Why is it that a hand-size bluegill on the end of the line makes me – and lots of fishermen – smile broader than most other fish we catch? I don’t know the answer to that; I just know that big bluegills have that affect on fishermen. I also know that big bluegills, so easy to nab in spring and again in fall, can be awfully difficult to find and entice in the middle of summer.


The big bluegills I’m speaking of are the ones often referred to as “bull bluegills,” fish at least as long as your hand, hopefully a bit longer, and at least as wide. Most of the bigger bluegills in a population return to deep water after the spring spawn. They also spread out. Certainly, these big fish aren’t schooled up the way they were for the pre-spawn nor the way they’ll get during the stronger periods of fall feeding. I have never caught a dozen big bluegills in row in July through mid-August as I have often done in the cooler seasons. That’s the fact of it. But I have managed to catch big bluegills consistently when a lot of anglers complained about catching only the ever-present dinky sunfish.


The difference primarily is water depth.


While a big bluegill or two might hang around a dock or a shallow weed line, many of them retreat to deeper water. Deeper water can be defined in different ways. It may actually be deep – say 12 to 15 feet in smaller, cloudy lakes, or 15 to 30 feet in mid-size, clear waters, and even deeper in large, clear lakes. It also can be defined in terms of structure with an eight-foot channel break surrounded by a two-foot flat representing a deep-water situation.


While I hope that heaven has a farm pond where I can use my fly rod for big springtime bluegills, I also know that in summer the fly rod is worse than a flathead screwdriver for a Phillips-head screw. At this time, instead of the fly rod’s shallow horizontal presentation, I want to make a deep, vertical presentation. There is an exception to that strategy, which I’ll also cover.


When the technique called drop-shotting coursed through the bass fishing world, the first fish I caught with the presentation were a summer bluegills and a deep-water perch. I was using drop-shot plastic worms that were too small for bass but attractive to the panfish.


I didn’t forget that experience and kept the two-inch worms on hand for deep bluegills. When my target changed, I went back to this and other small baits.


The real advantage of the drop-shot rig is that the hook can be tied several feet above the weight. When weeds are lush and tall – as they are in summer – this is a real plus. I like to place the hook so that it rides just above the weed tops. Of course, this depth will not be constant but the idea of getting close to or just above the grass is good. Often, the big bluegills are swimming near the bottom, but they’re willing to rise within a certain comfort level, and of course, you won’t be snagged as much if you’re away from the bottom-hugging weeds.


One fault to avoid is not to raise and lower the drop shot rig as if you were performing an active jigging technique. In other words, don’t lift the drop-shot weight several feet off the bottom then lower it. Instead, in-place shaking, which permits the bait to wiggle lightly, will produce more bluegill hits (as well as bass hits with the right bait.) A slight wiggling of the rod tip is good.


When I had a chance to fish for bluegills below the Mason-Dixon Line, I was reintroduced to using live crickets for bigger fish. I say reintroduced because I used them as a kid. In the last two summers, I’ve actually gone out early in the morning and gathered live crickets beneath a few dead logs. Using a cheap butterfly net, I managed to get about a dozen an outing. I’ve tried both the smaller black crickets and the larger black-brown variety. By far, the smaller crickets worked best. Not only did the bluegills go for this mouthful, but they were also more likely to reach the hook point than with the bulkier version. If you can’t catch live crickets, Berkley is now selling a bait in its Gulp line in the shape of a cricket. This bait looks very good.


In addition to plastic worms and crickets, another great offering at the business end of a drop-shot rig is a hand-tied nymph – the same used by fly-fishing. The pattern known as the Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear can be tied generically using black, brown, or yellow fur. You don’t even need the elaborate gold ribbing. As long as the nymph looks buggy, it seems to work. A size 12 or 14 nymph is good mouthful for a big bluegill and doesn’t result in a lot of swallowing the offering.


Also it’s good to keep the leader from the main line to the drop shot hook and bait, relatively short – 2 inches at most. Anything longer and a bluegill can suck in the bait with little movement of the rod tip.


In addition to this vertical fishing, there is one horizontal way of nabbing deep-water bluegills that is extremely effective. This involves the use of a worm harness typically reserved for walleye fishing.


For starters reduce the size of the walleye hook down to a size 6 or 8 and shorten the distance between the two harness hooks to about three inches (for a quarter of the night crawler) or use a single hook. Add split shot to the harness leader to get the worm running deep.


While live worms usually result in way too many deeply hooked bluegills, this is not the case with worm harnesses. The bluegills have to rush up from behind, and they typically get just their mouth stuck to the hook point.


The real key to catching summer bluegills is get away from the shoreline. Look for deep weed beds and deep panfish structure. There never seems to be a school of the bigger bluegills at any one spot, but you can take them a few at a time.