On the Bottom

[WI Gills]

There hasn't been any discussions at all lately, so I figured I'd get something started. I do well during the spawn and once the fish start suspending, but I always struggle to find the fish during this in-between stage of early to mid summer. I hear reports of nice gills being caught from the bottom in depths of 15-25 feet, but I admittedly struggle to find the fish in this pattern. Can you guys shed some light on possible areas to look for. ( Also, when I fish a weedline I only seem to find small gills and pesky bass).

 

Any advice would be great, because I'd love to get some more big gills before I begin to drift for the suspenders.

 

Thanks Guys!

[Tom Beauchamp]

My lake may be different since there are no weed lines, but the one thing that holds true in most lakes is looking for some kind of structure. Fish just like to hold on something. In my lake it can be as simple as a rock or a stick that has sunk. That's why I fish around the marinas so much, lots of structure. Look for docks, boat houses, trees, humps, even a lonely rock on an otherwise flat bottom, I guarantee you will find fish.

[tom modin jr]

Tom I am in the same boat as "gills" any small lake I can catch them all day long. When I try to find them in my local large resevoir I am striking out. This lake is full of structure and cover. I consider structure breaks, points, humps, bridge rip rap and such, while cover is the rocks, trees, brush piles, weeds and such. I cannot figure out the migration patterns, what gills prefer structure vs. cover or combos of both. Are big gills on the deep part of flats, humps or on hardline ridges, creek channels etc......

[Bruce Condello]

Make sure to check the group dedicated to spoon fishing for bluegill that was started by Musky Mod. It's got some great stuff on catching fish out of intermediate depth ranges.