Last Ice/First Open Water Gills

Usually when it comes to ice fishing I am an avid walleye and trout guy. This winter though I found a new found love for bluegill fishing. The constant all day action on an ultralight rod made for some great afternoons. Early season I was able to pound the fish putting my limit on the ice in no time. It was an automatic limit no questions asked every time I hit the ice. As the late season rolled around (End of Feb/Beginning of March) the bite slowed down to a screeching halt. With my underwater camera I could tell that the gills were just not as active and not feeding the same. I found them higher in the water column and in smaller schools. I threw everything under the sun at them and could not get a good bite going. As the ice is clearing up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan I am exciting to get out on the boat and target these same fish.
Any suggestions on how to target these first open water fish? I was thinking anywhere from a simple slip bobber rig and night crawlers to using my 4wt fly rod. I am inexperienced when it comes to panfishing so any and all suggestions would be helpful.
Thank you and tight lines!

I’m not an expert and generally only panfish open water until bass season opens, but I find the warmest water in the lake and they are usually there, whether it’s up on shallow sand/pebble flats or weedlines.

Don’t overlook docks either.

I am south of you but sunny days in spring can be great fishing. They come up and sun themselves and a fly rod is deadly on them. I have a large lake west of me that has a lagoon where the boat launch is and it is about 6 foot deep. Here I use ice jigs fished 3 to 4 foot deep with a wax worm. The big gills com in the warmer water and stay for a couple of weeks. You can fish them from shore here. This year I am going to try small Burkley minnows. This area is the first area here where they come into and usually in April or earl May. Later get the boat out and check out along the drop offs in deeper water just before they bed