It's really funny how the bass spawn first and the bluegills will terrorize the bass. Then right afterwards, the bluegills will spawn and the bass will come around and get an easy meal out of them. I guess that is the circle of life right?
Catching big bluegills will be pretty easy this time of the year. For me, it's early June in southern New Jersey. You will be able to catch these guys very easily as these fish will be in the shallows. Here is a complete list of locations you should look for:
- Shorelines (with structure or vegetation would be a bigger plus)
- Edge of weed beds or open spots that is surrounded by weeds
- Shallow Coves
- Isolated humps
- Old Bass Beds! (yes, some of these sun fishes are so smart that they would reuse a bass bed as it is already cleared out for them)
As long as it is shallow, you can't go wrong! If you are lucky, you will find multiple sunfish that spawn very close to each other. It will almost look like a cluster of circles, somewhat like a moon with many craters!
My technique is very simple, use 1/16th oz lead jig heads (you can use 1/32 if you are from the shorelines and are not moving much), 4-6 lb test line (2 if you are brave), and 1-2 inch soft plastic grubtails. Just swim the lure across the nest, you'll get aggressive bluegills that will hit the lure to protect the nest.
Here is a nice video of me catching some big bluegills recently. Note all fish were returned as I prefer to release them back until they complete their spawning activities.
Let me know if you have any questions, hope you guys catch a bunch!