Mid Summer Gill

Comment

Comment by Patrick "Bullworm" Olson on July 18, 2009 at 9:08am

John you are absolutly right! The winters are harsh. Fish indeed feed less in the winter which make ice angling fun and rewarding. There is so much cocentration on walleyes that alot of bass and bluegill fishing, I'm taking trophy fish here, are overlooked! Take for instance Mr. Clusiau's fish from Deer Lake, MN, he caught that monster while trolling for walleyes with a spinner rig. It happens alot. Greg is a guide and knows trophy gills when he sees them. I would be willing to bet that the average weekend warrior that manages to get the bonus 11 plus inch gill, thinks "wow big enough to eat!" I'm living about 15 miles from the lake where our state record gill was caught. It's in the neighboring county, Hubbard. 2lbs 13 oz in 1945. Thats old, man! I honestly believe that a new record is out there and I have been researching for quite sometime, a hand full of lakes. I have a legitamite shot at it! The issue that plauges gills here is the word of mouth thing. Someone catches a few nice ones and BAM!!! everyone and their brother is out there with no remorse! Just my $0.03!!!!

Comment by Bruce Condello on July 18, 2009 at 8:53am

Really good post.

Comment by John Sikkila on July 18, 2009 at 8:09am

My "take" on the size of bluegills in our state is just that we don't have "as many" large gills in comparison to the "warmer climate" states of our friends down south .....sure we have big gills on an occassional lake up here...an example is Pelican Lake up in the northern part of our state...I've caught some "Huge" gills on that lake for over 30 years and I know they are still in there...maybe not in the numbers as "back when"...Even the town of Orr, Mn(which is on the waters of the lake) has a 10' long bull blugill on a pedistal as there "towns image mascot"....bluegills "do" grow big up here.....but then with over 12,000 lakes in our frigid state, there's a lot of water for bluegills to find that "special" perfect habitat to live in...cold winter water has to play a part in fish size though feeding conditions metabolism blah blah blaf....when it's 42 below and 4' of ice fish don't feed like they do in 82 degree water on surface bugs in July......Gills conserve energy when it's cold.....bigger record gills aren't coming out of a northern Minnesota lake...nice gills but not record breakers.....that's for our boys down south....but we sure have some "nice" ones...Lol!

Comment by John Sikkila on July 18, 2009 at 2:59am

Thanks for the kind comments everyone!....Certainly not all the gills I boat are as big as the gill in this photo! (I wish)....lol!.....it certainly was a special day!...the kind day memories are made of....and what keeps us going back!...here's another photo from that same day.....a darker one...

Comment by Surf-N-Turf on July 17, 2009 at 10:51pm

OUTSTANDING Photo!!!!

Comment by Bill "Musky" Modica on July 17, 2009 at 10:09pm

Nice fish John.......Magazine quality image!

Comment by Lance A. Cashler on July 17, 2009 at 8:39pm

That is one fine fish!

Comment by Eric on July 17, 2009 at 8:01pm

That is a very nice gill! Just beautiful.

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