Show Bluegill Battlers Ever bait up a six or eight adjust the flip in your line and have the hog-wild bluegill tear the cane pole right out of your you probably if this little could compare tn size with some of Its larger much of your fishing would be a degenerate sport by Few other fish can make a line ring like a freshly-deceived Like grandfather s this little fellow is almost always ready to Let's look at a few of the things that regulate his says Gilbert of the Missouri conservation Probably the best known member of the sunfish the bluegill enjoys a wide range of latitude and Originally a native of the Great and eastern seaboard drainage the bluegill may now be caught from New York to California and from mid-Canada to Although the Ideal pond fish Is yet to be fish would probably agree that the bluegill is our most most successful the Introduction of this species over most of the United States and much of Doubtless more people are familiar with the bluegill than any other one there and probably always some confusion with other cousins of the sunfish Common names are themselves for by locality the bluegill becomes brim and a host of other Like most other the bluegill is much flattened He is considerably rounded on his whereas the belly follows somewhat straighter like most other depends a great deal on the water It The back is almost always a dark Most of the upper two-thirds of the body and the excepting the lower gill covers and ear shares shades of with a sprinkling of and lavender thrown The under-parts are usually painted a rich yellow oi The throat area is often a strikingly deep bordered above by paie blue gill As might be the or gill it a deep In many bluegills spawn from May to They are colonial and numbers of males may be seen guarding their respective nests in a spawning The a small circular depression on a gravel bottom or a clean-swept area on clay or Is constructed by the some time previous to spawning To the male also falls the chore of fanning the eggs to keep them free from and to prevent an ever-hungry horde of scavengers from partaking of a free Actual counts of the eggs taken from female bluegills range from to as many as depending on the and physical condition of the Counts of fry taken from nests range upward to Since the young ordinarily become themselves during their first year of the poten-tl number of offspring from a few fish becomes enormous over the span of a few Therein lies the reasoning behind the present bass-bluegill pond stocking Bluegills are primarily insect ba are feeding largely upon young and immature there is danger in such large-scale If balanced pr lator-prey relationships are disturbed by overpopulation may readily occur in small bodies of As previously the bluegill feeds largely on insects and their but an occasional minnow or small fish may be AAA Don't The practice of in a fish understandable the stress and excitement of landing a big one Is probably the cause of more lost fish than any other one The angler can avoid it by keeping a fairly tight but easing up a bit when it appear the fish wants to fight Play the until it Is through and can be brought up without dashing around in fright when it Wees |