New York Bluegills

[ckfish]

The ponds near me totally suck for bluegill, I've never iced one out of them. I'm located in Greene county New York and I was wondering if you guys know any places somewhat close to me where I at least have a chance at getting some gills. I'm not asking for your secret spots or honey holes. I'm just wondering if there are any public places or spots anyone wants to tell me that have bluegill.

[trapper2000]

gee i  know where  away  from each other  but  you  could  join us  !!!!  you'll  have  to  wait  till  we  get  solid ice  back! 
 any  lake  that has  gills  in the  summer !  you  can  check  lakes and  what  fish  they  have  via  the  dec  web site  .....easy  secret  spot  here  is  big  bay  shhhhhhhh  were tring to  not  let  it out  but  i hear theres  monster gills  sunfish and  crappies  there 

[ckfish]

where are you located?

[RIVERRAT2]

I can help you,to start with gills are VERY SPOOKY,what i do is drill about 10 holes DONOT let drill go throught the ice
all the way[noise] leave the ice in the hole,go back to first hole and set for about 1/2 hr.,now clean hole out[noNOISE]
[  THEY DO SCHOOL UP],chum oatmeal,fish for 15mins[using different jigs [SMALL HOOK16],NO SPIN,SLOW,SPIKE,
IF THIS doesnot work let me know,fish my ponds
hope this helps
 
RAT 

[whitecap]

       
      try honeoye lake it has some monster blugill in it.

[ckfish]

thanks for the advice all. River rat you are from greenville so I'm sure you have heard of rip van winkle lake and north south lake. There really aren't very many gills in either but I will try the chumming method.

[trapper2000]

honeoye is  awesome

[rgfixit]

I can help you,to start with gills are VERY SPOOKY,what i do is drill about 10 holes DONOT let drill go throught the ice
all the way[noise] leave the ice in the hole,go back to first hole and set for about 1/2 hr.,now clean hole out[noNOISE]
[  THEY DO SCHOOL UP],chum oatmeal,fish for 15mins[using different jigs [SMALL HOOK16],NO SPIN,SLOW,SPIKE,
IF THIS doesnot work let me know,fish my ponds
hope this helps
 
RAT

You shouldn't be bustin' a new guy's chops like that. If you don't drill all the way through...how are you gonna fish

I was on Silver today and dropped one hole in 10'...gill after gill for 2 hours. People drilling and walking all around.... made no difference.

I order (for my area) the most productive bluegill waters are;
Conesus
Waneta
Keuka
Silver
I-bay
Honeoye

And others too numerous to mention.

RG

[zackblain]

There are no bluegills in honeoye lake 

[matt068]

Been getting limits at silver lake in 2hrs every time out this yr

[trapper2000]

well  be  2500  ice  fisherman there tomorrow

[rgfixit]

Nah...just 40 old farts with nothin better to do

RG

[12icashdollar]

True that that lake has been getting pounded for almost 3 weeks now and everyone out is slaughteringthem. I don't even know how there are any gills in. That lake

[JerryofWNY]

True that that lake has been getting pounded for almost 3 weeks now and everyone out is slaughteringthem. I don't even know how there are any gills in. That lake

A few years ago in October I had the boat on Silver. Was moving slowly looking for fish when the bottom came up from 24' to 12'. Now I know there is no structure like that in the lake. It turns out that I found  a school of gills that covered about an acre. The camera showed they were thick from12' to the bottom. I marked sever smaller schools that day that were just as thick.

[jekross42]

Nah...just 40 old farts with nothin better to do

RG

and some of us young guys, caught well over a limit today brought home 15, and fried the ones from yesterday, DELICIOUS

[jeffro9023]

Silver lake is loaded with blue gills...that doesn't even count towards what this guy is asking...when I fish a pond that's not as loaded with them I start off near shore like I would be fishing from shore...summer scouting is priceless take pictures of the weed beds if you must...fish the inside edge where the weeds end...that's usually a drop off...great starting point...adjust as you go and plan on drilling a lot of holes go shallower go deeper and you'll figure out where they are...sometimes you gotta drill til you find an open pocket in the weeds to get your jig down deep enough...to much to add in one post...lots of info out there

[chrijo]

Green lake in Leeds is usually
good for gills. Probably not safe ice yet thou

[ckfish]

Green lake in Leeds is usually
good for gills. Probably not safe ice yet thou

I heard about green lake

[RIVERRAT2]

You shouldn't be bustin' a new guy's chops like that. If you don't drill all the way through...how are you gonna fish

I was on Silver today and dropped one hole in 10'...gill after gill for 2 hours. People drilling and walking all around.... made no difference.

