Do you love big bluegill?

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Old Bald Guy

Old Bald Guy.

That was his Big Bluegill name. It was also his name on the NEFGA forum that I frequent.

He was also Rog Flanders, but for my purposes here, he's going by OBG.

OBG passed away this week. My tears have finally cleared enough to see this computer screen so I can make a humble attempt to write how I feel about him.

OBG was a true bluegill lover. He also loved people. And he loved people who loved bluegill. OBG loved his family, and the… Continue

Added by Bruce Condello on September 2, 2009 at 4:00pm — 21 Comments

WINNERS ANNOUNCED FOR BIG BLUEGILL CONTEST--AGE 8 AND UNDER!!!!!

FIRST PLACE--ELLIOT from Minnesota

Congratulations, Elliot, you've won a $75 gift certificate to Cabela's to buy some great fishing gear.

SECOND PLACE--GLENN from Minnesota

Way to go, Glenn, you've won a $50 gift certificate to Cabela's. Go buy yourself some fun stuff.

THIRD PLACE--KENZ from Nebraska

Good job, Kenz, you've won a $25 gift certificate to Cabela's. Enjoy a little shopping spree thanks to the folks at Big… Continue

Added by Bruce Condello on August 3, 2009 at 7:40pm — 2 Comments

TWENTY QUESTIONS FOR BIG BLUEGILL KIDS CONTEST

These first twenty questions belong to the 9-16 year old group. You have all day Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday to answer. I'll check the answers on Monday morning, August 3rd, 2009

There will be prizes for the top four contestants, based on number of questions answered correctly. If there is a tie after all entries are counted, we will switch to a week long fishing contest.

1. What is the scientific name for bluegill?

2. Are bluegill more carnivorous, or… Continue

Added by Bruce Condello on July 29, 2009 at 9:30pm — 2 Comments

A quick overview of state record bluegill.

State Weight Length Location Angler Date

Alabama, 4 lbs 12 oz , Ketona Lakes by Birmingham T.S. Hudson 4/9/1950

Arizona, 3 lbs 15.68 oz, 15.75" ,Goldwater Lake Christopher Ray Mapes 5/2/2004

Arkansas, 3 lbs 4 oz , N/A Albert Sharp 8/7/1998

California, 3 lbs 8 oz, Lower Otay Reservoir Davis Buckhanan 7/10/1991

Colorado, 2 lbs 4 oz, 11.5" Hollenbeck Reservoir Nicholas Toczek 1988

Connecticut , 2 lbs 4 oz , private pond Daniel Gesner 1996

Delaware, 2 lbs 10 oz,… Continue

Added by Bruce Condello on March 22, 2008 at 1:19pm — 7 Comments

CONTEST!

Between 10:30 a.m. Central Time on July 9th, 2009, and 11:59 p.m. Central Time on July 23, 2009 I'll be accepting entries to the Big Bluegill Kids contest. In order to participate you must send me a PM (personal message) on the Big Bluegill forum, stating that you will be UNDER 16 years of age at 11:59 p.m. on July 23, 2009 and are either a member of Big Bluegill or an immediate family member of a member of Big Bluegill living at home.

Only entries received during that time period… Continue

Added by Bruce Condello on July 9, 2009 at 8:35am — 5 Comments

The contest formerly known as the Big Bluegill scholarship contest...

I'm currently working on a contest for kids that will be under the age of 16 years on September 30, 2009. It will now be known as the "Kid's Big Bluegill Contest".

We're going to be hopefully getting a little sponsorship from Cabela's or Bass Pro Shops, unless we have a member out there with a connection to another sporting good outfit.

The contest will involve a one week registration period. After all registrations are in there will be a 20 question science test on… Continue

Added by Bruce Condello on June 20, 2009 at 7:30am — 3 Comments

It was just KILLING me...

Had to do some work on one of the Upstream Flood Control Projects that I manage in my county, and just had to stand there and watch while the fish were going crazy!

These small lakes (10-30ac. surface area) are Federal/State funded projects on private land. The Conservation District I manage has an easement for operation and maintenance but I have never asked permission to fish in any of them (I do all my hunting and fishing on private land in the next county to avoid any perception… Continue

Added by Keith Owen on June 15, 2009 at 3:16pm — 8 Comments

Big Bluegill becoming the fire-breathing, three-headed dragon of the fishing world.

Closing in on ONE THOUSAND members!

And the most amazing thing is the quality of people on this site. No angry arguments--just healthy exchange of information in a respectful way. Other sites can only aspire to be at our level! :-)

Added by Bruce Condello on May 28, 2009 at 8:16pm — 2 Comments

Searching for all that great information on BigBluegill.com

There's so much great information on this site that sometimes it's difficult to locate a gem that was several months ago.

Here's a way to find it.

Type the following into your Google search box:

"search words"site:bigbluegill.com

Added by Bruce Condello on May 11, 2009 at 5:07am — No Comments

Dreaming of my girls and big bull gills!

Friday the 13th is unlucky for some, but I spent mine with some fishing with a fellow NEFGA member Jarredb. and a fellow NEFGA/BigBluegill member Teeg S. The Executive Director and founder of Recycled Fish, at Verdigre Creek just North of Royal, Nebraska.

