Do you love big bluegill?

Bill "Musky" Modica's Comments

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At 7:36am on October 15, 2014, dick tabbert said…: Welcome Bill to fishing electronics. A group of people who may or may not know there electronics. I found that personally my units were so under utilized it just tweaked my interest even more and wondered just who else was experiencing the same problems. Hoping we can learn and share what we have learned so that other may understand there electronics even more. Welcome Bill....

At 12:24am on June 26, 2013, ronald kargol said…: thanks for the info.captron

At 8:49pm on July 19, 2012, Jim Gronaw said…: Hey Bill...sure am glad that I had the spoon gig in my bag of tricks! Thanks to you, I got a trophy male hybrid when the fishing got tough and they went deeper during mid-day. Got 2 on the spoon with a bunch of small bass. And those hybrids were very far out in the middle of the pond in about 10 ft of water. But get this, as I was playing in one of nearly 10 inches, a much bigger hybrid was following in in as it was struggling! That fish was close to the 12 inch mark! Never did get him, though.

Thanks again for teaching me how to do this!

At 6:20am on July 4, 2012, Robert Eskew Jr said…: Bill, after reading your article in In-fisherman magazine I had to give it a try on one of my favorite bluegill lakes, Devils Kitchen in southern Illinois. After gathering all the required equipment ( I didn't even own a spoon) and modifying the spoons with Mustad hooks. I set out on the lake yesterday morning to give this technique a try. After trying a couple spots that I knew the bluegill used, I finally connected with my first spoon bluegill, a little 7" female. As I continued and was figuring out a pattern, I found I was having the best luck fishing the spoon parallel to the grass edges in this very deep and gin clear lake. The spoon I was having the best luck with was an 1/8 ounce silver Kastmaster tipped with a 1" berkley gulp alive minnow in chartreuse, the majority of the bites were coming on the initial fall. Ended up finishing the day with 14 bluegill and 3 monster redear. Thanks Bill for this technique and insight, it has certainly changed the way I fish and has added an entirely new element to my fishing. If you ever find yourself in southern Illinois and would like to try an extremely beautiful lake give me holler, I would love to share a boat with the "Spoon Man". God bless Bill.
Robert Eskew

At 7:47am on April 27, 2012, James Sullivan aka Jimmy/Sully said…: Thanks Bill ! !

one of these days perhaps we will connect... socially or on the water.. I do want to try Geneva this year.. where do you normally launch out of?? and do you have a "normal" weekly adventure over that way? I know I have seen your name on Sterling as well... I am available ANY weekday if you have an open seat, anywhere.. The water should warm up soon ! !

Hope to meet you one o' these days..

Jimmy

At 7:59am on January 18, 2012, Terry Marker said…: Looking forward to learning more about spooning for bluegill. I love fishing for them.

At 4:39pm on January 14, 2012, Bill Wiswald said…: Thanks Musky Mod,

I joined this site after reading your Lake Link post.

I live in Trevor-just north of you. My wife and I moved here in 92 after living in Antioch for 15 years-We lived in Morley's New venice sub. off of north ave. We were on the channel that some call Trevor creek but I refered to as north shore creek.I fished the chain daily for 15 years and caught a lot of nice fish.Its been the last 10 years or so I have been spending most of my time on Geneva-Delavan-or Powers.I'm looking forward to fish Catherine and Channel when I get back- I don't care what anyone says about the chain- I will eat the blues I catch through the winter and early spring any day of the week.I look forward to meeting you some day either on the ice or in the boat.

Bill Wiswald. (Ponytailbill)

At 7:47pm on December 15, 2011, dink dailey said…: thank for the invite in az most of the lakes are stocked a couple times a month we fish alot with kastmaster,and powerbait,

At 6:41pm on December 13, 2011, Greg McWilliams said…: Bill, You are a Talented Angler, Lucky enough to live in a GREAT FISHING LAND!!! One of these days I want one of those PUMPKIN SEEDS!!! They are a BEAUTIFUL FISH!!!!!

At 11:57am on December 6, 2011, Joe Shallbetter said…: Bill I have yet to find your artificial on spoon fishing for Big Bluegills but have seen lots good comments.

How can I can get a copy?

Also where do you get your spoons? Any "I cannot live without" ones.

Any you would recommend for Kentucky Lake? Little or no weeds.

Thanks

At 4:48pm on November 13, 2011, Craig Eckerman said…: Yes, pure yellow! Will post a picture soon! It was quite a surprise!

At 9:00am on October 20, 2011, Jeffrey D. Abney said…: Thanks Bill. I've never fished the midwest for anything. I find it very interesting the different techniques that fishermen employ to catch our beloved bluegill. I'm definitely going to try the spoons just to add some diversity to my fishing. Look forward to the folks from the North keeping things going on Bigbluegill.com because we'll be slowing significantly in Carolina in a few short weeks. I'll still be out there trying!

