Bluegill Fishing Techniques

There are many varieties of bluegill such as the pumpkin seed, red ear and other sunfish. The bluegill are feisty and fun to catch. You need to make a pretty large catch and you'll be eating good that night.

For early season fishing for bluegill you can use an ultra light pole and a #4 line with a clear line being the best. Then you will need some hardware such as jigs, hooks, bobbers, sinkers, a bucket or basket, your tackle box and a variety of small spinners. This will set you up for bluegill fishing.

Use a size 6 or 8 hook with thin wire and a variety of split shot. Using the ultra light rig won't require you to use much weight. One choice for bluegill fishing would be the #6 hook with no sinker and a nightcrawler as bait, not the red worms but the smaller nightcrawlers. The worms should be heavy enough to not use a sinker, but if you need one use a small split shot sinker.

In the early season most bluegill will be going to shallow water to spawn, so they will be close to shore. Just walk around the edge of the lake and you should see some of them. Fish the edges and look for moss beds or overhanging trees. You can either use a small boat or just fish from the shore. Cast and leave the reel open so they can run with it a little, then set the hook.

Use a bucket or basket to keep them alive. You can drill some holes in a bucket and keep it in the water tied to a tree near the shore. The bucket, a 5 gallon one, should only be half filled and halfway out of the water. Try to keep them alive as long as possible and ice them down to take home. Then just get ready to enjoy some good eating.