypress trees with poles and snagging line. It was impossible for me to fish. I don't know anything about spider rigging but wasant at all impressed with it. Too many poles and not enough hands.

I catch a lot of Gills while I'm spider rigging for crappie!

Originally Posted by Flyrod Man

Not to downplay "spider rigging" but a cpl yrs ago a fella on this site contacted me to enter a crappie tournament with him. I told him I only fly fish ,but that was OK with him. He setup spider rigging and I felt it was a pain in the butt. All he kept doing was hitting cypress trees with poles and snagging line. It was impossible for me to fish. I don't know anything about spider rigging but wasant at all impressed with it. Too many poles and not enough hands.

I'd like to get you in the boat when it's working right. It's not fly fishing but it's a ball. Snags really mess up a day with trolling and rigging, but if you aren't getting hung, you're not fishing in the right place is the saying. seeing a rod go down and grabbing it out of the holder and not being able to move the fish is just fun beyond belief. Try again before the jury comes back in.

I've done it a couple times at Eagle lake in between the full moons when they weren't on the beds. I'd put out 4 poles with corks and Crickets, then ease around. I caught several when my buddie was just casting his one rod with a beatle spin on it wasn't catching much of anything

Jim Duckworth a famous crappie guide on Kentucky Lake spider rigs for bluegill.

Catching fish on long poles is always a fun thing for me. I prefer it over short rod and reels. Spider rigging is a tactic that I'll use, but NOT in the timber. Snagging and hanging can be a real pain when youre manning alot of rods. I prefer spider rigging when the fish are off the structure and suspending at different depths or either hugging the bottom on flats. Dont see any reason what-so-ever it wouldnt work just as good with gill fishing.

never trid it have to now