# Bluegill angler goes against conventional panfishing wisdom



## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Bluegill angler goes against conventional panfishing wisdom

http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/statewide/index.ssf?/base/sports-1/118464180868980.xml&coll=1

07/21/07 By Bob Gwizdz

LAWRENCE -- Ever since anglers discovered structure fishing -- concentrating on areas where there's a change in the water bottom contour -- it has been the single-most dominant technique for virtually all warm-water species. 

But Denny Hettig, a retired utilities worker and self-confessed panfish aficionado, says anglers who concentrate on structure are missing a significant proportion of the panfish that are roaming around, staying away from structure to keep from being eaten by their bigger brethren. 

Hettig says slow trolling in open water consistently produces good catches of quality bluegills. He likes to troll in water that is 20 feet or deeper and stay away from vegetation.

"It's the opposite of everything you know about panfishing," he said. 

Hettig showed me his techniques recently on a small Van Buren County lake. He left the boat ramp and headed right toward the middle of the lake, trolling with red worms on a spinner rig that resembled a downsized nightcrawler harness. We started catching fish immediately. 

"You just wander," he said. "Once you find a school of fish, you just stay in the general area until you stop hitting them because they wander, too. You're fishing deep with no structure to hold them. 

"Generally, the later in the day, the better the fishing gets. As the day progresses, they move out deeper. You've probably noticed it; you're running across the lake and you're marking fish out in open water. That's what these are." 

Hettig's home-made bluegill rigs are proving so popular that a number of bait shops have asked him to make them for them to sell. Available at just a few stores -- D&R Sports in Kalamazoo will ship them anywhere, however -- Bo's Bluegill Busters (Bo, for the record, is his dog) are selling faster than Hettig can make them. He ties them on about a 2 1/2-foot leader with No. 6 or No. 8 steelhead hooks on 4-pound test line. He uses quality components, he says, so they cost a little more than if he used cheaper hooks and beads, but they last longer and produce better. 

Hettig prefers to troll them on longish (say, 8 feet) limber rods, but that's just a personal preference. 

"You can do this with a Snoopy pole," he said. "It doesn't matter. I've got a friend who's doing it off a pontoon boat with a cane pole."

Hettig likes light line (4-pound test) on his spinning reels. 

"Anytime you kick the line up, you're not going to catch as many fish," he said. 

Hettig regularly speeds up and slows down his troll and says no one speed works best all the time.

"What works in the morning may not work at noon," he said. "I'm always experimenting. But the faster you go, the more bass you're going to catch. Any predator fish makes that instantaneous decision to attack. They kill it." 

Hettig uses a No. 0 spinner about 90 percent of the time. 

"If you go to a bigger blade, you run higher in the water. Most people think you run deeper. Uh-uh. The other problem with bigger blades is you start catching more bass. And if there's any pike in the lake . . . stay away from the weedbeds." 

I can attest to the bass part. We caught about three dozen of them among the 75 or so bluegills we boated, fishing up to about 11 a.m. 

Open-water trolling "is best right after the bluegills come off the beds, but you can do it all year," Hettig said. "When you get good at it, a box of worms is a limit of fish. 

"The first time you go to a lake, just make slow, lazy S's across the lake. That'll make your bait raise and drop." 

Pay attention to when your bites are coming, Hettig says. If they're coming from the inside rod on a turn, the fish are deeper. If they're coming from the outside, the fish are higher.

That bit of advice paid off for us. After we went through a slow spell, we noticed we were catching most of our fish on the inside rods, when turning. So we added a little more weight to our lines and started really socking them. 

Hettig says he fishes about 60 or 70 different lakes a year, just to see what's going on. 

"It works on 90 percent of the lakes I go to," he said. "Generally, the lakes where it doesn't work well are weedy and shallow."

Although he often catches limits of fish (like many anglers, he keeps detailed logs), Hettig says he only keeps 10 per trip, so he doesn't impact the lake. Seven- to eight-inch bluegills are the best eating, he says; anglers who regularly keep giant bluegills are cutting into the spawning stock. 

"You can catch as many as you want doing this, so be responsible," Hettig said. "Don't screw up the lake." 

As for bait, red worms, leaf worms or baby nightcrawlers all work well. Hettig says he's never noticed that spinner color makes much of a difference except for the general rule: dark colors better on dark days, bright colors on bright days. 

"But the clearer the water, the farther back from your boat you have to be," he said. "That's just common sense." 

Although Hettig is convinced his pattern produces better than anchoring, he says anglers who want to bobber fish can incorporate it into their routine. 

"If you want to fish with a bobber, this is an awesome way to find fish," he said.


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