At 5:48pm on October 19, 2011, Jeffrey D. Abney said…: Bill is your profile picture gill from Lake Geneva? I was just interested in the story behind this fish. Its a beautiful Bluegill by the way! Thanks

At 8:18am on June 23, 2011, Jeffrey D. Abney said…: Thanks for your comments Bill. The Limit in my home state is 30 per person and my family is in on vacation so my dad and nephew have joined me the past couple of weeks. 30 isn't the target and I actually don't keep the limit very often since there is no better tasting fish than fresh! Growing up in Louisiana we had no size or creel limit and my father catches more quality and numbers in locations that my family has fished for more than 75 years. I fish a spectacular "catch and release" park in Virginia but it turns out Hurricane Isabel ravaged that fishery in one morning. Its now starting its comeback 8 years later. In the South, preserving the wetlands is more significant than an ethical fisherman enjoying his favorite past time. By the way I'm jealous of those temperatures, we're back in the 90s with nasty humidity. I enjoy your page and you catch some bruisers up there on spoons. Also enjoyed the bedding video, that was cool! Good luck to you this week Bill.

At 9:23am on June 16, 2011, Nathanael Deloach said…: I happened to pick up the in-fisherman magazine on a whim a few months ago and was more then pleased to see your article in there. Well Done! I enjoyed the information greatly. I have known of your spooning methods ever since I joined this web site 2 years ago but never considered trying it until I read your article. Keep up the good Gill work!

At 8:28am on June 14, 2011, Rob Hilton said…: Hi Bill...

The only spoons I could find (and I'm not sure if they qualify) were needlefish by Luhr Jensen. The hook is a single (which was the main reason for my buying them) and if you lay the lure on the table with concave side or if you prefer, the unpainted side UP... the hook rides up... it comes with a small willow leaf blade. I had some nice gills with it yesterday... But had problems setting the hook. Went to half a crawler but still missed a bunch... did a little better with meal worms... but missed a lot there too. To be absolutely honest... I have never fished them before and really wasn't sure how to retrieve the lure... tried reeling it straight in and also tried up and down zig zag...... the lure is very light and took a while to get down where I wanted it. I see incredible potential for spoons here in California... like I said before I don't know if Needlefish qualify as a spoon... But I did well enough to make me want to try and get better at it. Thanks for your advice... by the by... I couldn't find those Eagle Claw hooks anywhere ? Regards Rob...

At 5:26pm on June 12, 2011, Rob Hilton said…: Hi Bill... I have a question... I am interested in trying your spoon methods here in California for some of the Bull Gills ... We catch lots of hand size fish but there are some Monsters here... and I think they may go for the spoons if fished properly.

I'm having trouble finding a single hook with a large enough eye to accommodate the split ring. My Question... If I cut two hooks from a small treble leaving a single behind... do you think that would throw the lure or hook off balance... I.E. It wouldn't run properly... Typically wat size hook do you use...

By the way I found some interesting spoons at hofmanns lure.com quite pricey but looked like they would do the job very well.

Thanks for any suggestions...... Rob

At 5:41am on May 12, 2011, Greg McWilliams said…: Morning Mr. Musky, I would like to help with your "BUCKET List" on an OKIE PUMKINSEED!!!!! Then I want to come up that way and you take me for a boat ride when it is an ICE BREAKER!!!!! That looked like fun!!!!!! :-)

At 10:59am on April 29, 2011, BCrowe said…: Hey Bill, loved the article is In-Fisherman! My dad hooked me on bream fishing as a young child and it's still my favorite fish to chase!
I live in Alabama on a deep clear water lake, never had much success catching bluegills in our lake but I'm anxious to give your technique a try.
I was wondering if you had ever had a chance to try your technique anywhere in the south where the water temp doesn't fall as low in the winter and heats up sooner in the spring.
My dad and I usually take a bream fishing trip every spring to an old oxbow lake off the Mississippi river called Lake Washington in Greenville, MS. The bream in that lake are huge
But can be very fickle to catch. Th lake is relatively shallow (only about 20 feet at it's deepest point) and has tons of shoreline cover. The west bank of the lake has cypress trees from the upper to the lower end of the lake.
These cypress trees extend out from the bank into the lake anywhere from 20-100 yards from the shoreline. Most of the fish we have caught have been amongst these trees fishing with crickets.
My question to you is if you where fishing this lake for the first time would you start at the upper shallow end of the lake and work your way down along the tree lines or would you suggest looking at a topo map
and starting where the old river channel meets the treeline? I've been fascinated looking at your YouTube videos and can't wait to try this technique out for myself. Thanks again for sharing. Bobby Crowe (email: bobbycrowe5@hotmail.com)

At 2:52pm on April 2, 2011, Patrick "Bullworm" Olson said…: Mod, Great article in the newest In-Fisherman!! You are the "Spoon-Man"! A little Soundgarden refrence there!