Time to ponder the last bluegill bite of winter

Under COVID’s 10-day protocol (talk about sleepless nights waiting for test results) I had time to review over a dozen years of my ice fishing notes.

I don’t consider my fishing day, or a long trip, done until I complete my notes.

Anyway, the review revealed something I didn’t realize. It seems that in nine of those last 12 years, the last species I caught was a bluegill (or pumpkinseed).

Two of those years a trout was the last fish of the ice season, one rainbow, one brook, and finally a largemouth – a real doozie, a 4-plus pounder.

But it was the nine out of 12 bluegills that drew my COVID interest. Perhaps from a high fever?

Now I’d like to say that those nine gills were caught in the same depth range, either very shallow (3 to 6 feet) or moderately deep, (7 to 12 feet), and all with the same bait.

But that wouldn’t be true.

And so studying those notes, I realized that not all roses are red. Even in the late season – because conditions are so variable – the bluegills did a lot of different things between mid-February and March’s ice out in the northern tier.

I’d like to say I discovered a secret to late ice consistency but I haven’t, because – and this is certainly true – there is no consistency to be had.

There were too many variables: ice conditions, weather, water color, weed array, type of lake and just how the lake’s been fishing all winter.

Five of those nine bluegill endings occurred on the same lake – I must be a creature of obscure habits – but they were not all the same.

But in this inconsistency, that I think all ice fishermen have experienced, I did learn something important.

What my notes revealed was that if I kept to my season-long tried and true techniques and really searched around with my sonar, I did find good numbers of quality bluegills.

I’ve been writing about first-ice bluegills for years but rarely, if not ever, late-ice bluegills.

Seems in the late season I do much better using some form of larva bait as opposed to soft plastics.

Did it really matter if I chose waxworms, spikes or mousies in this pursuit? For the most part, no – but on some lakes with a decided bait preference, like spikes on Hills Creek Lake in Pennsylvania or waxworms on Lackawanna Lake, the choice of larva bait did matter.

But understand, I’m talking bluegills here, not finicky crappies, perch or walleyes.

In addition, I stuck to two presentations – two lure types – to make these catches. One of the two was the ubiquitous but unsung chain spoon.

Again, because of my COVID quarantine last year, I watched a bunch of YouTube videos, particularly ice fishing videos. The quality of these things vary greatly from the truly informative and well produced to absolute trash.

However, I didn’t view a single video, even the good ones, that featured the chain spoon.

For the unknowing, chain spoons have a thin metal strip – the spoon – that basically serves as an attractor to the live bait as opposed to spoons worked with active movement.

Below the attractor metal is a flimsy chain that ends in, usually, a single hook though I’ve seen some treble hooks. The hook is baited with a larva or a piece of minnow. I don’t recall ever using, solely, a soft plastic on a chain spoon.

The action wouldn’t be right.

This lure is not meant to be wildly jigged. In fact, if you did that, the light chain would get wrapped around the spoon or line. And that ruins the spoon’s action.

The spoon of a chain spoon is meant as an attractor – it calls the fish which then go to the live bait.

Chain spoons will spin like kids around a Maypole and that spinning will twist a line something fierce. For that reason I like to attach a very small swivel about 18 inches above the lure.

The currents and your very short jigging action will cause the spoon on the leader to constantly revolve – and that’s a good thing. A good chain spoon will have wiggly lines or color separated pattern with either a silver, gold or rainbow backing.

I have to note that gills have a habit of coming up to a baited chain spoon and sitting in front of it like they were reading Tolstoy’s War and Peace (highly recommended but it took me eight months to finish).

So if you’re using a chain spoon for late-season bluegills, give the fish plenty of time to make up its mind. Only slightly jiggle the lure and I also recommend using at least two larva baits on the hook – three if they’re diminutive spikes.

And here’s something outside my notes. Even under the ice, don’t be afraid to use a one-inch chunk of Canadian nightcrawler.