Another trick practiced by bluegill experts is fishing the bedding area in the right sequence. If they know where a bedding area is, they stand off as far as they can and cast their lure or bait to the near side of the bed. They work the near edge of the bed before they start casting closer to the bed’s center or far edge. That way, when they catch a fish, they don’t have to drag it through the entire bed and spook every fish there.
Still another trick in catching a lot of big bluegill is looking for beds that aren’t fished hard. This area has a lot of people who like to catch bluegill, and all of the easy-to-reach spots on all of the public lakes get fished hard pretty quickly.
But expert bluegill anglers know that the best areas are those that are good but don’t look it; and those that are difficult to reach.
A spot typical of the first type would be a bedding area on an underwater shelf adjacent to a steep bank. Most anglers would pass up the spot because they believe the bottom follows the same contour of the bank. But the hidden shelf is attractive to bluegill and an excellent spot for the angler who has taken the time to discover it.
A spot typical of the second type would be a bedding area that is either behind or under something which makes it difficult to fish. For example, some places have overhanging trees that make casting there difficult. Many anglers avoid such spots because they don’t want to lose tackle. Or if they do fish them, they get so close they spook the fish bedding there.
Still another trick to catching big bluegill is fishing after the crowd has departed. Not all bluegill spawn at the same time. Some aren’t physically ready when the peak of the spawn is under way.
These late bloomers may not go onto the spawning beds in this area until well into June. They’ll be there, eminently catchable, when most of the bluegill and most of the anglers have gone. By then, the local weather has gotten unpleasantly hot and a lot of people have quit fishing.
Still another trick the experts use is to change tactics slightly to catch redear sunfish, a close cousin of the bluegill. Redear, typically, get a little larger than bluegill. Eight-ounce redear are fairly common and 12-ouncers are not at all unusual.
Redear sunfish spawn in deeper water than bluegill, and they show a strong preference for spawning around some kind of cover, such as stumps, roots, fallen logs, etc. Redear may spawn as deep as 6-10 feet in clear lakes where bluegill typically spawn at 2-4 feet. And redear, seem to be a lot more wary than bluegill. They don’t bunch up as tightly or take a bait as eagerly.
Fancy rigs, fancy boats, fancy clothes, fancy sunglasses, etc. are not really needed. The world record was caught in 1932 by George Perry. The equipment he used would be laughed at today. He was even fishing from a homemade boat! In over 75 years of graphite rods, space age metal reels, scientific lures, and millions upon millions of hours of fishing, the record still stands. The difference between a top of the line rod and reel and a bamboo pole with a nightcrawler is much smaller than the marketers want you to believe.
The most important largemouth bass fishing tip is to go fishing. You aren’t going to catch anything by not fishing so get out there and fish!
