IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Ice Fishing Tips -Check your local regulations! => Bluegill => Topic started by: Ethan C on Dec 31, 2017, 04:51 PM
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Chased some gills earlier here in northern IL. Tough conditions, hardly marked any. Single digits and bluebird skies. My question is where do the bigger gills go during these frigid temps?
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find yourself some weedbeds with access to deeper water. this early in the season there should still be plenty of green weeds, and big bluegills use them for shelter and to find food. i find mine on google earth, then mark them on a jogging GPS app i downloaded. once i'm on the ice, i'll drill until i find the edge of the weeds, and set up right on the edge, or just inside the edge. active gills patrol those edges looking for plankton, shrimp, and minnows.
especially on cold bluebird days, focus on slow-falling jigs and lures. in those conditions, my go-to lures are the smallest slender spoon from custom jigs and spins (black and green, or gold and glow), or tiny teardrop jigs in orange, pink, or black. i'm fond of jammin jigs. hole-hop until you get on fish, then hole-hop again when the bite slows down or the fish get smaller.