THE MAGIC HOUR BULLS

With twenty-four hours in the day, when is the prime-time bite going to be? Many different weather scenarios can play out on any given day but in this article, I’d like to give you my take on when the best “magic hour” time frames have been for me when it comes to icing big bluegills.

Morning: I have found that the post dawn hours of 7am through 10am have been prime time for targeting bigger gills. One big reason for this, is the fact that on many bodies of water, there are remnants of overnight bug hatches that are still lingering in the bottom three or four feet of the water column, especially during the first couple hours of light. Big bluegills will school up and become active following these bugs while gorging on them until the sun starts to get too high in the sky. Targeting this bite window while matching the hatch has led to multiple big 10”+ fish. After that bite slows down, there’s often a lull in the action due to full bellies and expended energy. When this happens, I often start targeting big rogue fish strictly on mud flats looking for bloodworm beds while waiting for the next “magic hour” feeding window. Fishing these flats requires a lot of hole hopping, run and gun style fishing approach. I often will start with a small Jointed Pinhead Mino tipped with a Silkie and spikes, pounding the bottom and watching for the big red marks to move in. I can’t tell you how many big rogues we’ve iced fishing like this while waiting for the next prime window!

Dusk: My favorite time to target mega gills is that 4pm to 6pm window. Very often these bigger fish will slide up into shallow water (5 to 8fow) and again start hunting for aquatic insects and small bait fish. This bite happens fast and can be very short lived, so a solid game plan with a stealthy approach is preferred. I like to start by drilling my grid up in the shallows about a half hour before this next “magic hour” window...that way, less noise is made during the peak of it all. I like to use the Clam Maggot Drop tipped with a crushed waxie and hole hop my grid up in the shallows. If you can find sparse weed patches of sand grass or decayed lily pad roots, you will be in a good position to cross paths with one or two of these big megs!

MY FAVORITE TIME TO TARGET MEGA GILLS IS THAT 4PM TO 6PM WINDOW. VERY OFTEN THESE BIGGER FISH WILL SLIDE UP INTO SHALLOW WATER (5 TO 8FOW) AND AGAIN START HUNTING FOR AQUATIC INSECTS