Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - July/August 2013 - 33

The size of the bluegills in
a body of water depends on
the amount of food available
to them, the number of
predators around to keep the
population in check and the
amount of structure available
to allow the younger bluegills
to grow.

will move into the shallow structures. This is why when
you fish a downed tree along a lake shoreline, the biggest
bluegill that you catch may break 6 inches on a good day.
If you want bigger bluegills, knowing the topography
and structures within the lake or pond is crucial. For a
lake that is clear, you should be able to spot the various
structures and contours along the bottom as you fish. If
the lake isn’t clear, a depth finder will help find the exact
holding points of larger bluegills.
Once the spawn has ended and summer begins, larger
bluegills will begin holding around various types of
structure, old creek channels, deep drop-offs and the edge
of weed lines, which will be in about 10 to 15 feet of water.
Once you find a spot with big bluegills, you will probably
only find a few larger ones together. Larger bluegills tend to
travel in small groups.

Tactics

Once you know where to find big bluegills, catching
them isn’t too difficult considering how aggressive bluegills
are in the summer months. I find an ultra-light rod with
4-pound-test line to be an ideal set up for all panfish. It
allows the angler to detect the lightest of hits and enjoy
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the battle when a good
bluegill is on the line.
When it comes to
bait, bluegills are not
incredibly picky. Worms,
insects, grubs, small jigs
and small soft plastics
are all good baits to
use. I prefer to use
nightcrawlers. They are
easy to put on a hook and
can last awhile if rigged
properly. I typically use a size 4 bait-holder hook and
put just enough worm on it to cover the hook and allow
a very small tail to hang off. If you go with too big of a
piece, the smaller bluegills will just rip it off and never
grab the hook. The reason I go with such a large hook for
a small fish is that smaller bluegills have a tougher time
inhaling the hook and the larger ones do not have any
issues with the bigger hook. When using a small hook,
bluegills often inhale the hook so fast that most times
they end up swallowing it.
When fishing for the larger bluegills, I like to find
several structure points in the depths of 10 to 15 feet and
use the wind to drift past all of these points. This allows
you to cover more water and be able to locate more fish.
If the first drift is productive, I will keep redoing the
drift until the bite slows down. If the drift is no longer
productive, I will move to another area that could
potentially hold large bluegills and do a new drift.
So, when targeting large bluegills this summer,
remember that the location of the body of water that
you fish and where you fish on that body of water are
the most important factors to consider for successfully
catching big bluegills.
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater • July/August 2013

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Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - July/August 2013

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