Bluegill Time is Here

Gentlemen . . . there is no better time than RIGHT NOW, to get the young kids in your life interested in fishing.

Helping GrandpaFrom mid-May to late June, bluegills are busy with their spawning rituals. You don’t need a boat. You don’t need a motor. Shucks, you don’t even really need waders.
The ‘gills have moved into shallow, shoreline water around inland lakes, to scoop out their nest and lay eggs.

During this time, they are particularly annoyed whenever some bug (whether natural or man made) twitches by on the surface of the water, near their spawning area. They’ll come up and grab that bug over, and over, and over until they either eat it, or the bug moves on to some other part of the lake. What a great time to tie on a small rubber bug or popper. If you can cast twenty feet, you can catch bluegills . . . and so can your son, grand daughter, niece or nephew.

You’ll need floating fly line and an 8 foot leader with a 4x tippet. Just about any floating bug will do. If it has rubber legs or wiggly feathers, so much the better. Keep it fairly small though, about a size 10 to 12 is about right. (Sinking bugs will work, too, but they are harder for beginners to handle.)

Spawning beds can be found in the shallows of the “organic bottom” A future fisherman: You should see his smile.lakes. Pure gravel isn’t good for bluegill spawning. Look for a sand or marl bottom lake that has thin layer of decaying organic debris. As the ‘gills prepare their spawn beds, they will fan off the dark organic debris, and you’ll see the much brighter colored sand in a round shape. They will vary in size from the size of dessert plate to as large as a dinner plate.

Cast your bug just beyond the spawning bed, and twitch it back. BANG! It’s that simple. If you don’t actually see any spawning beds, cast toward the middle of the lake. Chances are the bluegills (or even bass) are there, but just in a little deeper water.

You can’t miss. Your kids and grand kids will love you for this. “Happy ‘gilling.”