Thread: How to find decent Bluegill?

I have been down this road. Where I live I have come to realize a good bluegill is 7.5-8” I rarely catch any larger. I had to travel hours to a lake to catch some that was 9”. It was easy. Because they was there. It’s no your gear or your bait/ presentation. It just that they may not be there at all. I beat myself up hunting 9” gills and never found any even close locally. Actually most are in the 6-7” range for the most part. If you want to catch ones like that. You have to do homework and research and travel.


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Deep. Mentioned numerous times in the responses to my post. And let me say I appreciate and thank you for responding. Lakes here have 30 to 100 feet depths. Some deeper. Generally speaking what are you considering deep?

Originally Posted by Quailtail

Deep. Mentioned numerous times in the responses to my post. And let me say I appreciate and thank you for responding. Lakes here have 30 to 100 feet depths. Some deeper. Generally speaking what are you considering deep?

Most bream lakes rarely exceed 40 ft. with most giving up fish in the 10-15 ft. range . If you fish main lake points normally they will be in the depth before 20.

Originally Posted by LedHed

Homework - everything Stan says + google map (switch to satellite and toggle back and forth from 2D to 3D). Like Tim mentioned - you have to find a lure/bait that you have confidence in and work it. You have to fish the right water as Randy stated. The fertility & management of the lake will determine the quality of fish. We use to catch bigger fish in the evening bite - haven't been able to do that for awhile. Lake Perris doesn't open until 6 now so we miss the pre dawn bite. I agree with everything Ketchn said - solid advice - actually all the posts (IMO) are relevant to finding better fish.
This applies for SoCal and my style of fishing;
I focus on the food chain (all year). Watch for bug hatches and birds (for baitfish activity). At LP if the Grebes are active they are chasing down Shad or Shiners and if the Swallows or Gnat Catchers are up - there's a bug hatch going on. The majority of the bigger fish that I find come from 17 to 28 FOW (except for winter) in these staging areas. Troll the deeper water (pre & post spawn), outside of the beds, for big hens (please release). I'm also looking for a mud bottom close to a solid bottom in that depth range.
We have to pay attention to water level and surface temp and in my case the wind. More than 3mph - have to sit at home and surf the internet......
I use 2lb test copolymer line (because of flooded timber and brush piles) with 1/48th to 1/24th jigs.

LH

How do you troll with these light jigs ? Are you running some weight on your line also ? Are you running the bait near the bottom in this 17-28 foot depths ?

thanks, Chris

Qt - LP is ~110'" at the deepest pt. During the winter, back in the day with my mentor Big Jim, we use to fish the inlet, 65'. We nose hooked nightcrawlers on jigalos and caught big CNBGs off the bottom and on the drop. Killed way too many fish. Now - I fish mostly for suspended fish no deeper than 35 FOW.

Chris - don't think my 1/48th or 1/32nd jigs get deeper than 12' @.8mph and the 1/24th jigs might be getting to 15' at that speed using 2lb test line. I'm using 2 lines - one has a slightly larger diameter. I watch the depth finder for baitfish & bugs. If a hatch is starting - go real slow, as they rise you start speeding up and fish the higher column.
"How do you troll with these light jigs" - troll speed is between .6mph and 1mph, mostly .8mph
"Are you running some weight on your line also" - No, but a friend of mine does and it's been discussed.
"Are you running the bait near the bottom in this 17-28 foot depths" - Depends on what's going on with the food chain.

When the fish are in open water regardless of depth, I MUST start trolling using your suggestions! Better to hook fish than spend all day casting to dead water.
What I need to do a better job of meeting the requirements of using light, trolled lures is: .8 mph boat speed, 2# not 6# test f/c line and making sure the lure is traveling at the right depth fish are seen on sonor. I always assumed suspended fish in warm water are uncatchable do to a zero activity level. Guess I won't know unless they see my lure long enough.