Hey everyone! My name is Ron. I fish for Bluegills in Orr Minnesota on Pelican Lake. The greatest lake in the state for teaching children how to fish. Pick the 15th of June as your mid-week point for your fishing trips. Weather permitting you will all ways be successful with the gills. There are allot of great lodges on the lake that rent boats, motors and have wonderful accommodations. Hope to see some of you on the water in the future. Keep your line tight and you hooks sharp.
Sounds like a great escape!.....I always find myself a few weeks early when I travel thru Orr on my way back from Canada. Does Minnesota have a closed season for panfish?
Minnesota has different rules and regulations for each lake. I would suggest that you acquire the information from the Minnesota DNR. The rules and regulations seem to changer every year. Pelican lake doesn't have a season but they have a limit on Gills. Try this link it may help... http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/regulations/fishing/index.html
Sorry to say that I have no pictures of the large Bluegill. I was fishing at Ketona Lakes by Birmingham Alabama in 1958 with my uncle and some of his fishing buddies. The good old boys from Alabama fished for fun and table food. I baited with a red worm on some very light test line and threw the line into the very clear water. I was using a cane pole and a quill for a bobber. This was the type of fishing that was done in this part of the country. The group that I was with caught many good size Bluegills that day but mine was the biggest. No one had a camera with them, so on the way from the lake we stopped at a local gas station to buy some gas. They sold groceries and had a meat scale and my Uncle Bob ask the attendant if they could weigh my fish. I assume that the scale was close to being accurate, the Gill weighed at 2 pounds and 9 ounces. Uncle Bob brought all of the fish home that day and cleaned them so that my Aunt Mae could cook them for our supper. I will never forget that summer in Birmingham Alabama that I spent with my Uncle Bob and Aunt Mae. I still have the memories of that great summer as a young boy learning how to fish and spending quality time with loved ones.
Mid-June through mid-July is the time to catch large numbers of these feisty 1/2 to 3/4 lb slabs of fun while they are on their spawning beds. Still fishing using a plain hook or jig tipped with a leech or crawler will work. However, mid-July through mid-August has produced smaller numbers but larger size, many over a pound. Look for openings in the weed beds.