I like to fish for gills with poppers. I can usually catch them until I am tired of brining them in. We have had a huge spawn this year. Everywhere you look...minnows are being abused by feeding fish.

My pond has over 250 square miles of water surface. Shallow water coves fed by creeks, and depths in excess of 60 feet. Shell beds are home to red ear...but those guys can play hard to get.

My problem is there are so many minnows, it�s difficult to get them to hit anything artificial.

Any suggestions as to what might stir some interest.

Fly rod or spinning rod ?

Live worms!



Side Note: I call worms the "Bait of Champions"! If you want to stay artificial use grubs! If fishing from the fly I do not know anything about fly fishing other than it's very enjoyable to watch!

I would try small Grubs. Chartreuse or White seem to be the colors that work for me down here in South Central Texas. Also try throwing some small crank Baits. Last but not least I usually get pretty good results on Gulp Alive Leaches!

Sounds like a fun condition, figuring these fish out is the best part of a trip.....

Yup, a bright grub is gonna be your best bet IMHO.

The other day they where feeding on minow.and I use.the gulp alive in chartruse and they loved jt

They love crickets but they are a real pain to deal with. Someone on here posted some time ago about ordering crickets on line for a very reasonable price. They are delivered alive. Freeze them and pack into small baggies to use as needed. He said they work as good as live ones. I have meant to try this but forget about it before it should be time to do it. I use night crawler pieces which work well. A box of them will catch a lot if you just put a piece on the hook. Often you can catch two or three on the same piece of worm. Keep them refrigerated and will last a long time. When fishing, I put a wet towel over the box to keep them from getting too hot. They will melt in a hurry if exposed to the heat.

I ordered the gulp alive minnows.

All I can say is wow. On a 1/64 oz jig head...bluegill love them. I wish they were half inch bigger. Prolly caught forty yesterday...only five gills and two bass were decent. My pond is full of pumpkinseeds. Pretty, but they stay small.

I second the small crankbaits. I've caught some big bluegill and sunfish this year with a 9/32 oz. Matzuo Nano Crank.

Lures in my opinion force fish prone to strike at that moment small lures that quivers & glide or dart within their comfort zone. I would rather believe that than the idea that fish think a lure represents something it normally eats. The proof are in the amount of soft plastic lures in many shapes with many actions that fish strike after watching them for a long time - at least by human standards. Your example:
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A popper doesn't look like anything and the only thing that causes a surface pop is a fish slapping the surface for insects. Definitely a fun lure when the surface strike is on.

But for me, I find fish most of the time hit lures from near the surface to mid depth, the key being smaller, lighter and slower. Lures 3" or smaller rigged on light ball head jigs. 1/16, 1/24, 3/32 oz jigs pretty much cover all depths yet allow a slooow retrieve. Lure design choices are great, but if I had only one to choose from it would be a Crappie Magnet grub.

Note color variety.

Magnet used with Beetle Spin:


Spike tail grubs are also productive:


Feather jigs work though not as well as plastics where I fish:


Stubby tail grubs are one of my favorites :


I used to rely on curly tail grubs but found other body and tail designs that do better. Ditto for Sassy Shads.

As I said, most fish species attack plastics presented the right way even when not feeding - which is a great majority of the time. There's just something about that foreign object that gets under their scales.