Bluegill

[Al Agnew]

When we got back home to Missouri, the pond next to the house was completely full and still running over the low spot around the far end of the dam that serves as a spillway.  I was wondering how the bluegill spawning was faring.  So the other day, I grabbed my 5 wt. fly rod, tied on a bass popper that was too big for bluegill to get it into their mouths, and started prospecting.  I didn't want to hook a bunch of them, because the males always suck the small poppers halfway down their throats, and I wasn't ready yet to keep a bunch of them.  All I was doing was checking the usual bedding areas in this 3/4th acre pond to see if they were there.  Bedding area 1, corner at the near end of the dam...check.  Area 2, off the point with a hard clay bottom, check.  Area 3, upper end of the pond, check.  Area 4, little cove about 20 feet across, check.  Area 5, corner at the far end of the dam, check.  I ended up actually hooking a half dozen out of 30 or so strikes, and also caught several bass.

A conservation agent once told me that to keep a pond in balance, you should take 100 bluegill and 10 bass per acre out of it each year.  So I usually take 50-75 bluegill per year out of my pond, and however many 10-12 inch bass I catch while I'm fishing for bluegill, which usually ends up being somewhere around 8-10.  My bass aren't all that fast-growing, but they reproduce like crazy, and there are a lot of those little ones in it.  The bluegill are nice ones, the males averaging about 9-10 inches...considerably bigger than my hand.

So this afternoon was bluegill harvest time.  I scrounged around in the garage until I found one lone bluegill size popper, crimped the barb down, and tied it onto my 5 wt.  I proceeded to bedding area number 1.  The first fish I caught, on the second cast, was a 10 inch bass, that went on the stringer.  Then I took a female bluegill, too small to keep, and another female, big enough.  Where the heck were the males?  Finally I caught two males.

My bluegill seem to hate moving poppers.  You always have to let them sit quietly for a few seconds before one will take.  I got one more take at area 1, and then toddled over to area 2.  Again, the first fish was a bass, this one only about 8 inches, not worth filleting.  Then I caught three male bluegill and another female.  But I had to lay the popper within a bathtub size area, nothing doing outside it.  On to area 3.

Another bass.  This one 12 inches.  Okay, I've now got two bass and six bluegill.  Then I caught a male that looked really old, colors washed out, kinda long and skinny for a bluegill.  I kept him.  Then another male, only about 8 inches, but I kept him.  Then a beautiful 10 inch male.  Then I made a cast over a sunken willow limb, hooked a strong bluegill, and he tangled me in the limb.  I broke off my only popper.  

So I had 11 fish.  I really wanted an even dozen.  I walked back to the garage, hung up the fly rod, and grabbed a casting rod with one of the Hi Def Craws already tied on from the last river fishing trip I did.  Walked out onto the little dock, made one cast along the side of the dam, and caught a 12 inch bass to round out my dozen.  Good enough.  Hung up the rod, went into the house to get the electric knife, and filleted my fish.  I didn't even bother to freeze them...they are going to be supper tomorrow night.  Life is good. 

[dan hufferd]

I found some nice bluegill on stockton in 30 feet of water. I have caught them deep in the fall on bottom bouncers on tablerock when fishing for walleye. Good eating.

Here is a pic of one of those that came from Stockton 30 feet deep.