How do I get these BG to bite during the day when they are in deeper water?

[Craig DuShane]

Hey guys,

I have been catching BG pretty good just before dark when they are in the shallows feeding, but I can't seem to catch them during the day when they move out to the deeper waters.

I have access to a rowboat and a depthfinder. The depthfinder was saying they were all around us when we were anchored in about 7-9 ft of water casting in to about a foot away from cattails on the shore. I tried everything trying to get something to bite in the deeper water, but nothing would even take a nibble.

I want to be able to catch these guys in the deeper water...what do I have to do? I'm in West Michigan if that matters...I'm thinking about buying a waterproof thermometer so I can find out the water temp out deeper.

Hoping some of you have better experiences with this and can help!

Thanks,

-CD

[Craig DuShane]

Any tips about how to find/recognize the deepest weed line break? Where do you anchor your boat? Deeper than the break and cast into shallow water? Right on some point of the break and cast just parallel to it along the non weedy deeper water portion of it? Anchor in the weeds and cast out deeper so you don't spook them?

[dick tabbert]

Craig when fishing the weed beds I drift our us my trolling motor and fish the deeper side of the weeds, the outside edge. The lake's I fish are clear and the weed ma go down 10 to 15 feet but even if they don't make it to the surface the water is clear enough I can see them. If I were to anchor I'd hope the wind would be in my favor and let me anchor on the shallow side and let the wind blow me over into the outside edge of the weeds. Be assured that this is also a crappie hangout also, so a jig with a small spinner shouldn't be out of the question.

[David Dillman]

David,  Frabill has a kit out for nightcrawlers to keep them all year round. I seen it on a advertisement on the sportsman's channel.

Dilly

[Craig DuShane]

I was thinking of possibly rigging together like a perch rig type setup where you have 3 hooks about 1-2 ft between each other on your line to hit the different depths and slowly trolling along the dropoffs. If you have 2 poles out and 1-2 other people doing the same, you should be able to cover a lot of area. You could use spinners too to create even more of a baitfish "school" effect. That is my theory anyway, but I haven't been able to test it yet. Once you find them you could either fish just off the bottom and every 1-2ft up or add a slip bobber and fish from the surface every 1-2 ft down.

Has anyone ever tried this or see any major flaws with it?

[dick tabbert]

Good theory Craig that's using you fishing ingenuity. If you put out your rods at different depths then you will now what depth to fish, all you would need would be a slow drift. Don't be afraid to experiment  you will find that it will be the way you will be learning the most. Make a fishing log and keep it updated and don't be afraid to go back and see what your techniques were along with your depths, baits and of coarse you fish counts. 

[Bill "Musky" Modica]

I've had a few deep water experiences with bluegills....many of them quite favorable.

http://bigbluegill.com/group/northamericanspoonchuckers

[Mike Vance]

I don't have much experience with that, except one time on Sam Rayburn lake we caught a boat load of Gills fishing deep with bits of shrimp.

The other thing I have thought of is using fly fishing lures..flies...that resemble naturally occuring nymphs that do live near or on the bottom. Fly fishers might use a rig like one of the following....but I suspect that one could fish the same set ups using something like a crappie reel and rod set up to give you some reach.

http://stevenojai.tripod.com/nymph.htm

I once caught a bass on a fly popper with a lead weight on the line about a foot away. It was weighty enough for me to toss it a little ways.. the bass loved the little rubber legs flexing as they do.  You might even try one of those with enough weight to take it down.. Them rubber legs work miracles sometimes...

Mike

[Michael Hart]

Craig,

      One key to catching the gills deeper is locating the depth that the gills are at by trying different depths until you catch a few. You could buy the temp guage to find the Thermocline and fish above or below the temp change. I just change depths frequently using a slip bobber rig and enough weight to pull the bobber at least half under and a cricket hook and live cricket 12 inches below the weight.  Changing the depth by knowing how long your rod is and adjusting the bobber stop (knotted string; I tie my own using smaller thread) to the depth you want using the rod as reference is quite easy.  Using the slip bobber rigs you can fish any depth you want. When Patoka was hot I have caught fish in the river channel by the Water intake in the fall using a graphite rod and ice jig at 45 feet. If I didn't have the graphite rod I never would have felt the small tick of thier bites.  Someone here mentioned that they should be close to where you are catching the gills now just deeper. That is so true. Also I would caution you about assuming that the depth finder is seeing fish all around you. The depth finder shoots a cone to the bottom and the reflections are bounced back up and read at the transducer. If a tree is close and the tree trunk is outside the cone. The depth finder can mistake the tree limbs as fish.  Good fishing. Hope this helps.

[richard lytle]

were i fish at they are real deep so i use two methods one a drop shot with a whole crawler nose hooked and just twitch it lightly use a 1/4 or 1/8 weight and set it up where the hook is about 10-12 in from the weight.and the other is a split shot same thing put the weight about 12 in from the hook and whole crawler hooked the length of the hook but be patient on this one let it sink slowly. and lightly twitch it every couple of minutes. good luck and happy fishing buddy 

[Slip Sinker]

Here is a good article

http://www.wired2fish.com/master-fishing-for-bluegills-offshore/

[Slip Sinker]

here is the pattern of fishing ive been using here in mid michigan on natural lakes for the past couple of months with some success.

1- using a good depth sounder ( i use a lowrance elite 7 hdi) with gps scan large areas of the lake basin this could be 15 to 45 ft. find schools of fish and mark waypoints over them.

2- drop a small metal spoon or jig into the school with a sensitive rod and light braided line. i use a 5ft okuma celilo rod a 1000 series diawa spinning reel and 6lb Nanofil or 6lb spider wire braid. i use a Sitka ice fishing jig in a perch or glow fire tiger pattern tipped with a half pink gulp maggot.

3- alternate between drop shot setup with crawler segment (ive caught some of my biggest gills on some very small segments down to 1/4 inch long. however i start with about 1/3 or 1/4 of a crawler segment.

you will find that the schools move on you and you will have to locate them once again.

[Slip Sinker]

here is my most recent outing...

http://bigbluegill.com/photo/new-folder-15?context=user