San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Went ultralight fishing again at Otay. Caught a dozen or so small bass, but the highlight was seven large bluegill, all in the 2 to 2.5 pound range. Fish tacos here I come.

Nice Job Sir. Many people don't think panfish won't bite this time of the year. We're you using a fish finder?

Thanks

Those are some great bluegills. What did you catch them on?

Early release wrote: Sun Nov 26, 2023 7:42 am Those are some great bluegills. What did you catch them on?

I have a simple Garmin Striker 4 on my float tube, but I wasn't really actively targeting them with it. Not like the guys with forward facing sonar anyway. I was out-fishing all of them by the way. They were hover strolling and vertical spooning. I was using a tiny 2 inch sinking jerkbait in 20 to 30 feet of water. Making long casts letting it sink, then twitching it erratically back to the tube with lots of pauses. Like I said, I caught a lot of bass too, but they were small (as you might imagine) on that tiny lure and 4lb. test.

All in all it was really fun. Those big bluegill really put up an amazing fight on true ultralight gear.

Very nice it sounds like you had tons of fun out there, THANK YOU for the report and sure you'll enjoy those tacos! I'm glad most people would rather fish for bass. I found schools of gills from my kayak in 20' off the main lake flats at El Cap on Saturday. Not big ones but fun size on light gear and biting the ds brown powerworm, and released 'em all and went off looking for some crappie (the 'not biting' ones). Should have stayed with the gills!!!

blackcloud9 wrote: Sun Nov 26, 2023 5:09 pm Very nice it sounds like you had tons of fun out there, THANK YOU for the report and sure you'll enjoy those tacos! I'm glad most people would rather fish for bass. I found schools of gills from my kayak in 20' off the main lake flats at El Cap on Saturday. Not big ones but fun size on light gear and biting the ds brown powerworm, and released 'em all and went off looking for some crappie (the 'not biting' ones). Should have stayed with the gills!!!


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I am primarily a bass guy too. Sometimes though it's fun to switch it up, downsize all the gear, and catch a ton of fish right? I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my BFS rod and reel, and I suspect it will find a regular spot on my float tube.

I should also point out that I too release 99.9 % of everything I catch, but I will keep filet-sized bluegill or crappie on occasion. I mean they are tasty!