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Bluegills

Introduction

The bluegill (lepomis macrochirus) is a member of the sunfish family. Bluegills are caught all over North America, and are known for their scrappy fighting and delicious table fare. Bluegills, also called bream, are popular with anglers in the south.

Other names that the bluegill is commonly referred to: brim, sun perch, blue perch, blue sunfish, copperbelly, bluebream, copperhead bream, red-breasted bream, bluegill sunfish and roach.

Distribution

The bluegill population extends southward from Canada's St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes, along the Mississippi Basin and eastward to New York and southward to Texas, Florida and New Mexico.

Bluegills have been successfully introduced in fresh waters around the globe.

Habitat

Bluegills are mainly found in lakes, in the same fishing habitat as largemouth bass. Slow-moving rivers, vegetated ponds and creek pools are also likely bluegill domains. Often feeding in shallows near the surface during the spring and spawning season, bluegills move into deeper waters when the water temperature rises in the summer.

In deeper lakes, look for the biggest fish in deep water (over 30 feet deep) in schools over soft clay or mud.

Features

Bluegills vary in colouration from lake to lake: olive, dark blue, clear, purple, dappled yellow and green sides, are usually overlapped by six or more vertical stripes darker (or not) at the dorsal fin and tapering down the sides of the fish. Often there is a dark mark on the anal fin, and dark blue streaks between the chin and gill cover. During spawning season, active males sport a bright orange belly, black pelvic fins, and a blue head and back.

The mature bluegills in the lake appear dark and have lost their vertical markings.

The bluegill is a fish worth pursuing for its tasty, flaky, sweet meat.

Size

Big bluegills average from one to three pounds, and the largest on record weighed four pounds twelve ounces (caught in Alabama in 1950).

In the north, bluegills grow slowly at a rate of about an inch per year (to a maximum 10 inches), but in the warmer southern waters bluegills grow as much as four inches per year.

The largest bluegills are the males. Many anglers do not know where to find big bluegills, and believe that the largest fish are only five or six inches. In shallow lakes with few predator fish, the bluegills may become stunted from overcrowding - something we at Fishresource.com have seen here in the northern lakes...

Feeding Habits

Bluegills feed mostly on insects, crayfish, fish eggs, snails, minnows, worms and crustaceans in calm, weedy waters, and are themselves food for larger game fish. Adults feed at different depths depending upon water temperature and feed at the surface most actively at dawn and dusk, and feed at the bottom in deeper water during the day.

Reproduction

In the late spring in 70ºF water, the female deposits around 40,000 eggs in a shallow nest near the sandy shore. Two to six days later the eggs hatch and the male guards the young fry during their first days.

Spring Techniques

In the spring look for spawning fish by following the scent of bream beds. Follow your nose: the bedding bluegills disturb the lake floor, which releases air bubbles and the aroma of decaying vegetation.

Summer Techniques

Look for mature schools of bluegills by gradually fishing deeper water. Use ultra-light spinning equipment or a light outfit and fish worm bait or crickets on a No.10 hook, weighted lightly to reach the bottom.

Row or troll along the shore where the smaller bluegills bite, then move into deeper water for slightly larger bluegills, then row parallel to the shore into slightly deeper water where no bluegills bite. At this point, slowly row into deeper water while fishing the bottom.

Bluegills stay in a very small area, and anglers should slowly fish deep weed beds, submerged islands, floor depressions, and areas preferred by largemouth bass. Once an area of mature bluegills is found, continue fishing the spot yearly.

To catch deep-water bluegills, use worms or crickets, catalpa worms, pieces of shrimp, grubs, a lightly hooked triangular inch of pork rind, or try tiny spoons, spinners, and jigs.

Look for the big bluegills near shore weed beds in the early morning and late afternoon. In the shallows, use tiny fly-rod poppers, a wet fly, nymph, or tiny sponge-rubber spider. Casting in shallow water may spook the fish; gently throw the fly and use leaders at least ten feet long.

Winter Techniques

In the winter, look for bluegills in the deep parts of the lake. Fish the same areas as in the summer, or over deep weed beds and on the deep side of weedy drop-offs. Ice fishing requires drilling numerous holes in the ice before the tightly packed schools are found. Bait dangled over a few feet from the schooled fish will be ignored.

Winter tackle includes an ice-jigging rod or ultra-light spinning equipment for deeper ice fishing. Other anglers might use an eighteen-inch rod with a spinning or bait casting reel.

Bluegills love bait in winter. Try baiting mousie grubs on dropper hooks spaced a foot apart with a weight tied to the end of the line. Using three hooks increases the likelihood of hooking a bluegill in cold water when the fish refuse to move more than a foot to take the bait. Locating big bluegills in deep water is a challenge and a test of patience in any season.

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