BOTTOM-MOP FOR BIG BLUEGILLS
Catch Firecracker Bream With Outer-Space Technology
 Editor's
Note: You don't have to go to private ponds in the South
to take monster-sized bluegills. You may find Goliath-sized
'gills right under your nose where thousands of anglers
fish every year. Many of the best bluegill hotspots
never see an angler because most of us have believed
that bluegills bed only on the banks. However, I've
learned if you want to catch this scrappy panfish that
fights hard and tastes delicious, learn to fish offshore
on deep-water structure. This week, I'll tell you the
best summer tactics for finding and catching bluegills.
From the fourth of July until the first week in September
because of the very hot temperatures, you can fry eggs
on the sidewalk in much of the South. Although many
people believe the temperature soars only in the Deep
South during the summer months, when I called a friend
in New York, he told me, "John, you won't believe
it, but the temperature has hit 90 to 100 degrees here
much of the summer."  "How's
the bluegill fishing?" I asked. "Terrible,"
he said. "All the fish have abandoned their beds,
and nobody can catch panfish up here." I explained
how I planned to fish with another buddy of mine the
following week. I told him that if I discovered how
to catch hot- weather bluegills, I'd give him a call.
Then he could try what I used to solve his fishing problem.
Ron Smith of Sylacauga, Alabama, had invited me to
fish a small, shallow pond near his home. When I met
him, I looked at the pond and quickly spotted some points
coming out into the lake and a few shady coves that
surely held bluegills. In the 103-degree weather at
2 p.m., Smith used the trolling motor to move the boat
to the middle of the lake instead of motoring the boat
toward the points and coves. He cast a Beetle Spin,
the same black-bodied, chartreuse-striped jig that David
Tucker had used. "The bream hold out here in the
middle of the lake," Smith reported. "The
shallow water is so hot, and the sun's so bright that
the coolest, shadiest water in the lake can be found
out here in the  middle."
We fished for about 20 minutes before we got a bite.
As soon as we caught our first bluegill, we moved the
boat to the area where the fish had taken the bait.
I marked the spot as a waypoint on my GPS receiver.
How To Use Outer-Space Technology To Take Bluegills:
The hand-held GPS receiver enables you to see your boat's
slightest movement on the GPS screen. By marking the
spot where Smith and I caught the bluegill as a waypoint,
I knew he and I could return to the same region at any
time during the day we wanted to fish it. Using the
trolling motor, we quietly backed away from the site
and caught five or six more bluegills holding in the
middle of the lake. Each time the fish quit biting,
I'd mark the spot as a waypoint. Then we would move
and cast, hoping to locate other schools of big bluegills
and shellcrackers. That afternoon, we pinpointed five
places in the middle of the small lake where we regularly
caught 1- to 1 1/2-pound bluegills and shellcrackers.
 When
we finished at our fifth fishing place, we used the
GPS receiver to return to our first spot and repeated
the same course we had fished earlier that afternoon.
At each location, we continued to take big bream until
the fish stopped biting. Then we would move to the next
waypoint to catch more. During the hottest part of the
summer, you will locate bluegills schooled-up in deep-water
ponds. By finding their schools, you can catch these
panfish throughout the day. "On slow fishing days
when the bluegills refuse to bite, I'll use a small
hook, 4- to 6-pound-test line and two or three live
red worms on one hook as bait," Smith said. "I'll
cast the bait out and let it fall to the bottom. If
the bluegills don't take the worms on the fall, I'll
occasionally twitch the line and mop the bottom with
my bait until the bluegills have to attack. I still
catch big bluegills and shellcrackers using these bottom-mopping
techniques, even on the hottest days of the summer."
TOMORROW: WHEN I SENT THE NEWS NORTH AND DOUBLE-DIPPING
'GILLS
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