When water temps are really cold, bluegills tend to congregate in large schools. It can take some hunting, but once you find them, you can catch plenty of fish.

Where to look

Like most predatory fish, bluegills love flooded wood cover. My favorite is a large tree that can hold a large school of bluegills. I’ve seen schools of nearly a thousand bluegills. While you can find some on smaller brush, and it is worth fishing, a large piece of cover tends to hold more fish. In winter and early spring, when all fish can be stingy with their bites, the more fish you’re around, the better the chance of getting more bites.

Look for cold-weather bluegills along creek channels leading to and from spawning bays. While bluegills can be found anywhere within these creek channels, there is usually a reason they are there. When you find some fish, closely study the spot to try and figure out why they are there. This can be hard to focus on when they are biting, but taking a little time to study the spot will help you locate more bluegills in other locations.

Most of the time, the ‘gills are relating to something. It could be nothing more than a swing along a creek channel or a giant tree on a deep flat. The more isolated the cover, the more fish will use it.

Setting up

While I prefer to spot-lock my trolling motor over a large school, you can also anchor. Since bluegills are usually in deeper water in winter, the boat doesn’t seem to spook them, and you can vertically fish a small jig or a small hook with a worm. I like to use a hairy cricket jig, or just a bluegill jig with squirrel tail and tinsel tipped with a red worm or small piece of nightcrawler. The jig seems to attract bigger bluegills. You can catch them on a plain jig for sure, but you must be quick on the hookset before they spit it out. When fishing just a jig or soft plastic, use a very sensitive rod with light line.

Tackle

My favorite set up for cold-weather bluegill fishing is a 7-foot, medium-light rod with 2- to 4-pound-test line. I like to use a hair jig to give my presentation a larger profile to attract larger fish. I tip it with a small piece of nightcrawler. When the bluegills are holding on cover, they are usually close to the bottom or as high as the brush extends up in the water column. In open water, you might find them at any depth. I have caught them 15 feet deep in 40 feet of water.

A sensitive rod is important to feel the bite, which can be very subtle in the winter waters. Light mono line gives you more sensitivity, and braid gives you even more. The light line also sinks quicker with less drag and allows you to use a lighter split-shot—or no split-shot at all. When fishing 20 to 30 feet deep, the less drag on your line, the better, and the lighter the weight you use, the easier it is to feel and/or see a bite.

Competitive bite

When fishing a large school of bluegills, you will see more competition, and as the day goes on, the bites become more frequent because of it. Like bass on deep ledges in summer, once a couple fish are caught, the school can get fired up. You will initially notice that you are getting bites on the bottom, then start getting bites 3 or 4 feet from the bottom. Often, you will get a bite on the fall as an anxious ‘gill beats the others to a meal. This competitive bite is more prevalent in large schools.

Slip-bobber technique

Everybody loves to see a bobber go under. Many of us were introduced to fishing using a bobber for bluegills. The slip bobber is a great way to fish deep for early spring bluegills. I love using a slip bobber and apply the technique all year long.

When fishing in deep water, a slip-style bobber is required. When we didn’t have slip bobbers, and the fish were 11 or 12 feet deep, we attached a fixed bobber at that depth, and it was not easy to cast. As a kid, I used to stand up on a cooler on the front deck to make the cast without my bait touching the water behind me. Those were the good old days. Now we have fancy slip bobbers that allow us to pitch our presentation underhand and fish 20 feet deep.

When the water drops below 50 degrees, the bites get a little less aggressive. A bite can be hard to feel or even see on your rod tip. This is why I mentioned the need for light line and a sensitive rod.

When the bite is too light to feel or see, it might be time to use a slip bobber. Cold-weather bluegills are usually deep, so a slip bobber is needed to get your bait down to the fish. A bobber stop is fixed to your line and can be set to desired depths by sliding it up and down, depending on the depth you want to fish. While there are several styles of bobber stops on the market, I like the coiled braid style. These stops cinch down small enough to easily slide through your rod guides, making for easy casting.

With a slip bobber, you can set the stop at any depth and let the sinker pull the line through the bobber until it hits the stop set at the desired depth. You can still fish straight down by the boat, but you can also back away when the fish are spooky and cast to them. This technique allows you to detect the slightest bite. It’s best to always watch the bobber. Often, the bite is so subtle that you may only see the bobber lie on its side or rise a little as the bluegill gets a taste of your presentation.

Give bluegill fishing a try soon. As spring progresses, they begin to get more active. You will also have the lake to yourself, with very little boat traffic on these colder days.

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