How To Catch Bluegill Or Other Small Panfish

Pan Fried Bluegill

You want the heads removed from your bluegill and you of course want the insides removed . In a bowl you will need to mix together.

1. 2 Cups Self Rising Flour.

2. 1 Cup Self Rising Cornmeal.

3. 1 Teaspoon Ground Sea Salt.

4. 1 Teaspoon Ground Black Pepper.

Mix all your dry ingredients together and in another large bowl you will want to put two cups of whole milk and beat two large eggs into the milk until the milk and the eggs are beaten well together.

Now take each of your bluegill fish and dip it first into the milk and egg mixture and get it wet all over including inside the body cavity and then dip it into the dry mixture and as you get each fish breaded place it onto a tray or pan until you get all your bluegill breaded.

Now in a large non stick skillet place about two inches of vegetable oil and heat the oil to about 350 degrees. Place your bluegill in the pan a few fish at a time and cook the fish on both sides until the fish are golden brown on both sides and cooked all the way through. Fish are cooked when they flake easily with a fork. Serve your fried bluegill while they are hot and enjoy.

Johnny Cakes Recipe

Johnny Cakes are an old southern tradition and they are easy to make. What you really have is a cake of fried corn bread that tastes so delicious when eaten with fried fish.

For Your Johnny Cakes You Will Need.

1. 2 Cups Self Rising Cornmeal.

2. 1/2 Cup Self Rising Flour.

3. 1/4 Cup Fine Minced Sweet Onion

4. 1/2 Cup Whole Milk.

Mix your ingredients together and then fry by dropping a tablespoon full of the batter into hot vegetable oil and when brown on one side turn them over and fry on the other side. Drain on paper towels and serve at once.

One of the first fishing trips I ever remember going on was with my Grandpa when I must have been four or five years old. He took me out behind the barn and showed me how to dig worms. Under three or four rabbit hutches we dug up a big can of red worms and then we were off to Puzzle Creek and an old bridge on the creek where vehicles no longer went.

Grandpa cut down two bamboo poles from the creek bank and before long he had attached lines, sinkers, hooks, and a float to each bamboo pole and then he showed me how to break off a piece of worm and thread it on the hook. We swung our lines over the side of the old Puzzle Creek and into a large pool of water in the creek below. All at once my float started bobbing up and down in the water and then it went under the water and I pulled back. My grandfather helped me get that first big bluegill up over the side of the bridge and when it dropped at our feet I was hooked for life on fishing,

I know before we left that bridge that day we caught 16 more bluegill all about a pound each and my Grandfather carefully threaded them through the gill and onto the stringer and each time he would let our fish down into the water and I feared they would all get away but of course they didn't. That was on Saturday afternoon and the that evening I was shown how to clean fish. My Grandfather had taken a tablespoon and sharpened it on one side and we used that to get the scales off the bluegill. I will never forget that the corn in Grandpa's field was about two foot tall that day and he carefully buried the fish heads and the fish waste beside stalks of his corn and he told me the story that our Native American ancestors had done the same to fertilize their corn.

The next morning my Grandmother cooked our bluegill and what she called Johnny Cakes for breakfast. And I have never forgotten how delicious those fish and the Johnny Cakes were. I have included the recipe for how she cooked the bluegill and a recipe over there for the Johnny Cakes. I hope one day you get to try fried bluegill and Johnny Cakes for breakfast.

Do you remember the first time you ever went fishing. Why not tell us about it in the comments section below.

Bluegill live in the shallow waters of farm ponds, lakes, rivers, and streams.They prefer water with underwater plants, rocks, and etc with plenty of places to hide. You will find bluegill most often in weed beds and in water that is 60 - 80 degrees. They feed and spawn around weed beds and they don't like direct sunlight. In most bodies of water they live in deep water but stay in the shallow water or near the surface in the mornings so they can stay warmer. Warm and active bluegill are usually hungry bluegill. Most of the time bluegill will be found in schools of 15 to 20 fish and these schools of fish will often contain small mouth bass and crappie.

