Bluegill Fishing

Bluegill fishing is fun and easy. There are many tricks to learn before one can become an expert, but learning to begin catching them is easy. The purpose here is not to teach you how to become an expert at bluegill fishing. Honestly, that is going to take good old fashioned hands-on experience. But this will get you started and I can almost guarantee you that you will catch fish.

Just for clarification's sake, when you hear someone speak of "bream fishing," that is the same type of fishing I am going to tell you about.

The first thing is the right rig. The main reason people fail at bluegill fishing is they think too big. They use big hooks, big weights, big floats and heavy line. Bluegills have tiny mouths and they spook easily. Think small. A #8 hook is usually just right for bluegill fishing, but a #10 and a #6 will catch fish. Anything bigger than #6 will not catch bluegills. Some fisherman don't use a weight at all, but I like to use a small split or bb shot placed about 6 to 8 inches above the hook. (That paragraph is something to remember when you are trying to catch small-mouthed saltwater fish like like pinfish, croakers, and whiting.)

The best float for bluegill fishing with a cane pole is a porcupine quill. These are getting hard to find, but the best bait shops still carry them. The quills have an eye at the bottom and a small rubber band about midway up the quill to thread the line. The advantages of a quill is that they are very quiet when they are tossed. When fishing on the bottom they lie flat. When fishing off the bottom (using a bb shot), they stand up. Knowing where your bait is sitting relative to the bottom of the water is useful information.

If you really don't want to use a pole, a rod and reel will work. Use the same rigging method as the pole, except use a plastic float instead of a quill. Use the smallest float that will get your line where you want it. It is better to compromise a little distance in favor of less noise and less resistance when you set the hook.

If you are bluegill fishing from a bank or pier, another rigging method that works is a slip shot(or slip sinker) and a split shot sinker combo. Thread the slip shot through the monofilament line and then press a split shot about 6 to 8 inches above the hook. You can get good distance this way. Fish with a tight line. When a fish takes the bait, the line will get tight and the rod will bend. Set the hook (not too hard). You can use this method from a boat, but it is important that you have an anchor at each end to stabilize the boat.

Use monofilament line. This line appears almost clear in water. Don't use heavy line. 8# is just right. It is light enough not to spook the fish, but strong enough to have a shot at landing a good size bass if one decides to take the bait.

You can catch bluegills from the bank, a boat or wading. All have their advantages, depending on water conditions and environment. When using a small boat (small is good for bluegills), one boating method that works, especially during spawning season, is to use a paddle and slowly work your boat parallel to the bank. Providing the boat is small, I like to sit at the front end and scull the water, not bringing my paddle out of the water. This is a very effective way to move faster, with less noise. If you catch one keeper, there are usually more where you caught that one. Many times you will catch so many where you caught the first one that you won't even have to move the boat again.

Bluegills spawn from sometime in May until sometime in August in most places in the U.S. Water temperatures must reach 65 degrees first. Locating the beds is fairly easy. They can be in as little as one foot to as deep as six or eight feet. The beds look like craters and appear lighter than the surrounding ground because bull bluegills scrape away with their tails all the stuff that colors the rest of the water bottom.

Most of what you will catch on the beds are bulls. The bulls fertilize and keep the beds clean. The females do their job of laying the eggs and then they leave. When the water is clear and the beds aren't too deep to see from the surface, they can be found by sight. This makes it a little easier to find them, but it also means they can be spooked easier. If the water is deeper, colored, or both, you have to find them by moving your bait from one place to the other, while moving parallel to the bank as mentioned earlier.

The best bait for bluegill fishing is live bait. Worms are cleaner and generally cheaper. In my opinion nothing beats a worm. Any worm will catch fish, but redworms, catalpa worms and meal worms are my favorites. Crickets are favored by some fishermen.

Artificial bait also works, just not as well as live bait. The best artificial bait (a squirrel tail jig, for example) imitates insects. When using artificial bait, it is best to put your bluegill catching cane pole aside and use a rod and reel. The best float to use is a clear bubble type. It gets better distance and lands quieter. If fishing a bluegill bed, throw your artificial bait farther than you believe the bed to be and reel it across the bed. The reasoning behind that is that you are less likely to spook the fish and you can cover more productive space.

Remember that bluegills can be caught anytime of the year. You just have to change the method to suit water temperature. The dead of winter is going to drive the bluegills to deeper water. A few sunny days even in winter will drive many of them a little closer to shore. Enough warm days to move water temperature up into the 60's is going to bring piles of them closer to shore.

What I have always loved about this type of fishing is that anybody can catch fish, but the more experience you gain the better you get at it. It is easy, but it can be challenging to catch big bluegills under all conditions.

A keeper for me is about hand sized, maybe a little smaller. Even the smaller ones are tasty and bluegills rank among the best tasting fish that you will find anywhere in the world.

Now that you know how, you probably want to know where. The short answer to that question is almost any freshwater near Gulf Shores will have bluegills - creeks, canals, rivers, and ponds. Some places that are usually good, aren't so good right now. Gator Lake at Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge on Fort Morgan Road was once a very good place for bluegill fishing and will be again sometime in the future. Hurricane Ivan put saltwater in the lake, and set it back a few years.

Other formerly good small ponds don't even exist now. They have been filled in or reshaped to fit into new housing and business developments. I once caught big bluegills from a small pond on Canal Road. It was filled in recently to make way for housing. That is a shame because the spring fed pond was so clear that I could watch the fish take my bait. On one occasion in that pond I saw a bluegill take my bait and a bass take the bluegill.

But enough of that. There are still many places to catch bluegills. The easiest place to get to is Lake Shelby at Gulf State Park. For a small fee you can get to the picnic area and spend all day swimming, picnicking and fishing.

Other places to fish in Gulf State Park are the canals connecting the three lakes. There is a bridge on CR2 over one of the canals that is popular for fishing.

Other places which are a little farther away and have limited access is Fish River (take Highway 98 towards Fairhope), Sandy Creek and Soldier Creeks.

But for the easiest, most convenient bluegill fishing, if you are staying near the beach, look no farther than Gulf State Park.

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