The excitement of first ice is long past. Cold fronts and high pressure make the going tough. Deep snow, thick ice, and short daylight hours add to the growing list of variables making mid winter ice fishing laborious, and sometimes downright uninspiring. There’s a cure.

Next time someone asks you if you’re suffering from mid winter blues, respond by saying, "Why yes I am, that is, blue – gills." Purist bluegill hunters realize that although the early ice period yields some fish, the best is yet to come. It’s tough to duplicate the ferocity that walleyes, northern pike, and even crappies demonstrate early in the winter. But sunfish, predominately bluegills, work with a timetable that sees an increase in activity during February - ultimately peaking sometime in March. By employing a little savvy and critical thinking you can enjoy bluegill success today!

Locating and catching small sunfish is no feat. In fact, engaging school after school of three and four-inch sunfish is a downright nuisance. They swarm, steal bait, and after awhile it’s evident that relocation is in order. Knowing that your particular lake is loaded with active fish might lead you to simply choose another spot in hopes of hooking bigger fish. But a better bet is to mobilize to a lake with more favorable characteristics.

The northern states, such as Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, are speckled with lakes of varying sizes and classes. And most lakes possess some capability to produce legitimate panfish. But it takes a special mix of environmental circumstances to create hog bluegills on a consistent basis.

Traditionally, preferred lakes fall into the class of late mesotrophic to eutrophic. Features like abundant shoreline vegetation characterize late mesotrophic lakes, stained water, shallow soft-bottomed bays, minimal to no rock structure, and a main basin that’s dominated by clay and mud where there once was sand, gravel, or hardpan. Eutrophic lakes are even older and more fertile. Their clarity ranges from stained to murky and water deeper than 20 to 25 feet is rare. They feature flat weedy shorelines and usually a bay or channel that fades into a marsh. Eutrophic lakes commonly occur in agricultural areas and bog-country.

Such lakes tender massive littoral zones – a littoral zone being the percentage of a lake found in 15 feet and under. Littoral zones breathe life into a lake. A lake’s oxygen production and basis for a food chain originates from a vegetated littoral zone. Booming littoral zones are critical to bearing big bluegills.

Quality lake maps reveal enough clues to determine if a particular lake falls into our definition. But you can take lake-selection a step further by consulting with DNR surveys. In Minnesota, the Department of Natural Resources keeps detailed catch, netting, and stocking information on most lakes. You can access this information by mail, but an even more expeditious means to view such information is on their web site. Lake maps are even provided for review and downloading at no charge! Now this is how our tax dollars should work…

Statistics to look for are littoral area versus total acreage, gill net results, trap net results, length of selected species sampled for all gear, and the area fisheries specialist’s review. Gill net, trap net, and length of selected species results reveal total bluegill numbers, average sizes, and how their average size compares to that of similar lakes. Statistics are telling, but the most poignant information comes from the summary. Summaries disclose what species of fish the lake is best suited for, as well as predictions for particular year classes that are ready to explode.

Moving on, let’s assume you have a lake in mind. Next, identify the major flats, bars, and humps – mid winter bluegills gravitate toward such formations.

Bluegills suspend over expansive flats while foraging on zooplankton. They occasionally dip down to feed if a mud base teems with bugs and worms. Historically, the best bluegill producing flats range in depth from 15 to 25 feet, and the bigger the better – they tend to hold more fish.

Flats hold fish throughout daylight hours. Once bluegills school over deeper flats it’s easier to locate and catch them at midday than it had been earlier in the winter.

What makes a flat even more attractive is the presence of an underwater bar. A large swirling shoreline bar protruding into a classic flat is worthy of consideration. As with flats, bigger bars tend to hold the most fish. The perfect bar is a submerged irregularly shaped extension of dulled shoreline point. During daytime hours expect to find bluegills suspending along the bar’s edge or just beyond the break out into the flat. At dawn and dusk it’s quite common for bluegills to forage over the top in 5 to 15 feet of water. Remaining weeds and oddities such as rocks will draw even greater numbers of bluegills to use a particular bar.

Subtle humps are the third defining structural objects in a big time bluegill fishery. Often referred to as "sunken islands", what you’re looking for are sand, gravel, and/or weed topped humps lying adjacent to or within a primary flat. An example of a prolific hump would be one that rises to a peak of 10 to 15 feet of water from a surrounding 25 foot flat.

Explore deeper water ringing the hump during daytime hours – bluegills will likely be suspending over the flat, but not too far from the hump. Work the hump’s crest and breaks in the morning and evening. In fact, if you chance upon an interesting hump during the day, but find it to be void of fish, don’t totally discount the structure. Instead, return at dusk because there is a strong chance bluegills or crappies will move in.

Possibly the hottest spot to uncover relating to humps is a "saddle" between two humps, or a "saddle" between a hump and a bar or shoreline. An example of saddle between a hump and a bar is as follows: A 10-foot hump rises from a large 24 foot flat. A primary shoreline bar extends into the flat and points directly at the 10-foot hump. Between the bar and hump lies an 18-foot deep saddle that covers 50 yards. The 18-foot saddle breaks to 24 feet on either side. This is a gold mine!

In the event that your favored body of water is bigger and clearer than the previous example, there are things you can still do to pinpoint bluegills. Firstly, look for a fertile bay or bays off the main lake. Many times weedy silt bottomed bays are components of otherwise deep, clear, and rocky waters. But in order to hold bluegills at mid winter a bay still must contain a maximum depth of at least 15 feet. Treat an individual bay like a small lake – look for bars, humps, and a primary flat.

