Trolling for BIG BLUEGILLS...

[Keith Owen]

How many of you enjoy or have even tried trolling for big Bluegills? How do you specifically target Bluegills? I routinely troll with smaller tackle just to have fun catching fish. I catch Bluegills but not with any regularity.

 

I like trolling small and ultra/micro light crank-baits that dive 4-8 feet. I generally use my electric motor but have really enjoyed making use of a drift-sock lately.

 

I bet you wouldn’t even believe how many keeper size Saugeyes (18” or longer) we catch trying to find a school of super-size sunfish. We commonly use a three-way swivel with one leg to the reel, one on lighter line with a non-lead sinker on a dropper, and the crank trailing behind on the third. We can get down to nearly any depth by gauging our speed or by how much line we let out. We catch a lot of catfish this way as well.

 

What are your tips, tricks and techniques for really keying in on big Bluegills or Red-ears when trolling?

Best Fishes,

Keith

[Greg McWilliams]

Keith, That technic works great on Blue Cat in Kaw!!!!! A lake you know up in this neck of the prairie, ( east of Kaw) that is known to hold really nice gill and redear. The drift sock with the LIGHT PRAIRIE BREEZE  we have heen having here ought to work great. The wind slowed to 25 mph and a not so hot front blew in from Kansas plunging our temps into the upper 90'S. Come on up and let me know when you get there!!!!

[Bruce Condello]

Try this.

Put on a 1/16 oz. chartreuse head micro-jig. Tip with 1/3 of a nightcrawler. Then do what I call intermittent trolling. Hit the trolling motor for a few seconds, then full off. The jig will fall temptingly to the bottom. This is what I call my prospecting technique. You can catch some really nice gills like this.

[Keith Owen]

Greg, I know Kaw REALLY well! I did quite a bit of the data collection for the "Before Hydro-electric and After Hydro-electric" Research in the mid and late 80's. I've fished and duck hunted that place from Trappers Bend and Kaw City to the Old Highway bridge below the dam. I even did a 3 day float from there down to Keystone. We used to fly-fish for stripers and hybrids where the Salt Fork of the Arkansas and the Chikaskia come together.

WOW! That really brings back the college memories! Working Creel Stations all night, fish for the two hours either side of sun-up and being back in Stillwater for class by 9 o'clock. Labs till 5 p.m. Pizza for supper and back up to the lake by 8 p.m. to work a 10 hour shift. I actually managed to study and graduate in there somewhere.

I know of where you speak, in reference to those gentel (or not so) prairie breezes. I've caught many a fish on a drift with a sinking line in that spot. I will definitly holler when I can get headed that way.

Best Fishes,

Keith

[Greg McWilliams]

Ah A Cowboy ,eh!!!! The Mighty Cimarron, near Cushing and Yale! Hamburgers and Brew @ Joe's before they had clothing!!!!!!! Down on the strip on any night!!!! Uh- OH!!!!!

[Lord of the Fly , Rods]

Lets See, Keiths a Cowboy, Huh, Greg  you wouldn't be a Sooner would you?I cant see both of you in the same boat without paddles flying toward each other, I see one of you hooking the other  and then it starts, then whipping each other with your rods and Greg wishing he would have brought his 5 wt instead of 3wt , and Keith ,doing his best Pistol Pete swinging a fish stringer. Cant we all just get along,Yall know who the best team is, but who can put the best fish in the boat?           LOFR

[Keith Owen]

Hey Bruce, That sounds like a GREAT technique! I will be sure and give it a try. I bet the Saugeyes won't be able leave it alone either. Have you ever tried this with a really small Roadrunner jig? I just wonder if the spinner might help in our turbid water?

How deep is the water where you generally use this method? I have worked water anywhere from 3 to 16 or 18 feet deep and still managed to pick up sunfish. Of course Red-ears are more prevelant at the lower depths.

Thanks again for the advice. It will get used on my next trip out.

Best Fishes,

Keith

[Bruce Condello]

I stumbled on this technique due to the fact that we'd always hook a fish when we stopped for a sandwich. :-)

Seems to work best over 6-10 feet of water.

[John Sheehan]

Drifting with a drift sock with a split shotted worm has put me on severel big Gills before. Also back trolling near a ledge against strong wind early in the year to get a bait down and somewhat still has worked.

[Keith Owen]

LotF,R - From Greg's comments it seems that he may have spent some time in Stillwater, Ok as well! I was always a George's Stables kind of guy, Greg. There and Tumbleweeds BEFORE it went Hip-Hop (I can remember when it was nothing but pick-ups in the parking lot).

 

I would be happy to share a boat with a Sooner. We could discuss how much we dislike Texas! The team, not the State in general :)

 

Sounds like quite a few folks use the slow-troll method. Has anyone used any of the wire "bottom-walker" type sinkers for sunfish? I figure I could make some light weight ones from stiff wire and crimp-on split shot.

 

Thanks to everyone for the tips and advice!

 

Best Fishes,

Keith

[Greg McWilliams]

My last team that I was a fan of is now extinct, no more and never will be but that is water under the bridge!!!!! College ball would be fine but it is in the fall when the the fishing is getting good!!!!! NO TIME FOR IT!!!! Come on down LotF,R, and join Keith and I For a afternoon of fishing and no Basefootbasketball!!!!!!

[Lord of the Fly , Rods]

   Sounds like fun ,but we need to eat them after we catch them.

[Greg McWilliams]

LotF,R That can be arranged. I think you know of the Hole we are talking about!!!! You and Keith work out when you can come.. Unless we have an invitation to C. C.????