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Hello guys and gals. I did some searching yesterday, but didn't find much. Do any of you put out structure for bluegill hidey-holes? What do you use? I've been putting Crappie condos, mats and trees out for years, but it never occurred to me to set up a few Gill Hotels. I've been thinking about setting up some deeper-water haunts for the big boys, and some low-water cover. Any suggestions?
I'm not sure about structure, but if you were to dig some small holes in the floor of the pond in about 3 ft of water, and then put gravel in the bottom of the holes it would make a good place for the bluegill to spawn. This would work really well if you had a larger flat where the water didn't drop off that much for about 10-15 feet. If you covered that flat with shovel sized indents and then dumped some gravel in each of them, you'd know where to catch fish during the spawn especially. Now, it's probably to late for this year, but if you did that in the summer, especially if the water were down a little (you'd need to estimate it's normal spring depth so as not be be too deep come spring) I think you'd really have something the following year.
And make sure its in an area that gets good sunlight for the majority of the day.
I believe the bluegills would relate to just about anything you put out. When I was a kid I had a farm pond I fished all the time. It had brush and trees submerged in it from shallow water to the deep water. On the shallow end I took some old 5 gallon buckets and submerged them. The fish seemed to relate to them buckets just as much as the brush in the water.
Honestly couldn`t see why not; they would relate to cover for the same reasons alot of other fish do; food especially, most submerged natual cover should literally be crawling with ALL kinds of insect larvae, small crayfish, fresh water shrimps, minnows, and gamefish fry, as well as snails and who knows what else, an all you can eat smorgas board 24/ 7...
deep water brush piles can hold some big gills. Dont be afraid to put them deep, youd be suprised how deep the big gill will stay.
HB
I recently read about an old trick you light like. Get some of those pennant streamers you see at car dealers' lots. Hang a sizable weight on one end, that reaches to the bottom. Then affix a float on the upper end to suspend the pennant streamer vertically in the water. Then place them in an area that the brim will be holding in during the day... on a creek channel, near the edge of a submerged hump, etc. Place two or three of these "quickie structures" in that spot and then go take a nap for an hour or so. When you return, fish a small panfish jig or live bait around the pennants.
The theory is that the colorful flags, moving around in the water, attracts the bluegill. Think of kelp strands in the sea- same idea.
Being sight and vertically oriented, along with structure selective, the brim focus on the flags as an anomaly in their environment and hold up on them looking for food.
Anoter nuance to this is to chum. If it is legal in your area, begin chumming with small chum "buttons" when you arrive. Make these 'buttons' from ground dog food or chicken feed, mixed with sand and water to bind it all into nickel sized "tossin' buttons."
Throw a few of these chum nubs right on the pennants, so the chum disperses in among them. Feed the fish just a little, though; enough to keep them active and interested, but not enough to fill 'em up!
Interesting ideas. Thanks for the input, guys. I have a type of pvc structure that I put out for crappie, that I'm sure would hold gills and shellcrackers. If the weather would just break for a while, I'll set a few up and post a pic or two...see what you guys think.