Bass Lake Blue Gill Report

I made my annual 4th of July trip to Bass Lake in Itasca County, things are quite different this year but with a little persistance and patience we were able to boat several large bull gills hitting the tapes at up to 10.5 inches. I have been going to this area since I was a kid so every year I pull into the cabin and launch the boat, while i’m walking on the dock I remeber my dad saying, " Joe get inside, you can’t see your bobber anymore." And I would always reply, " One more cast." Now that I am older and married I have a wife begging to turn the lights on in the boat and just one more big bluegill and we can go in. I have a real soft spot for fishing bluegills under floats and with fish like these it’s pretty easy to convince me to make one more cast.

We found the day bite to be a little off for us this year, the fish are starting to move shallow and several of the females have not spawned yet this year. If you are going to fish this lake remember that their is a 5 fish daily possession on gills and there is a very good chance you will be checked the game wardens. I have noticed due to some really strong winter pressure, every year the gills seem to be a little tougher to find. We definetly noticed a stonger evening bite which seemed to start around 9:00 P.M. Usually at this time the fish seemed to really congregate, but this year even though that was the prime time bite you were better off keeping you trolling motor down and staying on the move resulting in better quality fish.

We had our best luck fishing leeches under bobbers. Every now and then I would take off the bobbers and cast a split shot rig just for a little change up. I was able to round up some small leeches at the local bait shop, which usually has a nice variety of leeche size. In the evening the fish wanted the biggest leeches in the container, while during the day the fish preferred the smaller presentation. If would have botten large or jumbo for the evening bite I am confident they would smash them also. I also had good luck on waxies and a plain hook, along with waxies and plastics but hands down it was pretty tough to beat the leech.

The fish seemed to be relating to drop offs and lilly pads. I did best on areas that had sandy bottoms or areas that when you pulled you anchor is wasn’t full of 5lbs of weeds and muck. Fishing conditions were almost perfect this weekend, with low winds you were able to fan cast the weed beds and lilly pads keeping on the active fish. It’s pretty tough to beat wrestling a 10in. + bull out of a giant patch of lillys. Right now is a fantatastic time to be on the water so remember to take a kid fishing and practice CPR.

Tight Lines,

Joey