I order (for my area) the most productive bluegill waters are;
Conesus
Waneta
Keuka
Silver
I-bay
Honeoye

And others too numerous to mention.

RG

i WASNOT BUSTIN chops,this works for me if it doesnot for you so be it,and at 72 years old there is no need to bust any
chops for any reason.i find the gills here in the lakes i fish are very SPOOKY,AND IF YOU BRAKE through the ice and clean
the hole with the HAND auger you scare the hell out of the fish[shallow ponds ,lakes] and if you donot understand please
let me know,and i will tell you where i am coming from,the lakes he is talking about are NOT 30ft deep,the one lake about
6ft deep
hope you can understand
 
RAT

[rgfixit]

Understood! No offense intended. Sometimes my warped sense of humor gets the best of me.

RG

[ckfish]

i WASNOT BUSTIN chops,this works for me if it doesnot for you so be it,and at 72 years old there is no need to bust any
chops for any reason.i find the gills here in the lakes i fish are very SPOOKY,AND IF YOU BRAKE through the ice and clean
the hole with the HAND auger you scare the hell out of the fish[shallow ponds ,lakes] and if you donot understand please
let me know,and i will tell you where i am coming from,the lakes he is talking about are NOT 30ft deep,the one lake about
6ft deep
hope you can understand
 
RAT

Advice from the old guys are always the best advice. Rip van winkle is more like 3 feet in the middle. I also have a power auger so I'll have a problem with not spooking them.

[prchslyr]

If I can share a young dude's opinion. I would think cutting all of your holes at once would be a good bet. Make all of your noise at once and be done with it for the day. Let every thing quite down beneath for the day. 4" hand auger would probably be the way to go on those shallow bodies if you have access to one.
We do well with the gills in all the southern parts of Champlain. Anything small and a couple spikes. The rest of the nitty gritty detail stuff is unnecessary at least with the gills in my area.

[jeffro9023]

I only agree with the noise aspect to a point...in my experience I've noticed minimal disturbance from drilling holes...and I am a plunger guy  ...if you drill a hole where bluegills wanna be it only takes a couple minutes for them to settle down, a lot of times it takes no time at all...I can hear it already "well if you wanna catch the big ones" a lot of times the big ones bite first...sometimes they bite last...but I catch all sizes and the last thing I worry about is drilling a hole...good luck

[ckfish]

thanks for all the advice, if only I could get out and catch some now

[Neversink Jimmy]

I am still looking for some clarification regarding the "dont drill the hole all the way through" part.  I am stumped.   

[rgfixit]

Advice from the old guys are always the best advice. Rip van winkle is more like 3 feet in the middle. I also have a power auger so I'll have a problem with not spooking them.

I'm an old guy too

RG

[bassandbucks1]

I've spent a lot of time watching a Vexlar and an underwater camera and a few things i've noticed about bluegills that may help;
1-I fish mostly high pressuerd lakes in10 feet of water or less and rarely notice any negative reaction from gills by someone drilling close to me with a hand auger. it does happen some days though.
2-if you miss a fish (don't hook it that is) don't just let your bait plummet back down. Feather it slowly back down to the depth, i've seen a lot of big gills take off when the lure comes back down to quickly. usually presenting it to them slowly will get them to hit again
3- it's amazing the number of times big gills will hit the jig without ever getting the hook in their mouth, they'll hit the front of the jig or grab just the tail of the spike or plastic. This happens more often when your jig is doing a lot of spinning.

[Mowser4104]

All this is good information for us new ice fisherman. Keep it coming

[jeffro9023]

alot of times when the bite gets "stupid" or aka quit biting  sometimes its time to set the rod down and grab a drink and a sandwich....and all of a sudden you look and rod tip is bent over...yep doing nothing can be the best thing you can do...theyll chase n chase n chase but wont bite even if your standing on your head balancing a beer bottle with your feet...set the rod down and they inhale it....dont ask me why, all i know is it works!

[rgfixit]

Another trick I've learned over the years is when the gills get picky and mouth the bait, drop the rod tip to the fish when you get a bite then hit them. Sight fishing will teach you a lot.

RG