Thread: Anyone had some slow gill fishing this year?

Took the family in June and didn't get much. Went back to the same lake in July and fished for four hours with only a few and then found a pocket and caught 15 good ones in 20 minutes and went home. Took my boy out to a different lake in August and a similar story - had one keeper in five hours and then caught about 50 (35 keepers) from one spot in an hour. In both of the last two they were still biting good when we left . For whatever reason they seem to be more concentrated than normal.

Here in Finger Lakes New York, I have been fishing 10 -15 ft of water. I've had a lot of good luck fishing wax worms, and butter worms.
The set up is simple just a small hook, a split shot and a slip bobber. I set the bobber top stop at 6-8 ft, depending where the fish are.
Tried redworms a few times this year, but ended up with a bunch of dinks that way. The big gills just can't turn down a fat butter worm.

What are you guys using for line when you use slip bobbers? I've tried nanofil and it doesn't work well with small slip bobbers and I've also tried 6# flourocarbon which doesn't work well either. I've been using crappie stalker floats and they haven't worked the greatest with those two lines.

Cabela's Pro Line #4 mono or Vicious Panfish #4 mono from Grizzly Jig shop are both good values . Also from Grizz shop ,The Carlisle no#783 slip float works well over a jig and heavy shot.

Fishing smaller bodies of water from shore, the fishing has been good. Fishing from my boat, barely anything gill wise. Kinda strange, but then again that is the story of my life.

Originally Posted by gregsayers2000

Fishing smaller bodies of water from shore, the fishing has been good. Fishing from my boat, barely anything gill wise. Kinda strange, but then again that is the story of my life.

Yeah that's the way its been for me this summer. I've been out on my boat most of the time this summer and haven't caught much for panfish...kinda weird because I target the same areas on my boat as I would try from shore. I think they're all just deeper than normal this summer. Had a drought last year and lakes are a bit more full this year so I think its a bit screwy this year.

As far as line for slip bobbers,... I keep it simple. I have always been a big fan of Trilene XL and Stren Super Tough mono.

For my Ultra Lites I use the Trilene XL 4-6lb test. And the Med. Action rods I will run 6-8lb test Stren or Trilene.

I also run an old school slip float for Catfish, but thats when I break out the heavy lines. 10-20 lb test mono for cut bait or hot dogs.

Yeah I got no problem with the cats! Lol haven't had a lot of luck with the big ones this year but I've caught a decent amount. Oddly, I've caught most of them the last few weeks, but my gill fishing has slowed a lot. I'll get two or three and that's my cut bait but the problem is that it takes 30-45 minutes to get those two or three. Cats are all deep around here now or on huge drop offs. I'll keep working the gills! I'm going to a lake this weekend that usually produces some gills no matter where your at.