It’s the third week of May and we were up near Duluth Minnesota catching those tasty Bluegills. During the pre-spawning period you need to focus on the shorelines for the Gills and I mean 6 inches to 3 feet away is all. This is where you will find the large males, in just a few inches of water having a feeding frenzy just prior to spawning. If you know what you looking for you can see the water movement and plan your approach.
Fishing For Bluegills During The Pre-Spawn Feeding Frenzy
There is nothing like catching large male bluegills on the fly rods and the best action starts a week before the bluegills spawn and does not end until they are off the beds. During this trip I invited a friend and his wife to join my wife and I for three incredible fishing days.
Day One Catching Large Bluegills – Upper Wisconsin
The first day of our trip to Upper Wisconsin was fairly calm, so the fly rods were dynamite as we were slamming the gills in 6 inches of water and within 2 feet of shore. The two top baits for these tasty fish were the Red and Blue Spider (Dry Fly – Homemade).
Day Two Bluegill Action
The second day added its challenges as the wind came up and made it difficult to use the fly rods, but again we found the large gills in tight and did very well as the four of us caught a limit in no time.
Day Three – Catching Gills In Stormy Weather
The third day (Sunday May 27th) the storms came in one right after the other and the wind would not give us a break. So I took a wet fly (Gold head) and tied it approximately 12 inches below a tube bobber. My thought was 12 inches would give me time to slowly move the bobber, keeping the fly off the bottom, and allow enough distance from the bobber so it would not scare the fish. To our surprise it did not matter as the Bluegills were hitting the fly and the bobber as soon as they touched the water. The action was so fierce at times we would have four or five Bluegills attaching the bait at the same time, making things explode and the bobber fly.
Helping A Fellow Fisherman Catch Bluegills
I did talk to one other fishermen as we were going by him and moving into the shoreline, he was out approximately 30 yards from shore, fishing the drop-off. He said he had only caught a couple small Gills, but was enjoying the fishing. I told him in mid May to early June you need to focus within 3 feet of the shoreline, as the Bluegills are feeding heavily and getting ready to spawn. As soon as we set anchor and got the fly rods out we had instant action with 8.5” Gills, at which point he yelled over and told us that he was going to go get his wife and come back and join us, which he did.
The fisherman and his wife were very pleased and had learned a new fishing technique for catching Bluegills.
