The Quest for a Monster BlueGill

[eyeguy 54]

nice board! that wind can be a bugger ! ! bright green works? I thought it would scare them.

[monstermoose78]

It has worked fine so far, but I have not got a monster gill yet this winter.

[monstermoose78]

A friend of mine took his daughter out fishing for gills and she pulled a 10 and 1/8 inch gill. This was from a lake that is not know for producing trophy gills, so you just never know when or where you will pull in that trophy gill. Sounds like this gill will be gracing their wall once they get it back from the taxidermist. Thinking I might head out and try to find my own 10 inch plus gill today. Good Luck and enjoy the warm temps.

[monstermoose78]

No late evening bite for monster gills.

[monstermoose78]

Well I am sorry to say I have not been out in almost a week. Why you ask, well I took quick trip down the stairs. As of this time I am bruised up on the backside and not moving to quickly. Okay I normally do not move to quickly, but I move even slower. It has been killing me not be out fishing for monster bluegills. I know they are swimming around talking about where I am. I fairly sure I have caught some of the same gills over the years. I sure hope I am able to get out soon, but being laid up has been helping me keep up on my school work.

Remember as we hit the half way point of February things will be changing where to find these monster gills. At this time the reports I have been getting from friends who like to rub it in are they in the deep basins roaming around below the crappies. I know of 4 gills that broke the 10 inch mark and all were returned and this was in the last few days. They have said spring bobbers are a must and the lightest tungsten you can use to get down deep. Euros have been what one of them has been using and the other has been using wax worms. Allow the fish to take the first bite and wait for the second bite to set the hook. They said the first bite they are just getting piece of the bait and the second bite is when they get it in their mouth.

Good Luck from monstermoose!!

[eyeguy 54]

get well! had a cold all week so inside and 68 degrees for me. lol

[monstermoose78]

Thanks eyeguy get well yourself. Then we can get out after them monster gills. O wait you have been catching them this winter.

[eyeguy 54]

next week I gotta try to visit you if yer better.

[monstermoose78]

Sounds good!!

[keyks42]

Monster

I would like to get out with you and chase the big gills. Its been 4 years since I topped the 10" mark on one of our local lakes. I haven't been out much because both boys play traveling BB and I coach. Hopefully in early March when can hook up. I was out on Green on Tues during the big storm and marked Crappies and could only get one to bite. That's fishing good luck on the quest.

Mark

[Fumb Disher]

So where could one go to catch medium sized gills and decent perch?

[monstermoose78]

Monster

I would like to get out with you and chase the big gills. Its been 4 years since I topped the 10" mark on one of our local lakes. I haven't been out much because both boys play traveling BB and I coach. Hopefully in early March when can hook up. I was out on Green on Tues during the big storm and marked Crappies and could only get one to bite. That's fishing good luck on the quest.

Mark

this maybe possible. March is great month for ice fishing, so is April if we have safe ice. Keep in touch and we maybe able to get out after some big gills.

[monstermoose78]

So where could one go to catch medium sized gills and decent perch?

There is not Lake in the area that I know has both. For keeper sized gills Baxter and Little Elk. For perch there is only one lake in the area that has a good number of nice ones. Well I guess one could go to Mille lacs and get some big perch and hit the bays for gills.

[M1dwestF1sh]

Rush has some decent perch. The gills aren't the biggest but there's a lot of them. Its a zoo up there though

[MJ1657]

Hey Monstermoose. I has some gills in my spear hole yesterday that would have got you to your goal. The only problem was they had lock jaw. There was three of them swimming together. As soon as they left the smaller guys showed up and would inhale my bait. Caught a few 6-8 inchers for fun. I released all of them.

[monstermoose78]

Those big ones can be so picky. I have watched them come up to my bait and sit there for 2-3 minutes and then swim away.

[monstermoose78]

Well I went out in search of monster gills today and struck out at the first lake. It looked like I had been the only person to try it all winter. I never marked a fish, so I am thinking it may have winter killed last year. So I headed to a lake that I know that had produced some gills earlier this winter. I did not get any fish worthy of a picture.

The wind was causing many missed bites I believe. Even with the St. Croix I was only hooking 1 out of 5 marks that came up to my bait. That spring bobber was dancing around because of the wind. I should have brought the house and but when I do that I tend to stay in one area way to long. I did get 3 crappies around 10.5 inches that made me a nice lunch.