You will most often catch bluegill with live baits like grasshoppers, crickets, red worms, and meal worms. You can also catch them with American yellow cheese pressed around a hook, white bread pressed around a hook, or whole kernel corn.

Sometimes you can do better fishing for bluegill with a float and sometimes you will do better with out a float. Quite often when bluegill are near the top of the water especially early in the mornings on late spring or early summer mornings you will have to use a float in order for the bluegill to see your bait and go after it. But if the bluegill are deep like on late summer evenings you'll want to fish deep with out a float to get your bait down to where the fish are.

Bluegill will also go after small jigs or small deep diving plugs especially in the late summer and early fall especially in deep holes. I have also had good luck with short artificial red worms with black ends and very little spinners on them. I fish these with a medium size split shot about two foot up the line from the artificial worm.

Try Dry Flies And Clear Floats To Catch Lots Of Bluegill

I have real good luck fishing on farm ponds for bluegill in the late spring and early summer in the mornings with dark colored dry flies about three feet below a small clear plastic float. I throw out and then I bump the line every once in a while to get the dry flie to move so that the bluegill will be sure to see it and go after it. I usually fish my dry flies by throwing out to the deeper water and slowly retrieve the flie bumping it to get it to move while I reel it back in. And I usually catch a lot of bluegill this way and just this past summer I caught a six pound large mouth bass on a dry flie. I think it must have been a hungry bass and just went after the movement.

There are many ways to catch bluegill and I really enjoy catching them and eating them. I hope you enjoyed my Hub Page On Bluegill and I hope you get to catch some soon.

In some lakes and streams bluegill love crickets. While in other areas they act like they don't know what a cricket is. However I think a lot of people use the wrong size hook and this is the reason they don't catch bluegill with crickets. Make sure you use a hook size from a size 6 to a size 10 and I use hooks with long shanks. Hook your cricket on one side up through the back and it will stay active a lot longer. And active baits catch bluegill.

I have wonderful luck in Florida fishing for bluegill and the fish there run from 1 - 3 pounds and I love catching those big Florida Bluegill.

Another thing people need to keep in mind and understand is that the mouth of the bluegill is small and so you need to use small lures and small baits. Bluegill will also eat up all your bait in a hurry especially red worms and you should keep in mind that you can use a real little piece of worm on a small hook and catch plenty of bluegill. Once you start fishing and start throwing your line in with a small piece of worm on it the bluegill will grab it. Bluegill are really aggressive when they start eating and will grab small pieces of worm in the water.

You will also find that when bluegill spawn in early spring and summer that this is the best time to catch bluegill. The male bluegill on the beds will attack small lures reeled or pulled through the beds. The lures need to be small that you use and by this I mean small enough for the bluegills mouths which are small. This is another mistake a lot of people make is that they try to use lures that are to large for the bluegill they are trying to catch.

I just love to fish for bluegill with wet and dry flies. I fish dry flies about three feet under a small clear plastic float and I throw out let the flie get still and then jerk it slightly to get the flie to move. As I move the flie I usually get a bite. I often fish two wet flies on the same line about a foot apart and quite often catch two bluegill at the same time. I like to use a small rod and reel so I really feel the strike when the bluegill takes the bait.

I often use meal warms to fish for bluegill with and I usually use bright gold small hooks and hook the meal worm through the tail and toss it out. I usually set up my line so I have the gold hook with the meal worm hooked through the tail at the bottom and about two feet up the line I have a medium size split shot and about a foot above that I have a clear plastic float and I usually catch a lot of bluegill with this setup. However if the bluegill are deeper you may need to adjust the depth of your bait so you are fishing it deeper. You can also try fishing along the edges of water where the water goes from shallow to deep.

I hope these tips will help you catch a lot of bluegill and if you do please post a comment down below. Or if you have fishing tips for bluegill feel free to post those. Thanks for reading. I appreciate it. And good luck on your next bluegill fishing trip.