Bluegill

Find a hump or rock pile away from shore on the main lake and you will find the biggest gills in the lake.

we actually troll open water i n early spring with mini beetle spin type baits.usually some shot a couple feet up the line till we determine the depth they are holding at.the bigger gills seem to school in open water over various depths.i think it is a follow the hatch thing.this lake i fish every spring has a lot of coves and arms that are deep.we run slow right down the middle and catch lots of em.crappies and white bass too

I fish for bluegills all year round...soft and hardwater. Submerged points, weed lines, humps, deadfalls, brush piles, etc. They're pretty easy to find and interesting fish to pattern. 90% of the time I have a jig and large live bait (3-4 waxies or 2-4" of redworm) under a slip float on open water. Through the ice is usually a jigging spoon or tungsten jig tightlined.

I like to fish around the cypress trees with a sinking fly under a strike indicator.

There are as many ways to fish big gills as there are fishermen. I am in northern Mich. Usually fish deeper lakes. I fish water temperature in summer. find water temps 60 - 75 degrees, I use a slip bobber to fish that depth. Drift slow, if no wind or current I use tm. If I find temp over 40 ft. 10 ft down, I will usually find that temp on bottom in 10ft. Fish over deep water and also where that temp is at the bottom. Best time of day is first 3 hours and last 2 hours.

I use a slip bobber on 6# mono, with a 4# floro leader, 2 hooks and a weight on bottom. I use a combo of bait, 1/3 crawler, leech, minnows crickets etc.

I love the many different ways that folks use to catch gills. I will attempt to try as many of them as will fit the circumstances that I run into , both in TN ( deep reservoirs),
and in FL. (Shallow bowls) I find that when shallow...in both places...a crappie nibble on a 1/32 oz hair jig will catch fish. I haven't had much luck in deep water with
artificials, but will give it more effort this spring and summer. I have been meaning to try using the mini pieces of frozen shrimp for the tipping and bait situations...and
will do that this summer also to compare against my fishing buddies use of worms and crickets. Keep the info coming !

A big mess of gills would be good about now.

a 5 wt fly rod with a #10 chartruse popper- if I can find bushes hanging over the water, I am one happy boy.... love to see them big hump nosed males fight over who gets to eat that pesky bug!!