Fishing for bluegill in summer can be easy and fun. The evening summer weather tends to bring out the aggressive panfish strikes. What better time to brush up on your ultralight fishing? You can often find them up shallow and around cover like grass and laydowns, and they bite various baits. But some lures seem to work consistently over others, some with flash, others due to small size. In this article, I’ve narrowed it down to 7 lures that outperform others during summer evenings. If you’ve got kids, or you’re just looking to boost your fishing confidence with a few easy, fun bites, then check out the following lures:
1.) Soft Plastic Worms
Berkley Gulp! Alive! Angle Worms are some of the best bluegill lures during summer. Bluegill have a wide forage from fish to insects and everything in between. Some anglers favor artificial worms over live bait because they stay on the hook longer. Fishing the Berkley gulp work is a matter of finding the right action and the fish. Bluegill tend to hang near cover like grass and hard objects like boat docks. Using a light action tod with light fluorocarbon line, cast a Gulp worm rigged wacky style with a let it fall weightless to the bottom. The fall should be enough to entice a few bites. No takers? Add a few split-shot bee-bees to your line 5-6 inches above your bait.
2.) Mepps Spinners
It’s a fact, Bluegill eat other fish. And there’s no better way to trigger a feed response than imitating a fleeing bait fish. Rooster Tail Spinners are a perfect way to interest the most aggressive fish on your pond or lake. Bluegill generally won’t spend the energy and waste calories chasing something that isn’t worth eating. If they miss it, they have depleted energy stores and risk starvation. So its usually the more aggressive and stronger fish that will chase down a flashy object. Using a standard trout set-up like a 6’0″ light-action rod, cast around grass lines in early evening and morning. Lower light is necessary for the blade to stand out naturally without giving off too much flash.
3.) Bug Lures
Insects are a major part of a bluegill’s diet. You can imitate several different insects like crickets and hellgramites with the Berkeley Gulp Cricket and Euro Micro Finesse Hellgramite Lure. Fish each lure on light line 5-6lb monofilament or braid to leader. Work the lures weightless and slow. Allow the bait to fall slowly to the bottom and twitch it softly. If the fish follow the bug and merely peck at it, add split shot weight above your lure and drag it around on the bottom like a Carolina rig.
