Catching Michigan Bluegills - Ice fishing 2016

Catching Bluegills Through The Ice

It’s early February, the Winter has been warmer than usual, the ice is thin, and the Bluegills are biting. So I headed to Michigan, Hillsdale County to check out some great ice-fishing. Using a light jig stick with 2 lb test, a bobber, and a teardrop jig tipped with a spike we find the Bluegills can not wait to land into our deep fryer.

Tips For Catching Fish

The first thing I did was to catch up with a well known hunter and fisherman from lower Michigan, Randy Wilcox. Along with him and his grandson Wesley we focused on Long Lake for Jumbo Perch and Lake Paradise for Bluegills. Our first trip was focused on catching a meal of bluegills, so we headed to lake Paradise and within just a few minutes we were catching fish.

Since the ice was only 6-8 inches thick we use a hand ice auger, our poles were lite sensitive with 2 lb test, the hook was a purple teardrop with a white dot, and the bait we were using were spikes. We were fishing in 6-9 feet of water and 18 inches off the bottom.