I've been fishing a pond with my nephews at least once a week this year and all they have in it is bluegill. They are stocking bass and catfish next week though but only fingerlings. They are new to fishing and as young teens enjoy the bluegills. We have been using roostertail spinners in 1/16 and 1/8 and catching plenty but would like to mix it u a lil. What is your go to artificiall lure for bluegill?

 

I like Roadrunners and crappie spins,

but Worden's 1/24 oz Roostertail is at the head of my list too.

 

Roger

I like trout magnet and 1/32oz 1.5” tube.

I like beetlespins. 

I like a 1/32nd oz ball head with a 1.5 or 2 inch white twister..a rebel crickhopper is also a blast

Small inline like a #0 Mepps is always good. One of my favorite methods is a bit unorthodox but deadly during the spawn. I'll take a tiny #12 hook and a very small soft plastic (lately I've been using this tip of a Z-Man finesse worm) and just lob it at rods length. Fun to watch it disappear as it hovers in the water. Gets big males on about every cast.

A cricket.

During summer mornings and evenings, pond bluegill can be great for topwater action. The Rebel Crickhopper already mentioned works great for that. Also a popper fished on a flyrod can be a blast. Honestly in my experience the cheapy Betts poppers they sell at Walmart work just as well as anything you can get at a fly shop (although you can branch out at a fly shop with lots of grasshopper and cricket imitation flies, foam beetles, etc.). If you can't use a flyrod, it's super easy to do a float n fly rig on a spinning rod by just putting a float a foot or so ahead of the fly to give it some casting weight.

1/32 oz beetlespin. White

4 hours ago, plawren53202 said:

During summer mornings and evenings, pond bluegill can be great for topwater action. The Rebel Crickhopper already mentioned works great for that. Also a popper fished on a flyrod can be a blast. Honestly in my experience the cheapy Betts poppers they sell at Walmart work just as well as anything you can get at a fly shop (although you can branch out at a fly shop with lots of grasshopper and cricket imitation flies, foam beetles, etc.). If you can't use a flyrod, it's super easy to do a float n fly rig on a spinning rod by just putting a float a foot or so ahead of the fly to give it some casting weight.

 

Totally agree.

For those who own a fly rod, there is no funner way to catch bluegills.

Cast any black fly or tiny popper in the shade of shoreline trees. Don't wear out any spot,

but keep the boat moving slowly. In season, it's pretty much a sunfish on every cast. 

 

Roger

 

 

I have caught lots of nice sized sunfish on light line and inline spinners.

   3" or 4" finesse worm. Charlie Brewer makes great ones. I used to use all kinds of artificials, too. I loved (and still love) going after 'gills with ultralight spoons, especially during one of their many spawns. But the most consistent luck I've had is small finesse worms. I don't know why, but they'll try to get the whole dang thing in their mouth every time. They look funny, like a little kid trying to shove too much candy in their mouth. ? 

   CB weedless heads work great, too.    jj

My sunny rig has 6# test line and my best lures have been Mepps Comets in #0-#2 in Shad

i have never caught more sunnies than using my fly rod.  Usually go with slow sinking spiders or poppers if i want some topwater action.  Both always seem to out fish anything conventional.  

1 hour ago, jimmyjoe said:

   3" or 4" finesse worm. Charlie Brewer makes great ones. I used to use all kinds of artificials, too. I loved (and still love) going after 'gills with ultralight spoons, especially during one of their many spawns. But the most consistent luck I've had is small finesse worms. I don't know why, but they'll try to get the whole dang thing in their mouth every time. They look funny, like a little kid trying to shove too much candy in their mouth. ? 

   CB weedless heads work great, too.    jj

Yea they can surprise you at times. Couple weeks ago I had a nice one on a 5" Senko with a 4/0 hook. Not even what I'd call a bull gill but was hand size. This pond is overran with them so they are mostly very small bluegills.  

I had forgot but I have some of those skinny 3" long trout worms. That'll be fun to try and had forgot about a couple trout magnet kits to play around with too

 

The healthy response to this bluegill thread comes as no surprise. Bluegills are great little warriors.

We shouldn't overlook the fact that bass are essentially outsized sunfish from the same family.

During the heart of Florida's bluegill season, I'll usually dedicate a day or two strictly to bluegill sunfish.

Oddly enough, my wife will stick to bass fishing. Is it any wonder why she routinely outfishes me?

 

Roger

 

 

57 minutes ago, RoLo said:

Is it any wonder why she routinely outfishes me?

 

   She outfishes you because you let her.

   You let her because you're a .... very .... smart .... man.    ?   jj

Last weekend on the reservoir the bluegills liked the white Powerbait curl tail grub on a 1/8 oz jig head. Then again, so did the the black crappie and some largemouth bass. I briefly switched to a green/black sparkly crappie magnet, caught a couple crappie but ended up switching back to the all white smaller curl tail grub because I was just more confident in it. This one was foul hooked (sorry buddy) but swam off. As @Bass_Fishing_Socal says they like they love the trout (and crappie) magnets. Green/black flavor worked well on an ultralight spinning setup in still waters. Pink/orange, never had as much luck.

 

1.5" black and chartreuse tube on a 1/32oz jighead with a jig spinner.

Berkley Powerbait Atomic Tubes. They work as well as, if not better than, live worms for Bluegills.

1/32 or 1/64 ice jig with a 1" Gulp Alive minnow under a slip float, very deadly.

if live bait isn't an option (worms or fathead minnows), then I like using Gulp minnows. They are pretty lifelike and have a strong scent to them. I catch nice bluegill and crappie on these, especially when paired with a small jighead

Small hook, a  piece of split shot and a small piece of a night crawler.

 

4 minutes ago, Heartland said:

Small hook, a  piece of split shot and a small piece of a night crawler.

 

We tried that about a month ago caught nearly 40 in under an hour. Too much work for the hook baiter and fish removing guy lol 

20 minutes ago, Smells like fish said:

We tried that about a month ago caught nearly 40 in under an hour. Too much work for the hook baiter and fish removing guy lol 

Kind of a good problem to have.....