Bobber or not?

[David Allen]

well, I am relatively new to bluegill fishing (on a regular basis), so, I have a question , I have noticed that just jigging a live crawler , no bobber, no lure, has produced a lrge amount of fish, I know that the fish are on the beds, and this idea might just be helpful while they are there, do you think, that once they are off, and I use this same presentaion, that my success will continue?

[Josh Holley]

yes, but sometimes the strikes are so light that you need a bobber. I almost always use a bobber with live bait.

[Jim Gronaw]

Chances are good that your bedding fish will move to deeper water once the spawn is over. You may find fish just beyond where you caught the spawners if you are fishing a pond, but if you are getting them in a lake they may move hundreds of yards off shore and then you'll have to ask Bill Musky Mod how to deal with that scenario!

[Bill "Musky" Modica]

David, your success may differ when gills leave the beds....once gills are pushed off the edge into deeper water, a live unweighted crawler presentation would certainly work, however this type of presentation would be insanely slow when working the deep edge, and would offer little or no depth control. Gills are notorious for suspending off deep edges after the spawn and throughout the summer.....targeting them with spoons I believe would be your best option. Counting the spoon down as it falls thru the water column on a taught line will usually reveal the depth of active fish.....the key is depth control, 1/12, 1/16, 1/8, and 1/5 oz spoon sizes are used to target fish in the 10' to 25' suspension layer. Spoons are great search tools that cover lots of water fairly quickly....try them this summer.

[John Sheehan]

Some of the biggest numbers of non nesting gills I've caught were on nightcrawlers with small shot .Drifting in a small boat the wind pushed me to the gills .No depthfinder no bobber just moving with the wind .

[John Sheehan]

Of course this is small lake experience though

[Fish Chris]

I told a buddy the other day I was going to go chase some Sunny's, and the first thing he asked was, "Are you going to use a bobber" ???

"Probably not...." My buddy didn't even let me finish, and then says, "Ahhh but dude, bobber fishing is a blast" ! Well yes, it totally is. But the thing is, when I'm sight / bed fishing for Sunny's, I just feel like it's more effective to have my bait fall right onto a bed, then stitch it across if I have to... rather than floating somewhere above the nest. And even if I don't see them suck my bait in, I'm a total line watcher.

So yea', I love bobber fishing, but I probably only do it about 20% of the time, and that's when they are staging up, getting ready to spawn.... or have already spawned and backed off a bit deeper, and suspended. Even so, if they are more than 4 or 5 feet deep, I'm back to splitshotting, with no bobber.

Peace,
Fish

[John Sheehan]

I always have a driftsock on my boat...What a great tool!

[Jim Gronaw]

I think Mod is right.A friend of mine has found a bunch of suspended gills in 15 to 18 ft of water at a depth of 22 ft. He and his sons are catching some big 10 in class fish, but like Mod said, the going is terribly slow with their nightcrawler presentations. This seems like a perfect time for the spoon gig, and I told the man about it. It would also avoid swallowed hooks and allow catch and release fishing for those bulls. I am sure that slip-bobbers would work as well, but when smalller fish are in the area, it can cause a pesky problem.

[Jim Barndt]

The only time I use a bobber is in the fall just to locate them. I set the bobber at about 5' and row just fast enough to see a little wake off the bobber. After I catch a few close together I'll go back to small jig's. The lake I fish most of the time is only 15' at the deepest so I can get away with jig's in the 1/32 to 1/16 oz bracket unless it's windy, then I might change over to 1/8 oz. I very seldom use bait, but if I do I use Meal worm's. On another lake I fish witch is a lot deeper I'll use spoon's because the fish are a lot deeper (20 to 25') a lot of time's I'll use a Vex. and fish virticle just like icefishing.