A bluegill has more moves than any seasoned dancer, more fight than a heavyweight boxer, and even more ways to be caught. Bluegill fishing does not break the bank, either. I love bluegill fishing. It’s relaxing and fun for any angler regardless of age or skill level.

Summer tactics

For pure fun, cast the deep, outer edges of the weeds for bluegills. I use the Charlie Brewer 1-inch grub or Stopper Lures Whip R Snap plastic baits. We also throw mini spinners and homemade worm spinner rigs.

Our favorite location when casting is around cabbage weeds. Cabbage weeds hold ‘gills all season. Under low-light conditions, we fish over the tops of the weeds. When the sun is overhead, we fish down into pockets, small openings, and along outer edges.

Our basic retrieve is fairly slow, but we vary the start of the retrieval. I love counting the spinner down. Some days, ‘gills might be nose to the bottom; other days, counting to five before starting your retrieve could be the ticket. Once you find a school, you will have plenty of action.

I love mini-nightcrawler rigs. Make your two-hook rig with a size 00 or a 0 blade. The beauty of tying your rig is in the beads and hook size.

We use a number 8 or 10 hook and add four or five, 3 mm beads. In clear water, we favor light blues, purples, pearls, and root beer. For dingy waters, we like chartreuse, fluorescents, and glow colors. For blades, we run three colors: Solid gold, solid copper/brass or chartreuse. I carry six Sharpie markers and can add a color to one of the blades if needed. The Sharpie color will stay on the blade in water, and you can rub the color off on a rag or piece of carpet.

I order a few pounds of Belgium worms just for spinner fishing. Belgium worms look a lot like a mini ‘crawler. They are larger than a leaf worm and much smaller than a ‘crawler.

If you fish a river system, try fishing the bridges and any concrete or wooden vertical structures, posts, and pillars. Bridges are fish magnets in summer. A bridge provides a current break. Often, the upstream section of the bridge will have collected debris that in return will provide insects and plankton as forage.

In lakes, my favorite method is chasing down suspended fish. Your graph becomes your best friend. We never fish until we spot fish. Running 10 to 20 mph, you will spot schools of suspended fish on your electronics. The other method is using your side scan. Look for areas that have soft bottoms. Blood worms inhabiting these areas are a favorite of bluegills.

On many lakes, a summer thermocline develops somewhere between 18 and 24 feet. On muddy or weedless lakes, we see a thermocline starting around 10 feet down. Your graph will show a band of temperature change running across your screen. Or you can use a temp gauge.

In most cases, you will find most fish just above this depth range. If the thermocline is at 20 feet, then most of the fish will be either shallower than this depth or suspended just above this depth. This is a fast way to eliminate unproductive water.

When you feel a tap, tap, use a slight wrist snap to embed the tiny jig into a crappie’s mouth. The battle is sweet due to the rod being a three-weight fly rod with spinning eyes instead of fly eyes.

Crappies are my favorite species to chase. There are as many ways to hook crappies as there are locations for finding them.

Cabbage weeds always draw in crappies. Without a doubt, this is my favorite location. We travel great distances to have the opportunity to fish cabbage weeds.

There is nothing complicated about fishing cabbage weeds. Cast over the tops of the weeds. Work any openings spotted and the outer edges of the weeds. The fish can be anywhere from the surface down to the bottom. Cast out, let your jig sink for a count of three, and slowly start reeling it in. After a few casts, try letting your jig sink to a count of six.

Just about any fishing graph sold in the country today has an option allowing the user to color code a depth range to their liking. We highlight the best color depths that cabbage would grow in. Normally, I set the highlight color for a range of 6 to 12 feet.

We love jigs, be they action tails from Charlie Brewer, Crappie Grubs from Charlie Brewer, the Whip R Snap, the Original Pinky jigs, or any type of tube jig. When we use plastics, we work the jig by casting the slip float and plastic action tails and reeling in a foot or two, pausing, then reeling it in another foot or two.

The Pinky jig with the marabou body pulsates and shivers in the water. Add a minnow if you wish. The Pinky/minnow combination works great when you want a stationary bait, like around a stump or any type of vertical wood.

Marabou or hair jigs can also be cast and allowed to flutter downward. Anglers find plenty of days where the slow descent along with the hair dancing and fluttering drives neutral crappies into biting.

Certain areas hold more crappie than others. Crappies like green weeds, shade, and minnows. Therefore, start your summer search along the weeds. Before wetting a line, verify that the crappies are there.

Side scan, available on most graphs, will show pods of fish. During summer, side scan becomes a game changer. When crappies start suspending over open water, anglers use side scan set to about 80 feet to locate schools of fish to the sides of the boat.

The same can be said with forward facing sonar. When we fish the weeds, we turn up the gain or sensitivity on our graphs.

Cruise along a weed line, staying 30 to 50 feet out. With the gain turned up, you will spot open pockets in the weeds. You will also see the fish moving. We also search for schools of baitfish, which show up as a ball.

Keep your eyes peeled for schools of baitfish being pushed upward. You will see minnows or shad skipping across the surface. Whenever you see this, stop the boat, and start fishing.

Shade is another option. Cruise around areas with rafts, docks, and boats that have not moved for a long period. Once again, look for pods of fish or balls of baitfish.

The Road Runner spinner is another favorite of ours. This horse-head-shaped jig with a small spinner blade is a staple, must-have lure. You can buy just the jig head and spinner, or with marabou tied on.

Using these methods, anglers can enjoy six months of great panfishing this season.

You’ll find plenty of helpful summer fishing tips in the summer issues of MidWest Outdoors. Subscribe on our website.