I fished some 39 degree water yesterday, around what temperature will the bluegill start to move back to shallow water? First year I've fished all winter.
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I fished some 39 degree water yesterday, around what temperature will the bluegill start to move back to shallow water? First year I've fished all winter.
Mid 60's, but ... you can catch 'em now in deeper water. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by 76cherokee
yeah I am wanting to work on my Bream fishing skills this spring and try some different techniques. The main one being looking for bigger fish in deeper water.
If you are located in West TN, then you'll find that at this time of the year most of the fish will be bunched up 15 feet or deeper if the body of water has pockets that deep. Starting in March I'll usually start picking up fish commonly in the 8 - 12 ft. depths. By late March, the shellcrackers are often starting to move up on the beds and most of the biggest fish (shellcrackers and bluegill) will be found between 4 - 6 feet deep through the end of May. This is on most waters, although some places like Pickwick, with it's clearer water, they may be quite a bit deeper. In the heat of summer they may be anywhere from 4 - 30 feet deep, but in the midsouth area, I've still found the larger fish to be mostly on flats between 4 - 8 feet deep, often quite a distance from shore, but still in waters between those depths. I have caught some on jigging spoons in pretty deep waters in both the heat of summer and cold of winter, however I haven't found them to be of any larger size. Usually the water is stained enough that if you can't see the bottom past 3-4 feet or so, you probably won't find too many bream deeper than 15 ft. except in the winter.
Another place to look for them in the winter is creek mouths. The warm rains we experienced before and during the Holidays brought some decent sized gills in to the creek mouths of our local reservoirs. From the bank I have been able catch decent numbers of small to medium sized cricket crunchers in the shallow but slightly warmer waters of the creeks. Main lake temps here are in the low forties but the creeks tend to be a little warmer. I see you are from W TN, maybe look in some of the canals and creek ditches that are in the sun for long periods of time. Welcome from E TN.