I pride myself on one thing: Figuring out how to catch all species of fish with different techniques. I’ve spent years fine-tuning them, from vertical jigging for crappies, to finesse fishing for smallmouths, to rigging for walleyes. So, when I figured out that I could catch bluegills by trolling micro crankbaits, it was love at first ‘gill.

Here comes Big Stone Lake, a long, narrow lake situated between South Dakota and Minnesota. It’s a midwestern honey hole known for a wide variety of various species including walleyes, crappies, perch and giant bluegills!

First, we set the trolling speed to a slow crawl—about 1.2 mph, using a 4-ounce bottom bouncer with a 5-foot leader, a small crankbait snap, and finally, a small, shallow-diving crankbait attached. The key is to keep the lures in the strike zone while moving just fast enough to trigger bites.

Here is the interesting part: I put a 1.5-inch, micro Salmo Hornet on the crankbait snap, thinking that walleyes were going to jump on the lure. The water was stained with algae floating all over the lake. The first color choice was a fire-tiger-looking Hornet. Small Hornets come in color patterns that are perfect for imitating tiny baitfish. Always try a variety of colors throughout the day to allow the fish to choose what they want.

The 4-ounce bottom bouncer was perfect to troll with and allowed the rig/crankbaits to run about 30 feet behind the boat in 10 to 12 feet of water. This was just deep enough to where walleyes and bonus big bluegills were swimming.

We didn’t know ahead of time that bluegills would be constantly jumping on the crankbaits! It turns out that trolling for bluegills was all about staying within the strike zone, correct trolling speed, and stealth. Given that, I used long rods to spread our lines away from the boat. The moment the rod twitched, we quickly set the hook.

Sure enough, moments later, a giant, 10-inch bluegill surfaced, with its broad, dinner-plate body shimmering in the sun!

That first big ‘gill went crazy with constant head shakes and short, frantic runs. Big ‘gills fight hard!

Despite this different way of catching giant ‘gills, our trolling technique was working. Over the next couple of hours, we landed twenty-plus 10-inch bluegills, all on crankbaits.

Key adjustments like switching colors (natural shad in clear water, chartreuse in stained areas) and tweaking my trolling speed made a huge difference.

The biggest ‘gills all came from the edge of deeper structure, which was quite different from the typical bobber/jig/’crawler tactic placed just outside the weed beds.

Using this out-of-the-box trolling technique, I quickly became a big fan of trolling for giant ‘gills!

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