BOATHOUSE BLUEGILLS
Understanding Boathouse Bluegills
Editor’s
Note: Anglers know boathouse bream may be the most-educated
panfish in any reservoir, but May and June often are
the most-productive times of the year to catch 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 different strategies this week. They will
produce for you.
You can catch bluegills by using a technique no other
angler utilizes. Bury a small hook inside a large redworm,
attach it to 4-pound-test Mossy Oak Fishing Line, spray
the worm with Spike-It’s Aerosol Fish Attractant
in Crawfish or Gamefish flavors, and lay the worm on
a step going from the dock down into the boathouse.
Big bluegills never have smelled a worm that enticing,
because probably few bluegill fishermen have learned
the attracting power of Spike-It sprays. Then you hide
behind the outer wall of the structure. Pull enough
line off from
the ultralight reel and through the rod to coil the
line beside the worm on the edge of the step. Once the
angler’s convinced the bluegills can’t see
him, then he can take the rod tip and give the worm
and the line a nudge so the worm will fall off the side
of the step and into the water. Because no lead or cork
is on the line as the bait falls, the line doesn’t
restrict the worm’s descent. The bait hits the
water, free-falling to the bottom naturally. From the
hiding place, watch the line at the end of the rod.
Once there’s a sharp tick on the line, set the
hook and reel in the big boathouse bluegill.
This tactic can be slightly modified later when fishing
from a dock. Utilizing a clear, plastic cork as a weight
for the line and no lead, cast close to a boathouse
with a worm sprayed with Spike-It Aerosol Fish Attractant
covering the hook. When the bluegill looks up, it can’t
spot the cork sitting on the water because the bobber
is made of clear plastic. All the fish can see is a
worm slowly squirming its way to the bottom. Then the
bluegill attacks. This strategy works.
Tomorrow: Utilizing Other Fishermen
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