Overshadowed
Bluegills
By: Garett Svir
Photos: Kim Svir
Fall is a time of plenty for the
outdoor enthusiast. While many pass the days in tree stands waiting for a wily
buck to slip up, others wait in fields for fall migrants to pass overhead.
Serious walleye anglers are experiencing their best big fish bite of the year
over sharp breaks and deep water. Days are devoted to spending quality time
with family over a warm bowl of chili while cheering on a favorite team.
Families make pilgrimages north to view fall colors or hunt grouse. The fall
wish list can get pretty long but for serious panfish aficionados, the fall
signals a time of large concentrations of hungry panfish in predictable
patterns. Fall brings an opportunity to target some of the largest specimens in
a particular body of water. You’ll find that locating and catching bluegills in
the fall is not much different than at first ice.
As late summer rolls around and
water temperatures get high, big bluegills often evacuate shallow water leaving
behind their smaller counterparts. These fish typically stay suspended on the
thermocline until fall turnover. Once the water turns over, some of these large
fish will return to the weeds while others stay suspended over deep water. Here
they generally stay together in small schools of 10-20 fish. These sight
feeders are always moving and grazing on anything that catches their eye. Bluegill’s
food sources include such things as algae, aquatic vegetation, zooplankton,
insect larvae, insects, fish eggs and occasionally minnows. In the fall,
packing on pounds for leaner times becomes a priority. Some studies show fish
eating up to 35% of their body weight weekly. As water temperatures begin to
drop, fish tend to stay more active during daytime hours, not limiting anglers
to first and last light.
I recently had the opportunity to
spend some time on one of my favorite big bluegill haunts, by none other than
legendary angler Dave Genz. When I picked him up at the dock, he was armed with
his trusted Vexilar FLX-28, a pocket full of euro larvae and an assortment of
his favorite ice jigs. As we made our way out into the basin, familiar lines
began to show up on our flashers, reminiscent of being on the ice. Dave knew
how to interpret these lines very well as it only took moments before he was
tussling with his first bluegill.
Genz suggested anchoring in both
the front and back of the boat to keep presentations vertical and visible on
electronics. Too much boat sway would bring jigs outside the view of our
electronics and leave us fishing blind. He showed me a new tungsten jig that
will be available later this fall, called the Dropper. The heavy tungsten
allowed him to use a small profile jig that stayed vertical and dropped quickly
to feeding fish.
HSM Pro Staffer, Mike Raetz, also
professes to catch his largest bluegills during fall, suspended over deep
water. Mike often uses his ice rods to jig vertically over the side of the
boat. He likes how shorter rods keep his jig inside the cone angle and visible
on his Vexilar. “One big split shot, about a foot above my jig, is all I need
to maintain depth control,” says Raetz. Mike employs a single anchor off the
front of the boat once fish are located. This keeps him swaying and working
different fish, picking off the most aggressive ones before moving to his next
location.
Fall is a busy time indeed with
hunting and family but if you do find some spare time don’t forget the often
overshadowed bluegills. Finding large concentrations of big bluegills in predictable
locations is a great reason to enjoy some of the last open water fishing of the
year. Trust me when I say… you’ll be glad you did.
HSM Outdoors is a group of anglers from around the United
States Canada