As we enter March we are coming into late ice season and that is magical period for Monster Bluegills and Huge Slab Crappies. Start thinking about where the fish are found when the ice goes out. The will slowly start to make their way closer to those prime feeding areas. Yes, I know that some fish will and are still being taken in the deep basins, but things will start to change in next few weeks. The fish will start to feed aggressively and you can get into some of greatest bites you have ever have seen. It is important that we release gills over 8 inches, because those are the next 10+ inchers.

[monstermoose78]

From March 2, 2015. I went out looking for a monster gills and could not find the big ones. I did get some really large marks that would not bite. I believe these were the Monster Gills that can be so picky. I tried my favorite plastic the Mino in every color they make and nothing. I tried all the plastics in bag of tricks and none of them was getting the job done. I went back the the hot jig that I was using last year with a wax worm and I started to catch fish. The jig is a fatboy style jig in a custom color pattern that I asked for from a bait shop that used to be just north of Princeton. I did not get any monsters but at least I caught some fish. I think I should have tried down sizing to the 2.5mm tungsten with half a waxie.

The key to catching the fish was no line twist and with in line reel and watching for the St. Croix spring bobber for the slightest movement. It takes a lot of concentration to catch gills some days and Monday was one of them days.

Here are couple more fish photos. I was fishing in the 18-21 foot depth range, but very close to the break to a shallow flat.

In the last photo, was one of 2 fish caught on the Clam Maki Mino in white with red flakes the jig I like with this plastic is the VMC Pug Bug in 1/64 oz. The reason I like this jig is has a flatter bottom and the jigs seems to glide down rather than fast drop.

[monstermoose78]

Made a little trip looking for monster bluegills and caught some nice ones just did not break the 9.5 inch mark. Most were in the 8-9 inch range. Some key things I feel I need to mention is line size on a pressured lake makes a huge difference. I was running with my St. Croix Silver pictured in the post before this one. I have it spooled with 2 pound test and broke off lifting the gills and crappies out of the hole. So I switched to another one of my St. Croix Legends with 4 pound test line and the same jig and the fish would not eat it. Switched back to the 2 pound test set up and bingo I was catching again.

When you are going after gills bring different baits out with you. Wax worms, euros, and plastics. Some times the big gills want a 2.5 mm jig with a single euro. Other times they want a wax worm on little bigger jig. Plastics seem to weed out some of the smaller fish for me.

I like having a couple rods rigged up with different sized jigs. I always have a 2.5 mm tungsten jig on of my set ups, 1/64 oz lead jig, the pug bug on my pretty pink set up for the maki mino, 4 mm tungsten jig, a fatboy style jig, and jigging spoon. This allows me to try different sizes at will. I have to retie to change colors, because gills can be the pickiest fish I have ever seen.

Get away from the crowd. This put me on some active fish as I was keeping an eye on the crowd and notice them not catching much. While I was catching fish at a good pace. Make sure to cut enough holes to figure things out. This would be 10 to 100 holes. I normally start with 15-30 holes to start. I had to drop the jig down to bring the fish in most of the time.

With this warm weather it should get the action heated up. Remember to check the deep basins and work your way towards the feeding areas of spring. Good Luck and be safe.

[monstermoose78]

I forgot to add a couple photos!!

For those who think a 4 inch hole is big enough for gills. The board the gills are on is 5.5 inches across. The gills photographed were not even that big. I know the crappies I caught would not have fit in a 4 inch hole. I would hate to know I lost a monster gill because I used to small of auger. I run 8 inch auger myself.

[Eastsider]

Monster Moose

I have been using the bug pug and the maki minnows in pink and would agree that they weed out the smaller ones. At times however the fish seem to not prefer them as well as a jig with a waxie. You said it best - just keep changing. Thanks you all your updates and the info you put on the forum as not many will share like you do.

Thanks again!!!

Eastsider

[eyeguy 54]

4 inch hole? I have never seen one of those. see 6 once in a while. 8 for me also. 8 5/8 was the biggest gill today. got out about 2 and man was it nice . up north a ways. wet city! holes all over the place, auger stayed in car . pretty sure no more driving out for me. same bait for me, waxies and red euros. I did catch a few on plastics but the bigger ones today wanted a single waxie. pink, purple,yellow jigs all worked.

