The quest for big bluegills never stops
When it comes to finding and catching jumbo panfish and putting all the pieces together in the never-ending search for monster bluegills, I politely bow to the quiet man from St. Cloud, Minn.
Dave Genz prides himself on being able to get out onto a lake and "strain it," so to speak, when he's hunting jumbo crappies and bluegills. Genz is a one-man traveling ice artist who has taught me a thing or two during various outings around the Midwest.
Because Genz is a natural on the frozen stuff, his presence is highly sought. And he makes a habit of addressing large crowds, teaching anglers some of his secrets.
He helped form the famous Ice Team, a promotional platoon of knowledgeable ice fishermen. They drive from state to state in search of the big fish lakes, and they usually come up with some fascinating results.
It's the meticulous preparation Genz and his followers adhere to prior to attacking a body of frozen water that makes the difference.
Long ago, Genz explained to me that one of the biggest faults ice anglers exhibit is an unwillingness to constantly change to fresh bait. Genz buys his creepy crawlers in bulk, and by the end of a week he often has to re-order.
His bait of choice for perch, bluegills and crappies are those tiny, colorful Euro-Larvae. Genz has proven a lively Euro-Larvae maggot will often outfish a plain-Jane spike (maggot) hands down. These colored baits are fed food dye and then kept in a state of suspended animation by cooling them down.
I have to admit that I thought I was doing great when I once caught a dozen 1-pound bluegills from a lake near Madison, Wis. Great, that is, until Genz spoke of catching a 2-pound bluegill from a lake hundreds of miles west of Illinois.
"There's nothing like a battle with big bluegills," he said, "and they didn't get to be that big by being stupid and vulnerable."
Genz praises the Vexilar company for coming up with the now famous FL-8 and FL-18 flasher fish-finder units. "You can see your jig drop down the water column and also see how fish rise to the bait and grab it," he said.
Genz also urges ice anglers not to waste much time in one spot. In fact, he'll often move to a new hole if after three drops he doesn't get a strike.
"A lot of the jumbo bluegills live in farm ponds, but they also inhabit fertile lakes where the weed growth is healthy," he said. "I look for weed edges and pockets close to deep water, and that's where I'll focus my attention."
And so goes the continuing saga about a master bluegiller, a person who enjoys the cold months all for the love of the sport.