Where to find cold water 'Gills?

Hi, I was fishing a nearby lake the other day, and the fish were concentrated in the shallows (under 3 feet) because the sun had been beating down and warmed the cove I was fishing by about 10 degrees compared to the rest of the lake. Yesterday, it started raining, and the fish are gone, and the water temperature has dropped again (about 50 I'd say, but that's just by feel) Where do 'gills go when the water temp drops in the spring? (I'm in a very temperate zone in NE Wa). I have mostly been a trout/bass fisherman for the past 10 years, and now I'm in college, and live close to a great panfish lake, so I'm looking to improve my knowledge on this kind of fishing.

Do they generally suspend, or go for deeper water with cover in these conditions, and whatever the case, how should I go about catching them? I have a float tube now, and am a little more mobile than I was the last two times out.


Thanks!

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Originally Posted by Hightekrednek

Do they generally suspend, or go for deeper water with cover in these conditions, and whatever the case, how should I go about catching them?

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I think they move into deeper water near their spawning grounds. You can catch them in any way you please. Bait, flies, small jigs, and small crankbaits will all work. I tend to use the first three options most frequently, but I plan on trying out the crankbaits this year.

Enjoy your float tube. It's a great way to fish! :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hightekrednek

Hi, I was fishing a nearby lake the other day, and the fish were concentrated in the shallows (under 3 feet) because the sun had been beating down and warmed the cove I was fishing by about 10 degrees compared to the rest of the lake. Yesterday, it started raining, and the fish are gone, and the water temperature has dropped again (about 50 I'd say, but that's just by feel) Where do 'gills go when the water temp drops in the spring? (I'm in a very temperate zone in NE Wa). I have mostly been a trout/bass fisherman for the past 10 years, and now I'm in college, and live close to a great panfish lake, so I'm looking to improve my knowledge on this kind of fishing.

Do they generally suspend, or go for deeper water with cover in these conditions, and whatever the case, how should I go about catching them? I have a float tube now, and am a little more mobile than I was the last two times out.


Thanks!

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I fish alot from a tube for gills/crappie in small lakes. I like to rig one spinning rod with 2lb test and 1/64 oz jig tipped with a "crappie nibble". I rig another spinning rod with 4lb test and 1/32 oz jig tipped with a minnow (somtimes just plain jig). I hold a rod in each hand and "troll around" with my tube. It is a great way to find fish. For water 4 ft or less I may use a small syrofoam float. This year I added a "hummingbird fishin buddy" depth finder and I really enjoy it.

I have had the tube for quite awhile, but spring happened so fast that I hadn't thought to bring it until now. I do love fishing from it, but I usually fly fish for trout so it's a little different switching target species, tackle and areas and figuring out what works with limited fishing time due to classes etc. I figure if I can locate them, I should be able to handle it from there, I just don't know their habits like I do trout and bass.

I was out fishing for some gills yesterday here in Indiana, weather was not the greatest for bluegill fishing(50's and the sun was going behind the trees). I was getting to cold just sitting and watching my bobber, I had to move around, so I tied on a small neon green rooster tail and started fishing that. I would cast it out parallel to the bank and count it down between 5 and 10 sec.Then I would begin a slow steady retrieve, just enough to get the blade spinning, and bam, caught 8 within the last half hour I was out on that method! Dont know if that will help any, but thats what was working for me, or you could try a beetle spin! Or just like deathb4disco suggested, a small crank bait like the bitsy pond minnow. Any of these three I mentioned are great search lures for finding the concentrations of fish, then you can go back in with the finesse lure or float tube.

Luke

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Originally Posted by Hightekrednek

I usually fly fish for trout so it's a little different switching target species, tackle and areas and figuring out what works

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Fly fish for gills just like you would for trout. It's hard to imagine a trout fly that will not catch gills. See here:


Thanks to articles by Al Campbell, Old Rupe, Fritz, RK and others, I finally got the message that warmwater fish are just like trout in thier eating habits. If you want to catch more/bigger warmwater fish, go trout fishing for them. Find out what they are feeding on and match it. My best bluegill trip ever was using some PT nymphs I got from you, fishing them 18" below one of my poppers. That afternoon, I caught over 120 bluegills and shellcrackers. Only six of them took the popping bug. That was an eye opener for me. I've since had similar days using other nymphs, midges, scuds, and a whole host of trout flies. I've learned to identify the bugs before I slap them and to tie an imitation to my line and try it.


http://www.crappie.com/crappie/fly-f...cker-tips.html

I'll get my fly rod down here eventually, but at this point I am refraining because I have limited space and time, and It's nice to have an UL spinning rig that I can grab, along with a tiny tackle box and some crawlers, and be catching fish as soon as possible to maximize my limited fishing time. This summer, I'll be fly fishing for sure, I did really well on the green sunnies back home, I actually caught one that would have been the state record, if I'd have realized that it was huge for a green sunfish and I wasn't so disappointed that it wasn't a bass..... Anyways, I can catch summertime 'gills pretty consistently (but then again, who can't? lol) I am looking at buying one of these Amazon.com: Norcross Hawkeye FF3355P Fish Finder: Electronics Hawk Eye fish finders for my float tube, mainly to find structure and track the depth, it should help, and if the stupid crappies are suspended It'll be nice too!

Thanks for the info so far!

i fly fish for chinks and gills like mowing grass,i start on the edges ,and work my way out to the middle,or vise versa.



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