Cold Water Gills

[Bill "Musky" Modica]

Old man winter has over stayed his welcome in Northern Illinois....After enjoying 70 deg temps and an early ice-out during the first weekend in March, mother nature has certainly not been too kind since.....A late winter storm dumped more than 9" inches of snow on the recently opened waters last weekend, and it is snowing as I type this....surface temps plummeted 10 degrees and put us back to square one.

Typically this time of year during harsh conditions, we normally target gills using ice jigs under heavily weighted slip bobbers....yesterday however, this method was outfished 7-1 when compared to casting the 1/16 oz rattlin' flash spoon tipped with Berkley Gulp maggots.

Amazingly, this combo was highly productive even when surface temps were down to 45 deg.....Bluegills love minnows and the lures that mimic them!.....Most if not all of our fish on the spoon presentation displayed very aggressive strikes.....bobber fish on the other hand were very subtle takes. The majority of our action was found on main lake shorelines with downed timber in 2-6 ft of water that were affected by wind.

This little lures ability to trigger reaction strikes from Bluegills that are in a "less than" neutral mood is extraordinary.

Unfortunately Blue Fox no longer makes the 1/16 oz version of this spoon so check your local bait shops and retailers bargain bins for old stock availability.....The 1/8 oz is still available and is equally as deadly when surface temps rise and bluegills are positioned deeper.

[chris garton]

them looks like good eats!!!!! as alton brown would put it. when the fry?

[Bill "Musky" Modica]

It was tonight!!.....7 of them in 370 deg oil.....33 left, tomorrow?....just might be Bluegill Bordeulux!

[John Sheehan]

Have you tried the Swedish pimple 16 oz? Dont know if it has a similar action but think they still make it in 16 th oz.

[Bill "Musky" Modica]

Bay de Noc's Swedish Pimples are not available in 1/16 oz....The Swedes have been my mainstay for many years...the 1/10, 1/5, and 1/4 oz models.

[Jeremy R. Mayo]

How do you fish these.... Kinda like a crank bait. Just chunker up at the shore line and slow role it back? Where can I get a few and what kind of set up do I need to use to fish them?

[Bill "Musky" Modica]

If I lived that close to Blue Fox I would inquire about what may be left in the warehouse....and if that was a dead end I would just beg them for the mold!

I was lucky enough to find (41) 1/16 oz flash spoons in a bargain bin at the Milwaukee sport show last month on clearance for $1

[Jim Kearney]

I definitely am interested and want to know more. Because I am not at all familiar with this type of bluegill fishing, can anyone elaborate? How should these spoons be fished? Please advise.

[Bill "Musky" Modica]

See my blog on Deep water spoon presentation and rigging.

[Tom Beauchamp]

Have you looked at the spoons at www.microspoons.com ? I bought some and am going to try them soon, but right now I'm concentrating on the crappie till post spawn.

[LONGPOLE]

Won't the 1/16oz. Northland Forage Minnow work? It too rattles. You could swap out the treble for a single hook.

[Bill "Musky" Modica]

Yes......they would work just fine!...Swap out the treble with a #8 or #6 Mustad Oshaugnessy hook.

Swedes, Kastmasters, Forage minnows, Blue Fox spoons, micro-spoons,....they all have their place in the water column.....matching the right spoon for the conditions at hand requires owning a variety of weights, patterns and styles.

I fish spoons 97% of the time....my partners and I have fished spoons 3 times since ice-out of 2009 (March 8th).....the talley for those 3 outings combined....179. This count does not include the Stripers, Crappies, and Bass that also couldn't resist the triggering qualities of the Flash spoon.

[Jeremy R. Mayo]

Since you believe in these spoons soooooo much Ima buy me a few and a rod to throw them on. Bass pro has a good deal on some small spinning reels rite now.