Early Spring Bluegill Fishing

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This past week, warming water temperatures signaled the beginning of the open-water fishing season. I took a trip to Muscoot Reservoir to catch bluegill; initially, I was concerned that I had come too early in the season and that the fish would be lethargic from the fleeting winter, but thankfully the bluegill were hungry and willing to bite.

I targeted these fish in a small cove off the main lake. I used a bobber with a small jighead suspended a foot off the bottom over a shallow weed-line in about four feet of water. On the jighead, I was using two or three waxworms, which I threaded on the hook. On this day, the fish were associating very closely with the weeds, so it was very important that I was able to cast at least 40 feet from shore where the weed-line started. To do this, I used a weighted bobber, which was easy to cast and cut through the mild crosswind.

Note the vertical stripes on this bluegill, which indicates that it spends a lot of time in and around weeds

Immediately after the bait was properly positioned over the weed-line, the fish bit almost immediately. Their willingness to bite could be attributed to the cloudy day and the 60 degree air temperatures. We fished for about three hours, starting around 3:00 in the afternoon to around sunset, and we were able to catch almost forty bluegill, with most being around six to eight inches. Muscoot reservoir has a lot of smaller sized bluegill, which could be avoided by using a small plastic minnow imitation bait instead of a wax-worm because smaller bluegill would have a hard time fitting the larger profile plastic into their mouths. Additionally, smaller bluegill would be hesitant to pursue large quarry like minnows, opting instead for aquatic insects.

A nice bluegill
Paramount to our fishing success was the line that we were using: 4lb P-Line Fluoclear. P-line Fluoroclear is a polymer that is half fluorocarbon and half monofilament, so it is affordable, sufficiently strong, and also hard to detect under-water. P-line combines the positive attributes of both fluorocarbon and monofilament. The strength of P-line allowed us to use 4lb test line with relatively heavy bobbers. It is important to use a small-diameter line when fishing for bluegill in cooler water because they can be more line-shy.

We used an ultralight spinning rod and reel setup: Fenwick Eagle 7'6'' UL rod and a Shimano Sienna 2000. The long rod allowed us to cast far through the crosswind. Additionally, the long rod made hook-sets easier because we were able to sweep up slack line accumulated on the water. If possible, however, I would have preferred a faster action rod than the Fenwick Eagle just because hook-sets more firm.

Here are links to the equipment that we used on FishUSA.





Thanks for reading!

- Paul 3.29.20




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