13 Bream Fishing Tips – How To Catch Bluegill Aka Bream A Definitive Guide

T. S. Hudson caught a 4-pound 12-ounce bluegill back in 1950. Hudson’s is still the biggest bluegill ever caught. The reason I bring this up is to contrast it with the fact that 70% of all bream caught are usually under one pound in weight. This is because bigger bluegills are older, wiser, and harder to hook. Do you want to catch big bream? READ ON for the ULTIMATE bream fishing tips.

Before the tips, let me tell you the secret of the best anglers.

All anglers worth their salt have a vast knowledge of fish. This is what enables them to succeed where others fail. With this in mind, before learning how to fish for bluegill, a few questions are due:​

• Where do bluegills live?
• What do bluegill fish eat?
• What bluegill fishing techniques work best?

The three questions bring to light the most important aspects of fishing for bluegill.

• 1. The Location To Fish.
• 2. The Bait To Use.
• 3. The technique to use.

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The Peculiar Habits And Characteristics Of The Bluegill Fish

1. Food

Let us begin by answering the question, “What do bluegills eat?”

Bream is not a very choosy when it comes to diet. It practically eats everything we eat. Even the kitchen crumbs you throw away are a delicacy to the bluegill.

The voracious appetite is what makes the fish easy to catch.

Do not get me wrong. Not all bluegill is easy to hook. Bigger more experienced bream is harder to hook.

Good bream fishing bait works for smaller bluegills. It is, however, only half of what you need to hook bigger bream.

So, what is the other half?

The other half is some lesser known bluegill fishing tips.

When you are out on the water, what you want is to hook the bigger bream fish. Without the proper bream fishing tips, you will never achieve this. Many big bream will just swim past your bait.

That said, let us get back to what bream fish eat. In their natural habitats, bream eat;

• Molluscs
• Smaller Fish
• Insects
• Tadpoles

Practically, bream fish consume any animal small enough to fit into their mouths.

The bluegill is a nocturnal fish. The nocturnal tendencies make night time the best time to catch bream.

Your bluegill fishing bait should mimic the bluegill’s natural prey. Complement the bait with some human food. For one reason or the other, bream love the combination.​

Another thing I have noticed is that bluegill love pellets and mini boils. Integrate the same with some live bait, and, you have yourself the best bait for bluegill.​

2. Location

Bream is usually very shy. They are to be found very far from the shore. I am talking about distances of up to 100 yards from the coast!

The only time they come close to the shore is when feeding; at night.​

Another peculiarity of the bream fish is the fact that they follow the wind. To find bream, find a place with a ripple. Setup your bluegill fishing rig such that the wind is against your face. You can be sure the bluegills are not very far away.​

I usually set out when the warm Westerly is blowing. During winter, the cold Easterly will quickly freeze you to death. To overcome this, set up your rig to give you a good fishing angle without turning your face into a Popsicle.​

Another thing is the depth of swim. Bluegills swim very deep.​

You need first; to learn how to bring them to the surface, before you learn how to fish for blue gill. During freezing winters, bream may swim as deep as 30-feet below the surface.​

The best way to lure bream fish to the surface is by pre-baiting. Very few fish species respond to pre-baiting with the intensity of the bluegill.​

3. The Techniques To Use

Technique varies with the seasons. The variation is because fish behavior changes with the seasons. The sex and size of the bream fish you want to catch also determines the technique to employ.

In a nutshell, the three things that will inform the method you use are:

• a. The Sex Of The Fish To Catch
• b. The Size Of the Fish To Catch
• c. Season.

a. The Sex Of The Fish

Males are more reserved than the females. They also have a preference for live bait. If you want to land the bigger man-fish, use a lot of live bait.

Bait for bluegill should target the particular type of bluegill you want to hook.​

During the spawning season, the males guard the nest. Dangle the bait close to the nest, if, you want to catch the male fish. Retrieval should be very slow because the fish is usually very reluctant to move far from the nest.​

b. The Size Of The fish

Bigger bream are older than smaller bream. The best bluegill fishing technique for bigger fish is to make the line less visible. Bream have surprisingly excellent vision. They can easily spot out the 4lb line.

Paradoxically, they can hardly see the 2 lb line, but, hook them with it, and they will break it! Fluorocarbon lines fix the paradox. They are virtually invisible to the bigger bream and, strong enough to wrestle them out of the water.

Retrieval should be a precise mimicry of prey. The larger and cleverer bream are finicky of strange behavior.

c. Season

When it is cold, bream fish are relatively dormant. Retrieval should, therefore, be slow and weak looking. Such extraction will ensure that the bluegills bite. It is unlikely that bluegill will chase down prey during the winter.​

Hot and warm weather see the bluegills more active. I encourage quick retrievals during such times. The bluegills are active enough to hunt down prey.

Autumn is another impressive season. We have ascertained that bream are nocturnal. During autumn, however, there is a slight change. Due to the cooling temperatures, bream bite even at midday. If ever there was a time to fish for bream during the day, it is during the autumn!

