Bluegill Behavior?

[Josh Smith]

Hi Folks,

 

This is in the bass section for a reason.

 

You see, this is my second year of trying to figure out this small lake I enjoy.  I made some significant strides last year, and I'm going for more this year.

 

Forage in this lake is mostly crawdads and bluegill.  No shad that I know of.  I'm sure there are leeches in there, but I've not seen them.  There are some frogs, too.

 

I don't know the first thing about bluegill behavior.

 

I figure if I pattern the bluegill movements, I'll have bass movements pretty down pat.

 

Wasn't really wanting to buy a book on the bluegill.  Will if I must, but online sources about spawning behavior and whys and hows of movement would be appreciated!

 

Find the bluegill, find the bass in this lake, I'm sure.

 

Regards,

 

Josh

[gulfcaptain]

So what's your question?  Where to find them in your lake?

[Ozark_Basser]

I'd start with any shoreline or shallow cover. They've been known to hold up in deeper grass as well.

[rosshilk]

I am curious about this as well. One of the lakes I go to if I find that the bluegill are sunning themselves or at least grouped up by the surface I can catch bass around them like crazy. The only problem is some days I cannot stop finding the bluegill in the top of the water column, but other days I cannot find them whatsoever. I would like to learn more about what drives them.

[Josh Smith]

So what's your question?  Where to find them in your lake?

 

Yep. 

 

Pattern bluegill to pattern bass.

 

Josh

[gulfcaptain]

Well being you're in Indiana.  When the bass are spawning, the bluegill are pre-spawn.  Then bass post spawn and bluegill spawn (all summer).  Beds are easy to find as they are gouped up in the same area's bass like.  Shallow gravel/hard bottom.  Any kind of structure/cover will hold bluegill.  Some days they will be high, other days they sink out.  Bigger Bullgills relate to deeper weed edges and spawn a bit deeper then the tasty 4" models the bass really like.  I would suggest looking for the beds of bluegills after the bass get done spawning.  They aren't going to be hard to find as they will be numouros pits in shallow water sometimes in the weedbeds other times on hard bottom (base of riprap banks that have a shallow flat would be a good spot).  The bass will be just outside the beds and will school up and sneak up on the bedding fish.  I have watched groups of 4-5 fish sit just a few feet away from the bluegill community and wait till they stop worrying about the bass and go back to fighting among one another to only be rushed and ambushed by the 4 to 5 bass that all rush in at the same time.  Look around private docks as well in the back of coves.  The fish will simply slide out further to the closest deep cover when the water cools in the winter.  Hope this helps you some.

[Josh Smith]

Thank you, Captain.  It's a good starting point!

 

Regards,

 

Josh

[gulfcaptain]

And if you have redear sunfish, they normally spawn before the bluegill do.  But they don't spawn in the bigger groups like bluegill and only spawn once a year unlike the bluegill.  They will also move back out to deeper edges after they spawn.  Believe pumpkinseeds do the same thing.  We used to have a pond with these in it around where I lived and most of them were always deeper with the redears where the bluegills were shallower.  And reed edges are another good spot.  And mean the  edges where they have breaks in them exposing open holes next to the bank.

[F14A-B]

Pretty good stuff about Indiana gulfcaptain, considering your in Cali ! It's true though.. Bass get on beds, bluegills harass bass terribly, then gills get on the nest, bass get some payback! Then they seem to get along in close proximity, that is till the bass decides to eat one or two..seems to me like bigger fish, 5 pd and up like to camp out close to schools of gills, even bigger females ( likely ) camp out underneath schools of bluegill & particularly crappie... But, I don't exactly hunt bluegill to catch bass, it's a good learning point to assist and understand at least one important food source, IMO there are other far more important issues to learn concerning LMB. Structure/cover, all available food sources, plenty of great reading on LMB right here on BR it's fairly free.. Study some in-fisherman articles, ( past & present) for more freebie articles on panfish & crawfish... ( try throwing a storm bluegill swimbait)

They are available at Walmart & other places, they are ultra affordable and they work! You can even throw them on your Abu's lol..

[gulfcaptain]

Word of advice though, if you find bass stalking bluegill beds and are keying in on those fish only, you are going to have to throw something that really looks like a bluegill or even a bluegill.  I have hit them with jigs, tubes, worms, creature baits and nothing...And i do mean hit them.  They didn't move till I hit them 3-4 times.  But only the one I hit would move, the rest would stay put as to not blow their cover.  So if you think bed fishing is frustrating, well fishing for bass hunting bluegills on beds can be worse.  Look for cruising fish....much easier to catch.

[intan]

I am curious about this as well.

