finding gills in mid winter

[Foster_65]

hey guys, 
i have a lake here a couple miles from my house that i am having a hard time finding and gills on.  i caught a ton of them this summer not alot of huge ones but a lot of fish.  now i am having trouble finding them in the winter. the lake is a man made lake where they damed a stream and is very diverse.  most of the weeds were only in a few feet of water.  water depth ranges to 40 ft and a ton of structure.  lots submerged trees in the water and also alot of bushes in the water.  there is also alot of crappie in the lake.  i have caught a few of them suspened in the deepest part of the lake.  just looking for a place to start
http://gf.nd.gov/gnf/maps/fishing/lakecontours/harmon2009.pdf
this is a link to a lake map id anyone is interested
thanks

[Townie]

Transition flats into deeper water.

[Foster_65]

im not exactly sure what that means.  could you give me an example.  and would you normally fish these spots morning and evening or would they be good all day?

[Swift]

Oxygen, food and safety. Mid winter weedy shallows can lose usable oxygen due to weed die off so they won't stay there. Low oxygen can also effect the base of the food chain which can change or move out deeper. They need a place to be relatively safe from predators, depth and/or structure. Punch holes and find them, every body of water tends to be unique in some way. Sometimes during mid winter the midday bite can light up. Takes time and effort to figure it out, put the time in if you're serious, there's rarely any easy/quick answers

[Townie]

im not exactly sure what that means.  could you give me an example.  and would you normally fish these spots morning and evening or would they be good all day?

Like Swift said. No single template for finding gills but I'd start at gradual slopes into deeper water out from shallows. Scores of folks start at daybreak but I seem to hit peak activity late afternoon.

[Foster_65]

thanks guys,  ill just have to put in more time and holes until i catch something

[Gills-only]

If you find green weeds, they give off oxygen would be a place to start!

[Van_Cleaver]

Luckily we are fast heading into late winter, which usually translates to easier fishing. Most lakes I fish will have good numbers of gills (and big ones) staging near, on on shallow flats where they spawn.

[Gills-only]

Last week or so they have been 3-6' under the ice in 16' water.

[Van_Cleaver]

Yesterday I was finding them just off the bottom in 15fow, deepest portion of the lake. Usually by now they are near their spawning beds, but I guess on a small lake they can get to the shallows in a short time if they want. Been a strange year.....

[Townie]

I found active gills dead center in a large bay with featureless flats 9'. No green weeds or any cover. Go figure...

[Van_Cleaver]

Townie; very similar to what I was fishing, though I was deeper. Main lake basin, no weeds, no apparent structure. I kind of like that about fishing, when you think you know, you find out you don't!

[sparky]

I always go deeper.  Found that the fish aren't effected by weather in deeper water as they are in shallower water.   Head to deeper brush piles and use your electronics.  I get consistant fish year round unless the fish are on the banks during spawning season. 

Imagine the fish in a lake like a playground full of kids and adults.  The kids are in one place and the adults are near by but in the area away from the kids.  The small fish are the juvies, or stunted by over population.  The biguns are close by watching just waiting for food to come dropping down into thier lap.  They have learned to conserve energy and be safe by staying near the picnic table than runnin around like a bunch of kids at a picnic.

[icehousepsycho]

The 2 biggest things that I've looked for when gill or red ear fishing are green weeds and a semi-sticky bottom.  But green weeds are the biggest key. I use a color underwater camera to find them. It seems like every time I find green weeds in mid-late winter I find nice 8"+ gills. This was my first season with the color camera and the success I had was noticeably increased. I never had a goose egg in over 50 trips, honest. The number of 8-11" gills I got in Nimisila and Nesmith here in NE Ohio was more than any season ever before. Sometimes I'll drill 50 holes and drop back and check before I'll drop a line in the water.  Drilling and finding them is critical. I'd rather lose an hour of fishing drilling many search holes then fish all day in a fishless area.

[Townie]

The 2 biggest things that I've looked for when gill or red ear fishing are green weeds and a semi-sticky bottom.  But green weeds are the biggest key. I use a color underwater camera to find them. It seems like every time I find green weeds in mid-late winter I find nice 8"+ gills. This was my first season with the color camera and the success I had was noticeably increased. I never had a goose egg in over 50 trips, honest. The number of 8-11" gills I got in Nimisila and Nesmith here in NE Ohio was more than any season ever before. Sometimes I'll drill 50 holes and drop back and check before I'll drop a line in the water.  Drilling and finding them is critical. I'd rather lose an hour of fishing drilling many search holes then fish all day in a fishless area.

11" gills or redears?  An 11" Northern Bluegill is the holy grail of panfish imo-- post 'em up!

[icehousepsycho]

A mix of both. Some were redears and some were true gills. My biggest ever was a true gill from Nimisila here in Ohio. It was 12 1/4" and weighed 2 pounds 1 ounce. That fish was a beast!   It's the only fish I ever put on the wall (a replica).  I'm more proud of that true bluegill than the 10 pound bass I caught.

[Gills-only]

Also like to see a picture of one that big!!

[icehousepsycho]

I lost the pic of the real fish when I dropped my phone while talking to my wife during a bass tournament.  It ended up in 30 feet of water on a rock pile.  But here's a pic of the wall mount I just took.  That fish was a monster!  I am having trouble posting the pic.  I'll try and figure it out here.

[Gills-only]

Cant tell by picture , unless I need eyes checked look like bass! Want to see the 12 incher!Gill

[icehousepsycho]

That's bass and crappie in the pics. It's my signature. The Gill is in my computer and i can't figure out how post it. I'll get it solved tomorrow.