Backup Plan Bluegills (Video)

[MN BassFisher]

Right before Christmas a buddy and I hopped in the Jeep and drove a few hours to a small lake that we've had a lot of success on in the past for Crappies. We trekked into the lake and within the first 5 holes we drilled we found a massive school of Crappies (the school was over 15ft in height over 40fow). We spent an hour or so trying to get them to bite but it didn't matter what we sent down the hole (5mm tungsten jigs, 3mm jigs, spoons, plastics, live minnows, etc.) they showed zero interest. We decided then to push up shallow and see what the Bluegills were like in this lake. It took us quite a few holes before we found green weeds and the fish were roaming pretty close by. We were pleased to find out that the lake has a good average size and even some 10-inchers!

 

 

[th64]

When all else fails with crappies send down a minnow on a hook ,no weight-Anyway great plan 'B" with beautiful gills, nice job!

[MN BassFisher]

On 1/6/2017 at 5:49 PM, th64 said:

When all else fails with crappies send down a minnow on a hook ,no weight-Anyway great plan 'B" with beautiful gills, nice job!

It's rare for me to see Crappies with such lock jaw started with a 4mm tungsten jig w/ plastic - nothing, so I dropped a 3mm with 1 euro (took forever in a 45ft deep hole) - nothing. Then we sent down deadsticks with a small split shot, small hook and Crappie minnow - 15 minutes and no bites. That's when we knew we needed to go to a Plan B strategy. Looked for them up shallow holding near weeds as they tend to be more aggressive but couldn't find them. Then resorted to a sandy/weedy flat which we assumed would hold Bluegills.

[th64]

No weight-

[DLD24]

Did ya try spoons?? I remember watching a video and they wouldn't bite a jig n plastic, but the guy with the spoon was getting them.

[MN BassFisher]

On 1/13/2017 at 7:19 PM, DLD24 said:

Did ya try spoons?? I remember watching a video and they wouldn't bite a jig n plastic, but the guy with the spoon was getting them.

I always have a PK Predator spoon tied on to 1 rod for those aggressive Crappies. I did drop that for a bit but still lockjaw. I'm still scratching my head over the behavior of that pod of Crappies.

[GrahamD]

On 1/14/2017 at 9:19 AM, DLD24 said:

Did ya try spoons?? I remember watching a video and they wouldn't bite a jig n plastic, but the guy with the spoon was getting them.

Heard about this trick before.