Show NOW R ilka PH bluegill battlers ever bait up a number six or eight hook adjust the bobber flip irl in your line and have the hog wild bluegill tear the cano cane pole pola right out of your hands no you probably but it if this little could compare in size with some ot of its larger brothers much of your fishing would be a degenerate sport by comparison rew few other fish can make a line zing like a freshly de bluegill like grandfathers clock this little fellow is almost always ready to lets look at a few of the things that regulate his ticking says gilbert weiss of the missouri conservation department probably the best known member of the sunfish family the bluegill enjoys a wide range of latitude and longitude originally a native or of the mississippi great la lakes kes and eastern seaboard drainage basin the bluegill may now be caught from new york to california and from mid canada to mexico although the ideal pond fish Is yet to be found fish culter ests would probably agree that the bluegill Is our most adaptable most successful pond fish hence the introduction of this species over most of the united states and much of canada doubtless more people are familiar with the bluegill than any other one species however there remains and probably always will some confusion with other cousins of the sunfish clan common names are themselves confusing con for by locality the bluegill becomes pond perch punkin seed bream brim and h a host of other misnomers like most other sunfish the bluegill Is much flattened vertically lie he is considerably rounded on his topside whereas the belly follows somewhat straighter contour coloration like most other fish d depends a great deal on the water it inhabits the back Is almost always a dark olive grein green most of the upper two thirds of the body and the head excepting the lower gill covers and ear flaps shares shades of olive green with a sprinkling of violet purple and lavender thrown in the under parts are usually painted a rich yellow or yellowish brown the throat area Is often a itri strikingly kingly deep orange bordered above by pale blue gill covers As might be expected the ear orgill or gill flap Is a deep blue black in many states bluegills blue gills spawn from may to september they are colonial spanners ners and numbers of males ma may be seen guarding their respective nests in a spawning area the nest a small circular depression on a gravel bottom or a clean swept area on clabor clay or muck Is constructed by the male some time previous to spawning time to the male also falls the chore of tanning fanning the eggs to keep them aerated rated free froni from silt and to prevent an ever hungry horde of scavengers from partaking of a tree free aunch i lunch actual counts of the eggs taken from female bluegills blue gills range from to as many as depending on the age size and ph physical condition odthe of the fish counts of fry taken from nests range upward to since the young ordinarily become spanners ners themselves during their firstly first year ear of life the I 1 p potential oten number of offspring from a few fish becomes enormous over the span of a few years therein res lies the reasoning behind the present bass bluegill pond stocking recommendations bluegills Blue gills are primarily insect feeders whereas bass are predators feeding largely upon young oung and immature blue gills nonetheless thereas there is danger in such large laige scale reproduction if balanced predator prey relationships ibri are disturbed by mismanagement overpopulation may m a y readily reo dlly occur in small lb bodies odies of water As previously mentioned the bluegill feeds large largely ly on insects and their larva but an occasional minnow or small fish maybe may be taken A A A dont horse em the ne pra practice atice of horsing in n a fish understandable under the te stress and excitement of landing a big one is probably the causa of more lost fish than any other one thing the angler can avoid it by bi keeping a fairly tight line but easing up a bit when it appears the fish wants to fight hard play the fish until it Is through fighting and can be brought up close without dashing around lo in fright wh when e a it sees you f |