[mrc.in.wi]

You will almost always find them co_mingling. Especially in spring. Blue Gill eat bass eggs and vice versa. Bass will be around big time during blue gill hatch. It's not till fall that they separate, when bass go on the feed. Blue Gill will school to protect them selves and bass will hang around picking off the week ones.

Find the bluegill and a majority if the time you will catch some bass.

[Senko lover]

Bluegill spawn just like bass do. Honestly, the other way around will work. Find the bass, find the bluegill .

[Matthew2000]

Bluegill spawn just like bass do. Honestly, the other way around will work. Find the bass, find the bluegill .

That has never worked for me. The bluegill try to stay in a safe area away from the bass. Bass are going to be very spread out where as bluegill will hangout in large schools. Bass will move around throught a lake sometimes. Or they will stay in one place most of the day. If you want to find bluegill in a small lake check for areas that are very well protected. And if you find them one day chances are they will be there the next day.

[fishballer06]

If you're in the shallow and you're unsure if there's bluegill in the area, you can always, take a few pieces of bread with you and throw it in the water. More than likely, the bluegill in the area will come up and peck at it. 

[flyfisher]

All the advice here has been great and i will also add that if there is vegetation like lilly pads or grass you can also hear the bluegill popping.  I know when i pull up to a lilly pad field the first thing i do is sit and watch for lily pads to be moving around and then i listen for the tell tale sound of the bluegills popping bugs off the surface.  If i don't hear or see one of those i move on and if get both then i sit tight and work the areas well because i know there are fish in there waiting to be caught.

 

And if you are ever looking to get into fly fishing or taking a kid out fly fishing nothing beats spawning blue gills.  I was at a small pond in my office complex last year and caught fish on 37 consecutive casts and a few of those were LM.  They are super aggressive when spawning and a slow sinking spider seems to do the trick on most days.

[Josh Smith]

Thanks guys.

 

Some clarification for what I'm doing:

 

I grew up fishing.  Don't remember my first fishing trip; I was only 2 or 3.

 

Dad taught me about cover, structure, etc from the time I was old enough to understand.  I do fairly well with this knowledge.

 

The goal here is to break the knowledge down further.  I figure studying the habits of the critters in the lake will help me catch even more bass. 

 

For example, there are times when I know bass are feeding, but they won't hit anything I throw.  Are they feeding on bluegill, or on an insect hatch, or on crawdads, or on leeches exclusively during this point?

 

In other words, I'm targeting the bass.  What are the bass targeting?

 

Knowing the behaviors of the prey species should help, I'd think.  I'll start with bluegill -- in fact, will probably take the ultralight out and target bluegill for a day with my boy just for my own information if not to keep and eat.

 

I'll then study crawdad behavior if I can find literature on the subject, and leech behavior as well.

 

It's sort of like trying to find a couple of my friends from my early 20s:  It's Friday night.  They like to drink.  I'm not going to look at the museum, but rather target the seediest beer joints this town has to offer. 

 

Regards,

 

Josh

 

P.S.  You'd likely find me at the museum these days, complaining about how the guns for the WWI display are all wrong.  J.S.

[Fisher-O-men]

Maybe I'm thinking backwards, but, when I find an area with a bunch of small Bluegill that are just swimming around, I figure that there must not be any Bass around.  Otherwise the bait fish would be hiding, right?

[flyfisher]

Maybe I'm thinking backwards, but, when I find an area with a bunch of small Bluegill that are just swimming around, I figure that there must not be any Bass around.  Otherwise the bait fish would be hiding, right?

 

That is an interesting thought because it would make sense but i have seen bass and sunnies swimming around next to each other with not even a concern.  Of course eventually the bass will decide to eat and it must set off something because the sunnies will scatter, well at least the lucky ones will the others become the main course.

[A-Jay]

Thanks guys.

 

Some clarification for what I'm doing:

 

I grew up fishing.  Don't remember my first fishing trip; I was only 2 or 3.

 

Dad taught me about cover, structure, etc from the time I was old enough to understand.  I do fairly well with this knowledge.

 

The goal here is to break the knowledge down further.  I figure studying the habits of the critters in the lake will help me catch even more bass. 

 

For example, there are times when I know bass are feeding, but they won't hit anything I throw.  Are they feeding on bluegill, or on an insect hatch, or on crawdads, or on leeches exclusively during this point?

 

In other words, I'm targeting the bass.  What are the bass targeting?

 

Knowing the behaviors of the prey species should help, I'd think.  I'll start with bluegill -- in fact, will probably take the ultralight out and target bluegill for a day with my boy just for my own information if not to keep and eat.

