Bluegill fishing suggestions

I got a lot of good info from you folks on crappie fishing, so let’s talk bluegill/bream now. I’ve mentioned that Bass fishing is too slow for the wife, so we went to crappie fishing and bluegill fishing. For the bluegill, we’ve been fishing the Navasota River upstream of Fort Parker Lake. I have quite a few good spots that we’ve found over the years, but all we get are small ones. Some are big enough to eat, but none are ever bragworthy. Best success is with crappie rods and jigs in shallow water along the limestone cliffs. What would you fellows suggest for larger bluegills, assuming they are there. What would you do? We have not tried using worms or crickets.

You could suggest a better place to fish perhaps, but the river is close, never crowded, and well sheltered from strong winds, so she likes it there.

I would first of all start using worms. That is just my bait of choice. During the "Dog Days of Summer",with 100 plus degree weather the Bluegill/Sunfish have moved to deeper water or they have found some grass/Hydrilla beds to lay under. Look for them in water 10 to 18 feet deep, by structure such as docks,lay downs, and over hanging tree limbs. Rock ledges with a drop off close by are also good places to look for them. If Bluegill/Sunfish are present you will know it pretty fast. I have never fished in your area and every water body is going to be different. You could also fish bridge pillars. These are just a few basic tips that might work in the areas you fish! Best of luck and let us know how you do!


Side Note: September,October,and early November should be pretty good months for catching nice Bluegill. They are trying to get fat before the winter sets in!

Worms is what I used for bream when I was a kid. I suppose I should get back to my roots. Let’s see how the wife does with putting worms on her hook.

I use all artificial baits. Right now small grubs,Rooster Tails, small crank baits and the Gulp Alive Minnows are working well for me. The baits working the best are the grubs- Chartreuse/Black, and the Gulp Alive Minnows-Chartreuse ! Also what Chuck-BAF stated above as far as where the fish might be!

I have some gulp alive minnows. All sorts of jigs, beetle spins, grubs.

A fellow might think, with all the questions I’ve been asking about bream and crappie, that I’m new to fishing. That isn’t true at all, but you might say I’m a bit out of touch. Growing up in Louisiana, I fished from about 8 years old until I went off to college. I was serious about my fishing. Then life happened, college, job, marriage, USMC, kids, suburbs and lawn care. No thoughts of fishing until my younger brother gave me his boat and motor. Then I upgraded the boat and then upgraded again and got back into fishing, after a hiatus of 40 years. And I found that fishing had really changed. I had been exclusively a cane pole bream fisherman and a one-rod bass fisherman. And I caught better and larger fish back then than I do now. So, you guys are getting me back up to speed. And I appreciate it.

I have never targeted the sunfish but I love how some of these anglers have kept fishing very simple! A lot of smart,good anglers post in this section and I love reading about and seeing all of there catches. These anglers have put Bluegill/sunfish fishing as a very fun sport especially using ultralight tackle. I have seen plenty of MONSTER sunfish not to mention plenty of BIG other species of fish that these anglers have caught while "Perch Jerking"! Great section to follow!

I've fished the Navasota river above Fort Parker on a couple of occassions. I caught lots of warmouth, bluegill and green sunfish but nothing of any size. It may be better to try some different spots. The Brazos river below Whitney has some huge bluegill, red ear and redbreast in it. I only fish with a fly rod but when I used to use spinning gear it was with black/chartreuse tube jigs or live worms.

I'm from Louisiana as well. Born in Lake Arthur and went to high school in Cameron.

Maybe it’s time to cruise over to Fairfield.

Get a couple gold bladed in-line spinners, some gold and black floating minnows and some Rebel creature cranks. Gold and brass has always been good for me in that area. These lures will also select for larger sunfish. As said above, the warmouth are pretty thick in the Navasota. Typically when you find one, there are a bunch more close by. You just have to find the bigger ones and when I was in that part of the woods, we found some. Back waters and swifter current worked well for us. Once you’ve found some quality size fish, switch over to a jig and plastic or a float rig to make more precise presentations. The above lures are your “search” lures; the precision lures are your “destroy” lures. Hope this helps.

I’m finding plenty, but mostly just small ones. But, I have not tried any gold bladed spinners, though I do have some in the tackle box. I’ll try your suggestions next trip. Thanks.

I'm with Banker, if we are chasing sunfish we are using worms. If you are catching small perch and want to catch bigger perch then move. At this time of year I would look for deeper water close by first. Like any other species you have to select for larger fish. Maybe even more so with perch than with other species. You might occasionally catch a smaller fish mixed in with the bigger ones, but I know that we rarely catch any great big ones mixed in with a bunch of smaller ones.