During the early ice period, we have a smorgasbord of hard water opportunities. Name the gamefish, and it’ll probably snap up any well-presented lure or bait we fashion.
Bluegills are one of those fish that offer a good early season pursuit, but – unlike other species, which often become less aggressive as winter wears on – panfishing opportunities actually improve after New Year’s and into February and March.
Most lakes in the Upper Midwest provide good populations of bluegills, including loads of little ones that steal our bait and generally just irritate us. What many anglers don’t recognize, however, is that good mixes of age-classes usually exist in many lakes. We just need to target big ones.
For starters, find lakes with big beds of healthy weeds. They provide the forage areas, spawning habitat, and cover that bull ‘gills require. Then, find obvious chunks of structure that will hold bluegills cruising for midwinter forage. Combine the two – weed beds and structure – and you’ve got a prime combination for foraging sites. Drill holes in these areas and work the outer edges first.
Everything with winter panfish starts from their summer haunts – weedbeds, especially along fairly deep, fertile bays. On some lakes that’s cabbage, on others it’s coontail. On others, they may follow breakline highways from cabbage to coontail to rock structures. What we in Minnesota call âShield rockâ the real craggy, steep Canadian Shield rockways, can be excellent winter bluegill holding areas. Following the steps in these rocks right to where the fish will suspend.
In summer, bluegills have loads of vegetation to provide cover, but in winter bluegills get a little squirrelly. The fresh green weeds of summer have died back and laid down, so all those late summer bluegills are fighting for a smaller patch of cover. Predators start moving them around, even the big ones. For that reason, bluegills are as scattered as they’ll be all year.
Some thoughts on the mindset of big ‘gills: Sometimes they’ll hang out over large flats with the schools of bluegills of all shapes and sizes. Other times, they’ll be in loner mode. They’ll also run in packs. I’ll be walleye fishing, on a lake like Leech or Pelican (central Minnesota) then see the big slab-like bluegills approach three at a time. Generally, they’re all suspending in pretty deep water, say 12 to 18 feet, by now.
You can’t go wrong working schools of bluegills, even if you’re coping with smaller fish. I’ve found that the bigger ones quite often will run below the school. They’ll hunker down waiting for plankton or blood worms to rise on deep humps or mudflat areas. Like black crappies, they’re using their fine gill rakers to scour the water for tiny forage.
Bigger bluegills sometimes don’t realize it, because they’ve spent their entire lives being prey, that they’re big enough to be a predator, too. Watching small bluegills on a camera or even sightfishing through the ice, I’ll see them scatter, then – sure enough – in come the big ones. They’ll chase the little ones way. See that happen and be prepared for some more serious action.
Another thing about big bluegills: They’ll often run at night. They’re a pretty versatile species, and especially in clear water, they won’t simply restrict their movements to daylight. Targeting crappies, I’ve caught bull ‘gills at 1 a.m. That tells me that they become active when their target forage is up – tiny critters like blood worms and zooplankton.
Watch for a real busy Vexilar reading, which indicates lots of forage like insects or zooplankton zooming around. A bonus to nightfishing for bluegills: It seems like I don’t catch many small ones!
At night, work glow to your advantage. Keep freshening that glow lure, which draws them in nicely and stimulates a bull ‘gill’s natural aggressiveness. By the way, it never hurts to have a minnow on glow lures. Having a minnow seems to hold bigger ones in the area longer. Then, when you catch one, others may stay interested. More than with other species, curiousness keeps bluegills around, plus they’ll hit minnows, too.
A key location I’ll target for midwinter bluegills are what I call âblowholes.â These are the small depressions usually adjacent to a hump or other form of offshore structure. Just before the hump begins to rise off the bottom, you’ll find a shallow moat surrounding the edge. Find those depressions right before the hump rises, and you’ll find those bluegills.
Find any weeds in these areas and begin working your way down. If it doesn’t produce in the morning, try it again later in the day or evening. Like I said earlier, these fish are moving.
As for lures, a Frostee jigging spoon is a great place to start. In the evening, red glow as well as Techni glow are good. At night, I have my best luck with blue glow. Chartreuse green is my top color for winter bluegills by day.
A treble hook with maggots provides some enticing double-jointed action, and a Fat Boy looks like a small sunny by itself. Experiment with colors, and mix up your jigging, preferably having a dead stick on hand, too. Light line is mandatory, even for âaggressiveâ bluegills. We want to impart a natural look to our lures and that’s just not possible with heavier line. Remember, folks, finesse!
Like I noted with crappies last month, big bluegills are a precious resource that seem to spark gold rush fever in ice anglers. I like the fact that I’m seeing more young people throw back big bluegills, but I’d like to see that attitude more widespread.
If you find 9-plus-inch bluegills, don’t mount the whole school! Especially leave those red-breasted big gills behind; they’re the males, which will protect the nest (mostly from other smaller bluegills.) In general, keep smaller bluegills for the frying pan. A 7-inch bluegill ain’t a bad eater!
Some lakes have healthier populations of bluegills than others. In some lakes an 8-incher is big, so figure out your year-classes. If you catch a lot of one size, those are the ones to keep, then let the larger ones go. And if you decide you must mount a fish, take a nice picture, then get a replica!
Too many anglers wait until after the walleye season to consider targeting big panfish. Don’t, or you risk missing out on a great fishing opportunity.By: Brian Brosdahl
