sunfish migration question

[sjburnt]

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[Scott M]

Bluegills migrate mainly for food. There certainly are other considerations, like thermal refugia during the summer when a lake is stratified (i.e. in the summer fish seek out optimal temperatures when the lake is layered…lakes aren’t layered the same in the winter, the temperature only ranges between about 0 and 4 Celsius or 32 to 39 Fahrenheit).

Overall the consideration is food and predator avoidance. If you are trying to find bluegills in the winter on a bowl-shaped lake, check if there are any inlets. Flowing water means an additional food source for any consumer, whether that is pike, or walleye, or panfish. It’s like waiting at the drive-in for fast food. Assuming there are no outlets, look for green weeds. Green weeds are still alive and attract plankton and invertebrates. Bluegill can feast on these “bugs” in the vegetation. Some lakes have little bluegill in vegetation, other lakes have big bluegill in the vegetation, and other lakes have both in the vegetation. There are some great scientific papers out there on size of bluegill and their preferred foraging locations.

Your next best option is to find a muck bottom. Mud bottoms are generally very productive and attract more insects and plankton. Bloodworms (non-biting midges) are prevalent in this habitat. Phantom midges and other aquatic dipteran “true fly” larvae often are diel vertical migraters, as are some forms of zooplankton. Simply put, bug larvae like to migrate upward at night. This way they can avoid visual predators like bluegill. This is that giant cloud of interference you generally see on your flasher after dark is. A lot of these types of insects and miniature crustaceans bury themselves in the sediments during the day, and panfish are actively searching for them. A little drop of a jig into the muck, stirring up the bottom, can drive a fish wild.

Another determinant is fish mood. Bill Cosby should host a program called Bluegill do the darndest things. They can get really moody. Sometimes they smack lures, other times they bite so subtly that you can’t feel so much as a tiny tap. This moodiness can affect their migration, movement, and location. Got a big pressure change? They might stack up on a deep hole just suspended. They may go shallow.

These are all suggestions to try. I hope it helps you catch more fish or explains a thing or two on ‘gill movement. Nobody has it perfectly figured out, so go experiment and find a few places yourself. If we had it figured out, we’d never be searching for fish, we’d just check or calendars or watches, find the right structure, and drop a line.

Good luck.

[Todd_J]

Excellent write-up da_chise31. Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge.

[sjburnt]

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[mojocatt]

Tis' a fine reply.

Yeah, lake to lake they do different stuff. One lake I go to I setup on a small sunken island near deep water and they migrate to sunken island in the sunset hour ( I presume from the deep water), and will take nothing but a white and silver jig with a wax worm. Another one I go to they burrow into deep weeds during the day, and I'm stumped where they go during sunrise and sunset.

But that's half the fun, figuring em' out (as best as can be expected).