Deep Water Bream?

[slab-in-the-box]

What is the deepest water that bluegills will bed in? Most water in the reservoir that I fish is +20' and that's in the creek flats. Even up in the coves, it's 20 - 35' deep. Will the blue gills still only bed within 2 - 10ft water??

[sbcpower]

In my experience, biggerer gills bed in deeper water. The smaller ones are usually in 1 - 4', depending on water clarity and shade. I've found several beds in some of our oxbows in 16 - 20' of water and caught no fish less than 9". Not to say you can't find a biggun in the shallows...

sbc

[slab-in-the-box]

how do you find them in that deep of water? do you watch your graph for a bunch of fish showing on the bottom? Or, do you drift crickets on the bottom till you get lucky and find some? Thanks.

[sbcpower]

I just noticed I typed "biggerer" lol

Found them by accident at first...dragging a carolina rigged crawler. We figured out it was a bed from the smell, the dark color of the fish and the fact the gills would hit ANYTHING that got near them. We started looking at the sonar in the sandy flats for big logs with fish around them. There were almost always bull bream on the shady side. Don't look in areas that get a lot of boat traffic. If you find beds near shore, move out to deeper water to find some downed trees, logs, etc. Worth a try. Mark the spot and come back to it 20-30 minutes later.

[DaveCourington]

Great tip SBC! I am gonna try that

[sbcpower]

The clearer the water is, the deeper they will be. In stained or more murky waters, look in the 5-10' range.