Riverpark Bluegill fishing with Cuonthelake

[drumking]

Candi and I hit the water sometime after noon and our targeted species was Bluegills. We had a very good short fishing spree. We would have stayed longer, but the TVA is working on the new lock at Chickamauga dam and they ran us off in order to blast a little dynamite. By that time we had already collected 18 Gills between 8 and 9.5" which is the size that I like to take out because they are easy to fillet.

We only had a little over an hour and one half before we had to leave, but it was one bluegill after the other. We must have landed 75 or 80 in that short time span. We had bites on every cast. I have posted a couple of bluegill reports on the Tennessee forum and Candi told me about the panfish forum, so I will post on this one for the gills.

Our technique is very simple. We use a drop shot method for the Bluegills. I like a number 6 Aberdeen hook with the gap widened a little bit for a better hook up and catch ratio. I use 4 lb test Suffix Hi-Vis yellow line and the smallest Bass casting sinker which is about 1/8 oz I think. One could pinch on a sinker if you desired a smaller weight, but in the 15-18 foot depths that we fished, the 1/8 oz is just about right. Candi used nightcrawlers and powerbait and I used wax worms with a crappie nibble powerbait.

Candi had the biggest Bluegill today, a 9.5" beauty. It is hard to say who caught the most. I had a big lead on her for a short while, but then she came on like gang busters. Grin. Seems like that always happens. She is a fishing machine. I hope that you enjoy the pics as much as we enjoyed landing these beauties.