Bluegills residing in the main body of a large clear lake are subject to intense pressure from predators. In response, they spend much of the winter nestled amongst remaining greenery along the outside weededge. Weededges on clear lakes commonly range down to 15 an even 20 feet of water. You’ll need to scour weed beds to extract daytime bluegills. And even if you find fish buried in the vegetation getting them to bite is challenging. A better approach might be to spend a couple of hours at dawn and dusk working along the outer edge – this is when clear water bluegills are most vulnerable. Points and bars featuring deep outside weededges are better yet.

One more structural entity worth throwing into the mix, regardless of what type of lake you’re fishing, are narrows or "bottlenecks". Schooling bluegills regularly pass through deep narrows while traversing between two flat areas. Narrows naturally "eliminate water" by channeling bluegills into a concentrated zone.

My foremost lures or presentations for bluegills are Lindy Little Joe’s "Genz" Fat Boy, a small willow spoon by Bad Dog Lures or Ivan’s, HT Enterprises’ Marmooska, Custom Jigs & Spins’ Demon, and a plain-fine wire #14 hook stuffed with wax worms or maggots. Each has its own place and time.

The horizontally hanging Genz Fat Boy is the best all around bluegill bait. It’s heavy for its size, which lets you reach deep fish fast. The lure’s wide profile marks clearly on the screen of a Zercom or Vexilar. A Fat Boy’s fine hook efficiently penetrates wax worms and maggots without shredding them. And the fact that bluegills simply love to inhale Fat Boys shouldn’t go unmentioned.

The fierce fluttering action produced by a jigged willow spoon both attracts bluegills and triggers larger fish. Try loading a willow spoon up with wax worms and pump it aggressively over prospective bluegill habitat. Bits and pieces of wax worm will tear free and create a cloud of mouth-watering debris.

HT Enterprises’ Marmooska, an age-old pattern that’s been imported from Europe, can be interchanged with a Fat Boy. A Marmooska’s finest attributes are its unique coloration, extra sharp hook, and peculiar wobble, which really seems to drive sunfish nuts.

A Custom Jigs & Spins Demon, a vertically hung glow jig, is perfect for a secondary "deadstick". Dress your Demon with a tiny crappie minnow. Hostile bluegills will accept a minnow, plus, the constant struggling action holds even neutral fish in the strike zone. Rig the Demon and minnow with either a small float or position a sensitive rod tip directly over the hole.

The plain hook and wax worm/maggot offering can be jigged or used as a deadstick. As a deadstick, just give it a pump every now and then to trigger nearby fish. And a final note about panfish hooks, look for a long shank or Aberdeen model because they set firmly and can be easily removed from a bluegill’s jaw.

Color choice is determined by water clarity and light levels. In stained water I prefer chartreuse, orange, and glow jigs. Black, lime green, and glow seem to perform better in clear water. Red accents are always desirable.

How you tip a lure is as important as choosing the lure itself. Start by hooking two or three wax worms on a Fat Boy – slide the hook tip through their tails so that the heads face away. Thread a single wax worm all the way up the hook if you’re getting bites but not landing fish with multiple worms. Real finicky fish might prefer maggots (Eurolarvae). Carefully hook a couple of maggots by piercing them between the "eyes", or two dark spots found on the flat end. And no matter what type of bait you use it’s very important to cover the hook tip.

Jigging sequence is a matter of developing a motion that works on your particular body of water. Incorporate both a swimming and twitching action. Start at the bottom and snap your rod tip with six-inch lifts while allowing the bait to drop just a few inches in between jigs. The result is a constant rising and spiraling motion that imitates zooplankton. Slowly swimming the jig back and forth is another tantalizing motion to incorporate into a jigging pattern. And it’s significant to include long pauses when bluegills are lethargic – gently quivering or "pounding" is alternative to long motionless pauses.

Hitting the lake properly equipped with rods, reels, and line is highly important. Small open face reels by Silstar, Diawa, and Shimano perform admirably. Pair your reel with a quality 24 to 36-inch rod. A "noodle" rod with a sensitive tip and plenty of backbone for hook sets is what you want in a deadstick – consider the 24-inch Power Noodle by Thorne Bros. A good jigging rod offers the utmost in "feel" combined with strength and a fast tip. A good rod allows you to sense light bites and a jig moving up and down. Strength is necessary to battle-big panfish with a narrow blank diameter and light line. A fast tip engages instantaneous hook sets. Thorne Bros. Sweet Heart is a prized 28-inch graphite pole.

Small diameter light line is also necessary. I prefer two-pound test strength Berkley Cold Weather line. Its soft enough to perform in a frozen environment, yet strong enough to tackle hefty bluegills if teamed with the right rod and reel. You can get by with wider diameter four-pound test line in stained water or if the fish are so aggressive they don’t have time to examine your line. Fluorocarbon lines are something else I recommend experimenting with. Extreme low visibility fluorocarbons by Stren and Seaguar are expensive, but incredibly effective on wary bluegills.

I’ll close this article by speaking to electronics. The modern day bluegill angler should never leave home without a flasher. My Vexilar FL-8 is as an important part of the complete arsenal as is an auger. The high power flasher reveals in a three color display depth, fish, bottom content, debris (bug hatches or zooplankton), and even my lure bouncing up and down.

And a recent addition to the team is my new Aquaview II (IR). This upgraded version of Aquaview’s original underwater camera comes in completely self-contained package and with an infrared lens, which improves visibility in low light. Underwater cameras assist in researching structure. With my Aquaview II I’m able to identify green weeds, find pockets in a weed bed, determine bottom content, and even watch fish react to a presentation.

So when the crappies get lockjaw, walleyes retreat, and big pike seem to disappear, there’s a remedy at hand. Go get the blues - that is, bluegills.