Now that we have laid down the basics let us look at some of my time-tested Blue gill fishing tips. The first part of this article will help you understand why each technique works.

The Best Bream Fishing Tips You Can Ever Learn

1. Autumn Fishing

60% of all above-average-size bream bite during the autumn. So you see; you need to know when to fish. The best bluegill lures can only take you so far.

September is the peak bream fishing month. It is a little-known secret, that, if you cannot bag a beautiful catch in September, you will probably not bag one an entire year.

2. Nocturnal Tendencies

​“To catch bluegill, think bluegill, be bluegill!” That is the best advice my granddad ever gave me. To catch bream fish, move on their schedule.

Their timetable says night time is feeding time. You have to learn to fish at night.

It is less comfortable than day fishing. You, therefore, have to choose between comfort and prize-size bream fish!​

3. Pre- Baiting

Bream swim very deep. To make sure they show up, introduce bait in the evening. The spot will be full of bluegills by night. Another plus of pre-baiting is that you find the bream in feeding mode.

The bream fish will be keen to bite your bait. Even the conservative males are hooked a lot after pre-baiting.

4. Small Sized Bait

No matter how big bream grows, it will always have a small mouth. To catch bream, ensure the bait for bluegill you are using is in small chunks.

​Bigger pieces will seem too unpalatable. Bluegill will swim away from bait they cannot fit into their mouth. Many anglers make a mistake to assume that larger bluegills go for bigger chunks.

​The fact of the matter is this, regardless of body size, mouth size is relatively constant.

5. Light Blue Gill Fishing Tackle

Bream have very light bites. Your tackle should be very light so as to allow you to feel the bites. Heavy tackles run the risk of having bites going unnoticed.

When you fail to notice bites to your line, hooking the fish will be impossible. You may go home disappointed and claim the lake is ‘dry.’

6. Patience Is Key

Bream swim as a school. Bait will, therefore, experience many tiny bites. Fight the temptation to yank the line too soon. Wait for the tell-tale pull to your line.​

Impatient Yanks may just spook the fish away from your rig. This discipline is easier learned than applied. The tiny bites to the bait usually trigger an angler’s reflexes to yank.​

Find a way to overcome this and your fishing will never be the same again.​

7. Bream Fishing With Crickets

Bream love crickets. Integrating crickets to my lure has helped me over the years. Surprisingly, bream respond better to crickets than to worms.​

Hook crickets that are still alive. When they wriggle in the water, bluegills are attracted. Fresh crickets also have the advantage of scent. When hooked, its scent will fill the water attracting the bream fish.​

8. Go With The Wind

As stated earlier, bream fish follow the wind. Most anglers ignore this fact. The few anglers who take wind direction into consideration reap enormous benefits.

Position yourself where you spot ripples on the water. The wind should be against your face. If you do not get a bite, shift to another similar position. Flexibility goes a long way in determining successful angling.​

9. Maintain Slow Movements On The Bait

When you stay for a long time without a bite, try moving the bait slowly. The action usually triggers the hunting instincts of bream fish. The result of this is bream fish taking the bait.​

So, as much as possible, try to keep your bait in motion. Stagnant bait bores the bluegills, and, they lose interest in it.

10. Use A Lot Of Pellets On Your Bait

Pellets are the best bait for blue gill. Bream cannot seem to get enough of them. I noticed long ago that nothing keeps bream swimming about your rig like pellets on your bait.

I recommend their integration into your bait. Mini-boils are also excellent for attracting bream fish. The combination of pellets, mini-boils, and live bait always works for me.​

11. Cloud The Waters

When out fishing, use commercial ground bait or regular flour to cloud the waters. The scent drives bluegills into a feeding frenzy. Remember to be careful with the amount you use.​

Too little will not attract the bream fish, and, too much will feed them enough to swim away and ignore biting. Another thing to consider is the current. When the water is not calm, cloud the waters some distance from your fishing rig.​

The current will bring it towards you. If you cloud the waters immediately about you, the current will benefit some lucky fishing rig downstream.​

12. Weeds are Bad For You

Bream hate swimming among the weeds. This habit is very peculiar. I peg it down to a survival instinct. The predators of the little bluegill love to hang around the weeds.​

Bluegills do not like being eaten. They, therefore, move far from the predatory fish, which, love the plant patches.​

To find out if you are above a weed garden just drop your hook and retrieve slowly. If it comes up entangled in plants, you should move to another area.​

13. Fly Fishing

In addition to learning what the best bluegill lure is, you need to master fly fishing. Very few techniques have the success of fly fishing when it comes to bream fishing.​

The trick is to get the fish to the surface. Pre-baiting and clouding the water with ground bait will do this perfectly. Fly fishing is the way to go when the bream are on the surface of the water. My best days bream fishing are when I am not too lazy to fly fish!​

These tips and techniques have worked for me for the past twenty-two years. As far as bream fishing tips go, I can vouch for the accuracy of these thirteen tips.​