Do you love big bluegill?

The Phenomenon of the color PINK in Brackish Waters for Sunfish......

As an active member of Bigbluegill.com the last several years, I have learned a lot and shared many ideas that have proven successful for Sunfish in the waters I fish. Prior to becoming a member I had several secrets that remained in my pocket and only my closest fishing buddies had ever even shared in this success. This isn't to say others weren't fishing the same baits in a similar style and catching fish or using baits of their choice and finding similar success. I was a young kid with numerous anglers in my extended family and I learned early from my grandpa Foster Abney, who always told me to listen when I got around fishermen and think about things that might help me or work where I was fishing. I was fortunate to be pretty close with an Uncle on my mother's side of the family that lived one town over in Southeastern Louisiana. He grew up and lived near the banks of the Tcefuncte River in the small town of Madisonville, Louisiana and only fished two bodies of water during his eighty plus year life. A fact that many folks close to him never knew is he fished live grass shrimp for some 60 to 70 years and I couldn't begin to tell you how many Bluegill, Shellcracker, Warmouth and Crappie that he caught over the years. One Thanksgiving day in the early 1970s as our 100 member family assembled in Folsom, Louisiana for the best dinners we ever ate, Uncle Kenny walked out to an acre pond that was dug on the family farm to stock with fish for the 20 plus grandkids in the Sharp family. I was there casting a beetle spin when he asked if I had a scoop net with me. I did and we went over to some grass beds near the shore and made a quick scoop and filled a bucket up with little crustaceans called Grass Shrimp. He said put a cork and a bream hook on there and let me show you something. I eagerly followed his instructions and a few moments later we were pulling out big bluegill one after another. This went on for quite some time and my Uncle explained if you ever run out of Grass Shrimp "Jeffie" and can't find more, take a pink soft plastic jig and fish that in the same areas. He explained that I wouldn't be disappointed and don't be afraid to tip the hook with a worm, grasshopper or a cricket if you have some. I went home armed with the advice and went through seven or eight tackle boxes my dad and I had but no pink in any of them. I couldn't believe it but surely I'll find some the next time at the bait shop. A few short days later my dad and I visited the local bait shop and I rushed the fishing tackle, both shelves and found two packs of little curly tails that had a mix of white and pink, they were mine and I was excited to let Uncle Kenny know I had found some and was eager to try them as soon as I could. His only clue was Pink was the best match for live grass shrimp in our brackish waters. He explained saltwater anglers have realized it for some time but freshwater fishermen have failed to make the correlation and they are truly missing out. In the weeks ahead I will go into detail how I fish these jigs and hopefull answer many of the questions I have received about the mystery of pink.

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Permalink Reply by Jeffrey D. Abney on May 11, 2015 at 8:43am

Almost 11,000 hits on this discussion since I originally posted it back in Fall 2012......hope it has helped just a few!

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Permalink Reply by Allen Morgan on November 16, 2015 at 11:49am

I'm wondering if maybe this thread needs to be a "sticky" thread, permanently at the top of the forum?

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Permalink Reply by Jeffrey D. Abney on November 16, 2015 at 9:59am

Pink left all other colors in it's wake yesterday..........I did take a few on pearl but most others seemed useless when the pink splash jig tipped with a live minnow was taking five different species including some quality bluegill..........If you fish dark water in your region I recommend you give them a shot..........

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Permalink Reply by Jeffrey D. Abney on January 4, 2016 at 7:16pm

Pink remained a dominant color in 2015.......so many great baits have been crafted in pink...........so little time.........guess I will have to use the rest in 2016............

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Permalink Reply by carl hendrix on January 6, 2016 at 5:21pm

Felix;; one good way to find out;; try using;; just regular bait one day;; next day;; just a jig; or whatever you choose; 3rd day;; try a jig; tipped with a cricket; or something else !! see which catches more .... after adapting Jefferys tec. to my fishing;; my catch rate went way up !!

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Permalink Reply by felix mccalman on January 12, 2016 at 7:57pm

Glad you had some success with the baited PINK jig combo, however my experience in fishing grass/seed shrimp & crickets has been that even with a plain hook -- the fish will attack the BAIT! With BAIT -- the jig color becomes a NON ISSUE! IF pink is SO attractive to the fish -- WHY DO YOU NEED BAIT ON IT!! Artificial -vs - Bait-- They are totally different methods of fishing -- different challenge to catch the fish! It's not just numbers, It's sport/quality vs quantity!

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Permalink Reply by Jeffrey D. Abney on January 13, 2016 at 5:07am

Understand Felix and welcome to Bigbluegill.com.........This wasn't meant to discourage any particular method or question an angler's ability.......Whether a person selects to tip or not is up to them.......I merely suggested that in MY region the color pink has proven to have a distinct advantage over others but many of them still catch quality fish and numbers INCLUDING plain bait. My personal belief/findings are that live bait fished solo will catch all fish including small ones where a tipped 1/32 ounce jig will more often catch the larger fish until such factors as cooler water comes into play and size becomes more of a factor........Many anglers would also argue that 1/32 is too big for bluegill fishing but I respectfully disagree and stay focused on my fishing. Bluegill fishing is my passion and I'm blessed to live and fish waters that hold quality and quantity..........Bottom line, wish you continued success in a great Bluegill Fishing State. Sport and quality are relative and too often others try to define it for everyone. Quality for me can be a handful of six inch gills when I'm teaching a grandchild to fish.........when I'm by myself a few 10" class gills does the trick.......Hundreds of folks sent me personal messages and thanked me for sharing and stated it helped their personal efforts so I'm at peace tipping pink jigs on the Albemarle but I may decide to fish a plain pinched crawler this Saturday because I'm an angler and I adjust to conditions year round as needed.