Scrappy Bluegills Still Hitting Well

My cousin and I went fishing Friday afternoon and once again the bluegills were hitting pretty well. It was one of those days where you sit for a while without a bite and then the fish turn on like someone flipped a switch. The bite started about 7:00 pm and lasted for about an hour. I caught 9 fat bluegills and my cousin pulled in 4. I kept them all as they were all above average size. If you are fishing the piers and not catching any, simply move around until you find some fish.

The other day I was down at Presque Isle and was amazed at the number of bluegills that are in the Waterworks Pond. There are literally hundreds of bluegills swimming close to shore in the pond, however, due to their large numbers the fish are stunted.
There are some nice ones but the small ones would probably get your bait before the big ones would find it. It would be fun though to take a kid fishing in the Waterworks pond as I am sure they would see a lot of action.

The summer is winding down and in about two weeks we will start seeing steelhead showing up. This fall's run should be excellent again with many large fish. Around September 1, I will start scouting the area streams once again and let you know when the run starts. May your lines be tight and your hooks be happy!

Try the South Pier for Bluegills

My cousin Billy and I headed down to the South Pier in search of catching a mess of bluegills. It was a rather warm partly cloudy day and the bluegills were biting pretty well. In the first 5 minutes, we had three in the bucket. We left when we hit 20 and that is about all I wanted to clean.

We also caught a small yellow perch and a white perch. The bluegills are hitting right off the side of the pier. Good baits to use include grubs, mealworms, redworms, and small jigs.

Bluegill are one of my favourite fish to eat and if you have not eaten them, you may want to give them a try. You don't get a lot of meat off of each fish but when you catch 8 or more, you should have a great meal. I deep fry them. I roll them around in store bought fish fry and plop them in the fryer for a couple minutes; they are very tasty.

I ran into a gentleman who was keeping sheepshead. He said he tried one the night before on his grill and it was one of the best fish he had ever eaten. I cannot remember ever eating one because of the bad reputation they have but hey, maybe they are good. Anyway, I think I will stick to panfish. Good luck fishing and the steelhead should start moving closer to shore pretty soon.