Deep Water BG

[AtticaFish]

How do any of you go about catching gills in deep water? Have a very clear lake where the BG will stay pretty deep, any where from 15'-30' down either hugging bottom or suspending up just a little. They do travel up to the surface and some places near the bank right at dusk to take bugs off the surface, but the action is limited to only an hour or 2 at most.

If using jigs (tied or micro plastics) how do you rig them and what wt. would you use? A 1/80th - or even 1/64th - takes pretty long to get down and you loose any direct contact with your jig if there is ANY curl in your line.

Should i just give on the jigs and run a drop shot with a heavier weight on bottom and maybe a fly or live bait/hook above the weight? Would like to use jigs, but i'm open to any suggestions. :-/

 

[ragged edge]

dupont!

 

[baitmaster]

Attica,
During this past winter we fished 20'-35' of water with 1/32 oz jigs w/ black marabou tails. The jigs were tipped with crickets or night cralwers. It took almost 2-3 minutes for the jigs to hit bottom. Once on the bottom a very light jigging motion (about 2") produced a moderate amount of fish. A partner of mine tried using Blue Fox spoons wiht a rattle in them. He did pretty well jigging them with a larger pattern (close to 10").

 

[AtticaFish]

RE - I am betting the city water dept. (let alone the DNR) may not like me doing that.... i will keep that in mind for my "last ditch" effort... :shy:

BM - Thanks for the info, always think i want to go small for the BG, will give the upsize a try and make up some bigger tied jigs that i know work in smaller sizes. Small, heavier spoons may be an option i didn't think of.... thanks.

Got a surprise last night, was using an all black 1/80 under a float with my UL 4lb. line and a 17" smallmouth took me for a ride! Pulled lots of line and made several jumps - lots of fun - but no BG came home with me. Oh well... next time.

 

[jiggerjohn]

Hi Attica, I ran into that same situation some years back on the St Lawrence River when encountering huge 'gills in water 15-25' down (with moderate current).Once I found out how to get to them, it was virtually a slab every cast until I had a dinner or cooler full!! But,it's a family secret and I can't tell ya how!! Just kiddin' -I actually wrote this method up in an old Fishing Facts article! I used a 1/32 oz jighead with twister tail and just a nubbin (1/4") of cut nightcrawler to tip. I used 4# test mono and attached 2 medium sized split shots about 8" upline from the jig,seperated by about 2".I cast upstream and let the rig coming with the current sink to bottom. When the splits touched down (line slack) I lifted just a bit and jiggled the line. The tick came immediately and I'd lift the hook gently into another gill (or smallie or pike!). The weight being spread out didn't give big resistance on the hit, or a fast drop, to discourage the fish and the 3 weights (2 splits & a jig) all sank uniformly to bottom. This method was so effective that I considered never using anything else,ever (may have been ahead of the game with this!! Tho I think a small bunny hair jig would do the job better, without having to replace torn up soft plastics!). Hey.I'll be up your way (Vermilion) this weekend -hope the weather is somewhat stable!! JOHN