Adventures Outdoors'
IN WISCONSIN
Hunting Bluegills in the Shallows
By Rick Spoerl
Normally I always carry a rod and reel with me in my truck in case I see a fishy spot in my travels. When it starts to warm up a bit after a long winter in Wisconsin I’ll occasionally cast into one of our dog training ponds at our club to see if the pan fish are biting. More times then not I’ll catch a few. But late spring every year always seems to be the best for me. This is also true on bigger lakes and rivers. The fish are shallow and hungry.
After ice out in Wisconsin the water quickly warms and usually by the beginning of May my kids Haley, Jillian and Sean are helping me catch lots of smaller sized gills. As we move through May towards the end of the month we start slaying the bigger slabs. We mainly fish on shore in the evening after training our labs.
While fishing I observe lots of shore anglers casting as far from the shore as they can. This seems unproductive in the daytime unless their casting to some structure like weed beds where the fish can hide or beds where they are spawning. Fisherman in boats are mainly casting to the shore where the majority of the fish are hiding. My kids and I have learned that when the sun is still up high the bluegills tend to remain next to or actually under the shoreline. They will of course also be in shallow areas out in the lake sitting on top of underwater islands and other shallow structure.
When the sun goes down, gets close to the horizon, or shadows of trees, clouds, or terrain blocking the sun causing dark spots the bluegills will move out away from the shore into these areas snatching bugs from the surface or chasing small minnows. If their not next to the shore than they could also be holding in heavy vegetation or sitting on beds if it’s late enough in the spring.
The kids have actually learned to "hunt" the fish. They sneak along the shore slowly dropping their small chunks of night crawlers two to three inches from the bank and pulling up the unsuspecting bluegills. After the sun begins to set, they can cast out with bobbers catching them farther from shore.
When pan fishing early season in the boat I’ll shut off the outboard far from the shoreline, then drift or push pole the rest of the way in until a long cast will get me a couple inches from the bank. I concentrate more on steep banks, shady banks and weed laden banks. Sometimes even a small dinner plate sized mat of weeds will hold a couple of big gills and may even produce a bass.
Early in May we are still using wax worms on bare hooks or on very small jigs and the baits get bigger as the month goes on. Usually by the end of May through June were catching them on popper’s and twister tail worms or fly’s. In the beginning of June I’ve had great luck casting small in-line spinners on ultra light gear or using small fat head minnows.
If the bass aren’t biting or you don’t have a boat, get the kids and teach them how to "hunt" bluegills in shallow water. They sure taste good.
You may even get lucky and get a nice Bass like this one held by Haley Spoerl