Where are the gills in late October?

[Bruce Tomaselli]

Without being out and actually finding out for myself, have the gills moved into  the deep water yet? 

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

In coastal North Carolina Bruce, October is a transitional period,  We are experiencing a frenzy right now with water temps in the mid 60s..........locally I start catching gills in the deeper spots once the surface temps fall below 60 which usually occurs in early November but has occurred in October on several occasions..........I've caught a lot this weekend fishing three to four feet deep in six to eight feet of water..........

[Slip Sinker]

Weeds and Sunfish!

as water temps take a dive in my region alot of the weeds die off starting from the deeper zones to the shallower zones as hard-water season approaches. Fishing through the fishing periods last year i had a great pleasure experiencing a shallow water bite from October less than 60 degree temps until the thin ice! Weeds were the common denominator for me. inspecting handfuls of still green weeds in the shallower water flats they were loaded with snails and bugs! find the last remaining green weed beds you will find fish!!

[Charles Henderson]

Great info for a very good subject.  I am very new to bream fishing and the site and bream fish on the Neuse in the New Bern/Glen Bernie area.  My first time bream fishing was last Spring so have much to learn as the season changes.  I hope to get out within the next couple of weeks so hopefully you will let us know if you notice the bream moving deeper as the water temp cools down.

  Again great post from you both and hope to contribute bream fishing info myself soon. 

[Slip Sinker]

i have never fished for gills that late in the season before... found em in tight last year to shore feeding in the remaining algae and green weeds.

20141030-- SHORT PANFISH OUTING

Had about an hour and a half to fish before rain… water temperature was at 48 degs. Set out to find some lunkers and couldn’t find anything at all for about 30 mins. Fished a 6 ft cut right up to shore and connected with (2) 9 in class and (1) 8.5 incher followed by many between 7 and sub 6 inch gills. Started off with crawlers ended up with the pink maggot under bobbers. 20141030-- SHORT PANFISH OUTING

the area where i found a few Michigan Lunkers... i actually was drawn to this spot for shelter from the strong Northern winds

[Bruce Tomaselli]

It seems where I fish the pan fish are always in at least 25 to 35 feet of water when I'm fishing through the ice. Do they go deep because the water is a few degrees warmer or is that the only place they can feed?

[Slip Sinker]

still finding them in shallow less than 4 FOW. water temp at 54 degs... bonus Master Angler P'Seed and trophy B'Gill

20151025 ~ early Sunday we made a trek to the bridge on foot to test the bite from shore… 

Earl hooked up quickly with a 26” Northern Pike and I had a couple on. Decided to load up the boat and head off to the launch and fish the panfish bite. We decide to fish and keep a slot of panfish of 15 B’Gill under 8” and 5 Crappie under 10” for a meal for four later tonight. Fish are rarely kept for the freezer. We were quickly filling the live well with the B’Gill but were having a hard time with the crappie. Most of them being caught on jigs were between the 10.5 and 12” mark. Popular bait of choice was the Chain N Crank. Slip bobber producing second in shallow water less than 4’ foot deep. We moved to a protected point from the cold wind and Earl quickly hooked up with a old warrior 9.5” B’Gill with some great proportions than a Master Angler P’Seed just nudging the nine inch mark on a 3” swim tail jig that this pig completely swallowed to the jig head. What a Hawg! Fishing the period of the full moon pays off!!. His second master Angler fish out of my boat in two months! The fishing continued with great results with crappie hitting on jigs at my favorite waypoints till we called it quits. Exiting on a great bite to clean fish and prepare a good panfish meal.