A mess of early season sunfish

Springtime has come and many a mind has turned to hitting the lakes for some fun bluegill fishing. When I talk about bluegills I am talking about red ear, pumpkin seed, and other breeds of sunfish. These feisty little fish can put a good fight and a good quantity of them can make a great meal for the family, and can help extend a family’s food budget.

When fishing for early season bluegill, I use mainly one rig to catch these little powerhouses. An ultra light pole with 4# test line is my choice for most of my bluegill fishing needs. Try to pick a line that is pretty clear. There are many brands that you can choose from. Stren tm, Triline tm and other major manufacturers produce a fine line that is perfect for your fishing needs. Now that you have a pole and line, the next thing you need is some hardware. Hooks, sinkers, jigs, bobbers, tackle box, bucket or basket, and an assortment of small spinners should be in your arsenal.

The hooks should be a size 6 or 8 and thin wire. The aberdeen style is the best. Sinkers can be an assortment of split shot. You don’t need much weight with the ultra light fishing rig to get the job done. For most bluegill fishing my choice of rig is the number 6 hook, no sinker and a juicy night crawler as bait. Yes I have had my best luck with worms. Not red worms but small night crawlers. The worms are heavy enough that I don’t usually use a sinker, but if one is needed, stick with a small split shot sinker. You should hook the worm once through the end of the nose. This presents the worm as natural as possible. I am fishing for the big bluegills with this setup. You can catch a ton of little “bait stealers” with a piece of worm – that is great if you want to take the kids fishing but I want something that I can put on the plate.

To find the early season fish is pretty easy. Most of them will be moving into the shallow waters to spawn. This means those large bull bluegills will be within easy reach of the shoreline. A walk around the edge of the lake and you should be able to see some of them on the beds. Now begin to present your bait to them and in no time you should have a mess of them. Look for overhanging trees, moss beds and other aquatic plant life and fish the edges of them. This can be done from shore or in a small boat. I cast and then leave the creel on the reel open to let the bluegills run with it for a while. Then I set the hook. Don’t be surprised that every once in a while you will catch another species of fish. I was fishing like this catching a lot of bluegill and all of a sudden caught a 4 pound channel catfish, what fun!

Landing an early season bluegill

Keep them alive in a basket or bucket. I have used a bucket that has holes drilled in it and you would keep it in the water tied to a tree close to shore. Keep the bucket (one of those white 5 gallon ones) only half filled and half out of the water. You should try to keep them alive for as long as you can, and transport them home on ice to clean them.

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