BOATHOUSE BLUEGILLS
Learning
from Boathouse Bluegills
Editor’s Note: Anglers
know boathouse bream may be the most-educated panfish
in any reservoir, but May and June often will be the
most-productive times of the year to catch these bream.
Little bluegills often will run in and hit any baits
that fall in the water. But the larger, older gills
usually will stay just below or off to one side of a
school of small fish and observe what happens when the
smaller fish feed. Generally if big bluegills are present
in a boathouse, and little fish are in that same area,
the smaller bluegills will get caught, and the trophy-sized
fish won’t. If you want to succeed in catching
the boathouse bluegills that have tantalized others
and escaped the skillet, try these strategies this week.
They will produce for you.
The
common mistakes made by most anglers when fishing for
bigger-than-average-boathouse bluegills are they fish:
* line that is too heavy,
* hooks and bait that are too big,
* their corks where they hold the baits off the bottom
rather than allowing the baits to fall to the bottom
and
* too close to the bluegills.
Boathouse
bluegills often will be the biggest sunfish in a lake.
These fish have easy-to-get meals anytime anglers are
at the dock. Most anglers empty out bait cups, drop
pieces of biscuits and dispose of partially-eaten candy
bars either before they leave the boathouse in the morning
or when they return to the boathouse in the evening.
Boathouses are also home to large numbers of spiders,
minnows and bugs on which the bigger bluegills feed.
The pilings and boats in the boathouse provide shade
and an ambush point for these predators. Also a boathouse
provides an opportunity for the bluegills to study anglers.
Tomorrow: Understanding Boathouse
Bluegills
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