Sunnie Location

[lindy rig]

We are on a small lake up near Brainerd. Good numbers of sunfish and crappies. We have the crappies pretty dialed in ice fishing but where do the sunnies typically go in winter? Usually we are in 18-24' for the crappies. I have tried shallower and near summertime weed beds but still can't find the sunnies in winter. Any ideas?

[mn86]

i would search those same depths looking for steep breaks that lead into deep wide flats. try finding fresh water springs on the lake that are close to these areas panfish can school up in 18-25 fow so dont just think shallow. sometimes the sunfish are swimming with the crappie if the crappie aren't in the basin, just at a different depth in the water column or sometimes they can be cruisin the flats a few feet shallower. i tend to find panfish in an adjacent flat from the basin where i fish crappie. fyi, u will use plenty of auger gas searching for the elusive bull gill. my 2 cents, hope it helps and good luck.

[th64]

If you have clear water and good weeds they will use those weeds-Punch a bunch of holes and get a camera. If you ever use a bug or a plastic for those crappies you would have bumped into the gills

while crappie fishing, my guess is they are not mixed in.

Good luck

[mn86]

you prolly wouldnt bump into them if your fishing 2 foot off the bottom and the gills are swimming through 5 to 6 ft off the bottom. fish cant see down. thats great information th64 i too fish weedlines early ice however as the ice gets thicker the weeds can die off and oxygen levels start to drop. often times fish will stack up in deeper water where there is more oxygen. once this occurs u can certainly find blue gills in water up near 25 ft deep and they can be where the crappie are just at different depths in the water column. this may not hold true in every lake but i have experienced this many times on multiple lakes. but yes if was just starting my search for blue gills i would weedlines. remember microscopic organisms that blue gills like to feed on are not just on the bottom of the lake if the gills are foraging on a specific organism that happens to be further up in the water column then the fish are going to go to that depth to feed.