Finicky Bluegills

The first fish you probably ever caught was a bluegill. Bluegills have been hooking kids on fishing for years. These fish are notorious for being easy to catch, but what do you do when these fish won’t cooperate? Go weightless.

Bluegills go through times when they are very fickle and hard to catch. When I encounter this situation, I go very basic in my rigging and it almost always catches them.

The tackle I use is 6 pound Berkley XL line,  a small bobber, and a  #4 Aberdeen hook. Wax worms or crickets are my bait of choice when bluegill are in a negative mood and won’t bite anything else. The light line paired with this hook allows the bait to fall very slowly. Bluegill can not resist the slow fall of a wax worm or cricket.

This technique works the best when the fish are located in shallow clear water. The fish need to be able to see the slow fall of the bait in order for it to work. This is also ideal to use in the spring when the fish are spawning.

Bass fisherman talk about “finesse” fishing all the time. This is an ultra “finesse” way to catch bluegill, but I guarantee you it will produce fish when nothing else will.

Tough Spring Days

There are times in the spring when the weather outside is picture perfect. Although it may seem like an ideal day for fishing, it can be one of the worst. I would much rather fish in spring on a warm cloudy day with a front moving in. The days after a front moves through and there isn’t a cloud in the sky, are about the worst days to fish.

I recently spent a gorgeous afternoon on the water with bright blue skies and little wind. I tried many of my favorite spring time lures with no success.

I fished for almost an hour with no bites. Once I picked up a small suspending jerkbait I started catching some. The exact bait was a Lucky Craft Pointer suspending jerkbait. I did not catch any big ones, but I started getting some bites. I ended up catching over a dozen small bass on this lure.

On this day, the suspending jerkbait was the ticket for me. Tomorrow it might be something completely different. Even though I was able to catch a few, I would’ve had more success on a less picturesque day. But a day on the lake is still better than one doing yard work.

Light Jigs In Algae

Fishing a lake or pond that is full of algae can be very frustrating. Especially when it’s slimy algae. This kind of algae sticks to everything. There are very few baits that can be used in this stuff. This crankbait is covered in it.  

Here’s a bait I think you will want to give a try. It has worked for me many times in this situations. I like to use a 1/16 ounce Strike King Bitsy Bug Jig. For the trailer I use a Reaction Innovations Smallie Beaver 3.50 and cut it in half. This gives the bait a small compact profile with enough bulk to keep the bait on top of the algae. If you try to use a heavy jig, it will immediately get covered in algae and be ineffective

Light jigs do require a lot of patience because it takes time to fall to the bottom. Often the bass grab the lure as it is falling. You must be a line watcher; if you see the line pop, or swim off to the side before it hits the bottom, set the hook because a fish has it!

Next time you encounter this slimy situation, try this technique out. I know it will catch some good ones.

 

Hand Painted Crankbaits

One of the latest crazes in bass fishing is homemade and custom painted lures. I recently picked up a couple from KMW Lures. KMW offers many different options; from topwater, jerkbaits, and crankbaits in specialized and novelty colors. I was amazed at the detail on these lures.

Crankbaits are known for not running true out of the package. Some cheap lures will run to one side and must be tuned in order to run straight. There was no reason to tune these baits, they ran true out of the package. They also come with 2x Eagle Claw hooks

I got two different lure types and color schemes to try. One was the KMW Green Pumpkin Craw squarebill. The other was a KMW Natural Shad jerkbait. The first place I tried the KMW Green Pumpkin Craw squarebill was in my pond. The bass sure seem to like this color as well as I do. They were absolutely swallowing the bait. I can’t wait to hit the lake and try them.

If you want to upgrade some of your tackle and fish with a lure that the bass have not seen before, I think it is worth your investment to try a couple of hand painted lures. I know I was not disappointed with these KMW Lures.

Early Spring Fishing

Early spring fishing can be some of the best trips of the year. I recently fished a small local lake that typically has a ton of people fishing it. To my delight, I had the entire place to myself. The fishing at this lake was much better than normal, mainly due to the lack of fishing pressure.

The water temperature was in the high 40’s, which was much warmer than I had anticipated. I found the bass in 3-4 foot of water, but close to deeper water. This is a standard place to look for bass in late winter and early spring. Bass like to move up and down the water column looking for the warmest water at this time of year. I caught the bass on a Rapala Shad Rap and a Berkley Flicker Shad.

The crappies and trout were located on a flat in about 3-5 foot of water. Both species seemed to be close to stumps and brush piles. This is a very common place to find crappies this time of year. Crappies will spawn in water temperatures between 50-60 degrees. These fish were already thinking about spawning. I caught the crappies and trout on a float and hair jig tipped with Berkley Gulp.

If you are willing to put on some extra layers of clothes and battle the cold, then I think you may be surprised how successful you might be. I was able to catch some nice bass, crappie, and trout on this trip. 

 

Muddy Water

My first kayak trip this year was met with some very muddy water. We have had record level floods, which made the lake look more like chocolate milk than water!

I fished a small lake at winter pool. You couldn’t launch a boat in the lake because the only boat ramp is still on dry ground.

In muddy cold water, I like to use bright lures that make a lot of vibration so the fish can find the bait. I used a Berkley Flicker Shad on this trip. This crankbait has a tight wobbling action that I like. It also has rattles, so the fish can hear the bait coming through the water.

I only managed a few bites on this trip, but with the water conditions the way they were I was very happy with that. If all the fish I catch are this big, I will have a great year!

Spring Tackle Purchase

I recently spent a few dollars at Bass Pro Shops.  These are the baits and tackle that I will be using very soon.

I bought some new Sufix Performance Braid line for crappie fishing. I have heard good things about this line, so I thought I would give it a try. Braided line helps throw and skip light weight baits a long distance. It also has great sensitivity for feeling the fish bight. I also bought some weedless Nail Head Jigs. I started using these a couple of years ago, and really like them. They work great around wood cover and docks.

Swim baits are great in clear water. I like the Bass Pro Squirmin Shad and the Bass Pro Speed Shad. This time of the year the water can be very clear and these baits mimic a real bait fish almost identically. Swim baits can be used in both shallow and deep water depending on the weight of the jig head. I also like swim baits this time of year because they can be worked very slowly. The bass will be very lethargic right now, and you typically need a very slow presentation to entice the strike.

With the warm weather fast approaching, it’s just a matter of time before these baits start catching fish.