We were there fly fishing for stocked/native rainbow trout, and (to me anyway) elusive, native, naturally occurring brown trout. This was my third trip to this stream, the closest trout stream to me at around 3 hours away. A few… Continue

Added by Alex G. on March 15, 2009 at 6:15am — 4 Comments

DARREN MAY'S STATE RECORD BLUEGILL--courtesy of Prarie State Outdoors

Photo courtest of Prarie State Outdoors, Illinois' Premeir Outdoor Website

Years ago prior to a story on his state-record bluegill, I interviewed Darren May by telephone. At the time he had his monster bluegill perched on a wall in his home, staring down a mounted 7-pound largemouth bass.

’‘You know what?’‘ May said. ’‘If they were still in the water, the bluegill could tear that… Continue

Added by Bruce Condello on March 9, 2009 at 8:44pm — 6 Comments

Video of world record bluegill mount!

One of our valued Big Bluegill members wanted me to give a little better image of the world record bluegill replica mount.

Well, here it is....alongside a mount made by Big Bluegill member Cecil Baird of two 1.25 pound fish caught from my pond.

Added by Bruce Condello on February 15, 2009 at 8:30pm — 13 Comments

BIG BLUEGILL SCHOLARSHIP CONTEST

On Friday, July 24, 2009 Big Bluegill presents the Big Bluegill Youth Scholarship Contest.

With the help of B. Waldman, the Big Bluegill shirts, caps, mugs, stickers, etc. have been created for you to enjoy. The site charges us a specific amount for each unit sold, and exactly 10% has been added, all of which will go to the prizes for the youth winners.

Click here for… Continue

Added by Bruce Condello on January 24, 2009 at 2:00pm — 18 Comments

Hybrid sunfish in Ponds

Its only been a few years that I have caught hybrid sunfish to speak of. We found some in a local pond and discovered that they were the green sunfish/bluegill cross that are produced for fast growing and quick fishing opportunities.

Some pond owners and anglers do not like these fish, claiming that they can cause problems with spawning purebred bluegills and become overly aggressive and all. My brief experience with them has been pleasant and with big fish to boot.

The… Continue

Added by Jim Gronaw on January 22, 2009 at 7:41pm — 10 Comments

Ice Fishing Deep Creek Lake

Deep Creek Lake is a 3,900 acre manmade lake in the extreme western Panhandle of Maryland and is quietly one of the top ice fishing locations for big bluegills and yellow perch. I first fished it back in January of 2005 and, as luck would have it, had my personal best day on the water the very first time on the ice. Good friend Ron Munshower and I fished the McHenry arm in about 20 to 25 ft of water not far from dying weed edges.

My first fish was memorable. We drilled a bunch of… Continue

Added by Jim Gronaw on January 21, 2009 at 7:30pm — 8 Comments

Bluegill are a "Big" Deal

The first fish I ever caught was a sunfish, a smallish big-mouthed creature my dad said was a 'bream' and that I later learned was a green sunfish. I would venture to say the first fish many, many kids catch is a sunfish...and bluegill are the kings of panfish.

As a professional fisheries biologist with 30 years in the pond management business, helping people design, build, stock and manage private fishing lakes and ponds all over the nation, bluegill are head and shoulders above all fish… Continue

Added by Bob Lusk on December 16, 2008 at 7:20pm — 17 Comments

Thinking About Thinking About Fishing

As I write this morning, the official low temperature in Omaha was 15 below zero just an hour ago. Our area lakes have been covered in ice for more than a month now. From my perspective -- that of a fly fisherman -- ice constitutes an ugly, intolerable, and impenetrable scab on what otherwise are perfectly good bodies of water.

My inability to fish reduces me to thinking about fishing, or to be more precise today, thinking about how I think about fishing. It’s been an evolutionary… Continue

Added by OldBaldGuy on January 15, 2009 at 11:00am — 12 Comments

Greatest underwater bluegill video of all time!

I'm not kidding.

I decided to use my creative side yesterday. I took some bailing wire, and bent it in a semi-circle so that it dangled right out in front of my Aquavue camera, which incidentally looks just like a bluegill.

Then I tied a short little piece of monofilament to the end of the wire, attached a severely overbent hook so as not to injure any fish, and added a big chunk of nightcrawler.

Wacky hijinx ensued.…

Continue

Added by Bruce Condello on September 25, 2008 at 8:30pm — 26 Comments

The Forbidden Pond

Last week I ventured back to an old farm pond that I used to fish in the early 80's.......small, about an acre....small feeder creek coming in and a substancial dam to slow the flow.....I used to catch some really nice Gills and big Largemouth there back in the day.

Traveling light...spudbar/bucket/vex/pole/scooper....I finally made my way back to the pond only to find someone fishing it....I approached in a kind manner and asked the very old gentleman if he would mind if I also fished the… Continue

Added by Bill "Musky" Modica on December 13, 2008 at 8:05pm — 12 Comments

Bluegill Observations

I'm heading out in the morning with a friend and surely bluegill will be a target. We'll put the kayaks in at the Nine Mile Canal at North Port, Fla. Haven't fished that body of water in years, but I know it's good.

I'm not a purist by any means, but I find I can catch more bluegill and other freshwater fish on fly rod than I can other tackle. Of course, I use fly tackle all the time. Tomorrow I'll take a 1-weight, 2-weight and maybe something just a little bigger with a bass… Continue

Added by SteveGibson on November 13, 2008 at 5:37pm — 6 Comments