Do you love big bluegill?

13.50" over 2# red ear

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Comment by Leo Nguyen on November 15, 2012 at 6:08pm: What a tremendous dimension on that thing. How big is that water over there? Must be nice and mild from what you're wearing.

Comment by DAVID L EITUTIS on November 15, 2012 at 5:47pm: Man what interesting comments by Tony, David, Federico !!!!!! I also think the skin on Red Ears is a bit tougher to filet than a gill or crappie too! If you guys use artificials of any kind what's your number one color for Red Ear, I like yellow and then purple .....

Comment by Tony Livingston on November 15, 2012 at 11:23am: RES do indeed possess the pharyngeal plate, or teeth, which allow them to crush the shells of mollusks. Hence the name "shellcrackers"...

A somewhat lesser known fact, is that the Pumpkinseed Sunfish also have this ability. And, they tolerate cooler water than RES, giving rise to their nickname of "The Redear of the north."

Comment by federico del toro on November 15, 2012 at 11:11am: I agree with everything said here, I usually look for isolated brush piles or dock that has them. they seem to hold the bigger fish.

I know for a fact that his fish are feeding on snails and small clams or muzzels. we've open a couple of them that where deep hooked and that's all we got

David, That's what I've always said " too bad fish don't read the same books we do" LOL

Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on November 15, 2012 at 11:05am: Tooty:

If the textbooks are to be believed, redear sunfish eat shellfish, primarily. They have a set of grinding plates in the back of their throats, known as 'pharyngeal plates,' which serve to crush the shells of mussels, clams snails and other invertebrate mollusks. This rich diet is said to account for their growth, which is the highest among the sunfishes.

As for what REALLY work on them, well... I've never seen them reading a text book and have caught them on many things. Here on South Carolina's Freshwater Coast (Lake Murray) the go-to bait is a big fat wiggler, fished on the bottom. I've also caught them on slip floated worms and spinners. The juvenile redear subsists primarily on insects, so surely they will fall for something that mimics a juicy bug.

Comment by DAVID L EITUTIS on November 15, 2012 at 10:13am: HEY DAVID there may be something with the wood association here then since some folk refer to em as stump knockers etc. I"ve cleaned many of em over the years and never been able to figure out what they are eating , but stomachs always seem to be full of a black substance of some sort. In my opinion, just my own experiences , we have always had the best all around luck with yellow bugs of some sort and they definately here and in Iowa have a preference for that color ...........

Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on November 15, 2012 at 9:31am: Tooty said: "For some unknown reason to me we would catch em near downed logs or trees in the water..."

I've also seen them referred to, here and there, as "stumpknockers." This goes well with their more popular knickname, 'shellcracker'.

Comment by DAVID L EITUTIS on November 15, 2012 at 8:45am: FEDERICO I'LL throw my two cents in also on red ears , if you don't mind. Biggest ones we caught in Iowa , were most times associated with wood of some sort. For some unknown reason to me we would catch em near downed logs or trees in the water ,or out in front of gill beds. I suspect they were raiding the gill beds as they were making their own beds in deeper water close by.

We had a favorite spot up a shallow finger we called the log jam , on Lake Sugema. It was a stretch of probably 30 yards in length were 1-2 ' small trees had fallen in the water over the years and the red ears had built there beds under them . Water was only couple feet deep there and we always caught lots of red ears there , mostly on Yellow baits of one kind or another..........

Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on November 15, 2012 at 8:03am: Beautiful fish, Federico. We get some big ones here, too, but I've never seen one that big.

My biggest of last year was right at 11"... not even close to that one. Thanks for your insights on their habits and preferred cover.

Comment by Jason Preslar on November 15, 2012 at 7:49am: I get red ears in the thickest root systems under trees growin on the banks edge. Night crawler and a split shot. Very nice fish!