 

I'll then study crawdad behavior if I can find literature on the subject, and leech behavior as well.

 

It's sort of like trying to find a couple of my friends from my early 20s:  It's Friday night.  They like to drink.  I'm not going to look at the museum, but rather target the seediest beer joints this town has to offer. 

 

Regards,

 

Josh

 

P.S.  You'd likely find me at the museum these days, complaining about how the guns for the WWI display are all wrong.  J.S.

 

I'd recommend taking it step further (or backwards depending on your perspective).

 

Learn what the bait in your system eats.  Knowing what that is, when it's available & where can put you on the right track.

 

Just like the bass - except for the brief spawning period, The Food is what will drive the location & behavior of the bait.  I will say that this can be just as daunting a task as it relates to the basses prey as it is for the bass itself.  There a lot of similarities - and you'll find that they do eat each other at different stages of their life cycles. 

 

It also seems like there is quite a bit of feeding during feeding going on.  Meaning while the bait is looking to feed on something, the bass know this, are already there waiting for them, hoping to take advantage of the bait's distraction / focus on feeding to feed themselves.

 

A-Jay

[F14A-B]

What Bass may or may not be doing on any given day has to almost, always be determined or re- determined each day... Just because there's hoards of bluegills or just because there's hoards of crayfish don't mean they are eating them heavily that day. Eg, fishing a fertile lake I fished likely areas, Crawfish, young of year, etc.. Slow really slow.. Running banks now in my boat.. Looking at trees, catalpa worms falling in the water, well now.. That makes for a fun day! Caught around a dozen 2 pd fish, next.. I see splashing over by the Dam head.. Fish are school busting bait balls apart, motor over, catch em on a Luckycraft rattlebait in 30 fow... About a dozen more or so... Studying Prey sources is a good thing, but.. It's not everything. Skills come with time served, as well as fishing great waters..

[the reel ess]

This may not answer the question. But I read recently that bass in captivity preferred crawfish to bluegill something like 9:1.

 

But if you're trying to present a lure that resembles a bluegill in the proper location, I'd say find the bass and you'll be most of the way there. They won't be too far from the food source unless they aren't eating at all.

 

If they're on the bed, a  bass won't tolerate a bream near its bed.

 

Then again, I catch bass on a lime colored Trick Worm in a small local lake. There are no 7.5" lime colored worms swimming in that lake.

[A-Jay]

What Bass may or may not be doing on any given day has to almost, always be determined or re- determined each day... Just because there's hoards of bluegills or just because there's hoards of crayfish don't mean they are eating them heavily that day. Eg, fishing a fertile lake I fished likely areas, Crawfish, young of year, etc.. Slow really slow.. Running banks now in my boat.. Looking at trees, catalpa worms falling in the water, well now.. That makes for a fun day! Caught around a dozen 2 pd fish, next.. I see splashing over by the Dam head.. Fish are school busting bait balls apart, motor over, catch em on a Luckycraft rattlebait in 30 fow... About a dozen more or so... Studying Prey sources is a good thing, but.. It's not everything. Skills come with time served, as well as fishing great waters..

 

 In the example here I'd say the Caterpillars were the bass's prey and the reason the bass were there.  Fish busting on bait is also a prey related situation. 

By knowing in advance the life cycle of the insects (Caterpillars) as well as which bait the bass were busting on by the dam would have provided an opportunity to be there fishing for the bass even if there were no visual signs that it was happening.  As often times much of what goes on remains below the surface and invisible to the angler.

 

A-Jay

[F14A-B]

This may not answer the question. But I read recently that bass in captivity preferred crawfish to bluegill something like 9:1.

But if you're trying to present a lure that resembles a bluegill in the proper location, I'd say find the bass and you'll be most of the way there. They won't be too far from the food source unless they aren't eating at all.

If they're on the bed, a bream imitation will flat murder the bass. A bass won't tolerate a bream near their bed.

You are so right.. I like & have drop shot jackal clones in 5 fow and they hate gills then.. Frankly, I have done well drop shotting a zoom super fluke to though.. I don't bed fish anymore, but it can be a blast to do! Also I see no harm in it myself..

[Senko lover]

That has never worked for me. The bluegill try to stay in a safe area away from the bass. Bass are going to be very spread out where as bluegill will hangout in large schools. Bass will move around throught a lake sometimes. Or they will stay in one place most of the day. If you want to find bluegill in a small lake check for areas that are very well protected. And if you find them one day chances are they will be there the next day.

 

I guess I'm thinking of my ponds. Honestly, though, trying to locate bass by bluegill is just about the same as locating bluegill by bass.