[monstermoose78]

Yesterday was a beautiful day to be out fishing. I fished in a t-shirt and got a good tan. Please be careful we have lost a good 8 inches of ice and it is getting soft. The shore lines are getting beat up, so please do not drive out.

My quest for a Monster Bluegill during the ice season of 2014-2015 looks to be coming to quick end. As of now I have yet to break the 10 inch mark. I have been up to 9.75, but no where near my goal of 10.5 inches. I plan on trying to break this goal during the open water season.

So yesterday I was dumb founded again by the bluegills. The lake I was fishing is one of the lakes I know really well or so I thought. I could not find any fish for the first 2 hours. I was making the lake look like swiss cheese. I burned through 3/4 of tank of gas in the auger. When I did find some fish they were not where I was expecting them. They were still in deeper water and were not aggressive. I did get some nice gills in the 8 inch range, but no big ones.

I found the fish in the 17-20 foot range. I started in 9 feet of water hoping they would have moved up closer to the area where they are when the lake first opens up.

The 2 set ups I was using was a St. Croix Spring bobber rod and Frabill rod and reel combo it is the pink one. The St. Croix had a custom jigs and spin diamond jig in glow white and a wax worm. The Frabill had the VMC pug bug and a maki mino. Most of the fish came on the spring bobber largely due to them biting light. The fish that came off the pug bug and maki mino were larger one average. Largest fish came off the wax worm, but I dropped the Frabill on the tip and it broke the tip. Once that happened I was only using the only the St. Croix. I will say I will be buying another Frabill combo if I can find one with the action.

The rod in the photo above is the Frabill and below is just the tip of it before I dropped and it broke.

Some tips:

I pinch off about half to 3/4's of the Maki Mino body part when I put them on the Pug Bug in 1/64 oz. This allows the hook to be closer to the tail and for gills it really seems to help get the hook into them.

Bend the hook tip out to increase the gap. This allows you to stick them big fish when the suck in your jig.

When going fishing for gills bring some different bait. Euros, Wax Worms, Fresh water shrimp, Plastics, and Gulp. I have not used fresh water shrimp but I have heard they can be awesome.

Bring a couple sets ups with jigs ranging from the tiny 2.5 mm to Jigging Spoons. I normally have 5-8 set ups when I go. Yesterday I had 3 with me and regretted I did not bring another plastics rod.

If using 2 pound test remember to retie from time to time. I will cost you fish do not.

Most of all have a good time on the ice. Remember to smile once and while.

Stop and taken in the scenery.

I think I might see if I can get out tomorrow.

[WallyGader]

Found a decent bite in 8 fow gold tungsten and euros, tried some plastic but they wanted the jig held still.

[john.wells]

WallyGator, does the lake you were on have deep water or is it fairly shallow? Clear water or dark water? Just curious as a benchmark for lake type, I really don't want to know which lake specifically (especially on a forum)....

[WallyGader]

deeper clear water, sight fished for awhile but the wind made it tough.

[john.wells]

The wind sure does take a nice day and ruins it....

[fishuhalik]

People always laugh at me, but I still use a bobber when they're biting light. I've done a lot of fishing with a camera and through a spear hole, & like y'all stated earlier, spring bobbers & rod tips can't be trusted. Not to mention, sometimes they want it perfectly stationary & shivering hands can't keep it steady enough. Also, those same shivering hands can't feel bites nearly good enough. No matter how light the bite, a bobber that sits about 1/8" above the water line will get em almost every time.

[monstermoose78]

Time to try and get back at this! 

[monstermoose78]

Well I got out for a little bit today to chase some gills in places I had not fished in a long time. I used a flu flue jig that was green and yellow with a 1/4 piece of leech on it for some meat. It was sure nice to just watch my little thill bobber slide under the water and then watch it do the sunnie swirl. I caught lots of gills a few were good enough for a photo to remember them by and then released to do their deed. Met a really nice young fisherman who had his little brother with him. He said he had talked to me ice fishing.  That jogged my memory enough that I remembered him. He was also catch and releasing Bluegills and explaining the reason to his little brother. This made me feel even better than getting some fishing in. Here are some photo's. 

Good Luck and remember selective harvest!!