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Catching the Bulls
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Bull Gill 
       Bull Gill

  Catching the smaller gills is a pretty easy thing to do for anyone. When you want to step up to getting the bulls then you have to work a little harder at it, and go back to fishing instead of catching to get the gills that run 9 inches and up. These bull gills tend to be loaners or hang out with just a couple of other bulls. You wont find them in the schools with the smaller fish, so if you are getting gills under  8 inches move for the bulls. During spawning the big gills tend to prefer deeper water, probably because the smaller fish are gathered in the shallows. In the summer, the big bulls will head out to deeper water with some sort of cover they can hide in. At times these fish will suspend so watch your electronics carefully. If your not having any luck catching the bulls with the bait you are using switch to something else, and try different baits in all the spots you go to.

Key Essentials

Patience The bulls will tend to look the bait over for a while before they take it, so you'll have to wait for at least 20 minutes per spot before you move on.
Mobility You'll need to be able to move around allot. Try a spot for 20 minutes and move out, but approach the next spot quietly. Big bulls scare easy and will move on you, if you come in with too much noise. Try drifting in a light wind. Set your boat so it drifts along a deep weedline or use an electric trolling motor.
Bait Use a whole night crawler and cover the entire hook or try a crayfish tail. Small rapala's will also take bull gills along with small minnows.

Spawn and feeding info

Spawn Beds Sand and fine gravel
Spawn Temperatures 67F to 80F
Peak Feeding Temperature 69F
 

 

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Last modified: April 02, 2000