Do you love big bluegill?

Richmond Mill--World class bluegill fishery.

Let me start by saying that I could make this blog post go on forever. I just came back from the best bluegill fishing of my life, so I'm a little fired up.

I'll try to keep it short.

Richmond Mill Lake is in North Carolina. It's a private, managed fishery that world-renowned pond and lake manager Bob Lusk has been in charge of.

Jim Morgan is the owner. He recognizes beauty and opportunity when he sees them, and he wanted to turn this lake into the best of it's kind.

So he hired Bob Lusk.

The original goal was to create a world-class largemouth bass fishery, and they're well on their way. The largemouth frequently exceed 5 pounds. The sky's the limit.

But something happened along the way.

Giant bluegill started showing up. Bass anglers were catching them on spinnerbaits and crankbaits.

I saw some pictures of them and about lost my mind. I had Bob contact Jim in the hopes that we could feature some of these fish on this website, and they graciously complied. A couple of the photos of RM bluegill were the most popular ever on this site. Lots of eyebrows were raised.

Jim Gronaw, who is a prodigious outdoor writer, and bluegill enthusiast hinted that he might like to know more about this amazing lake. So I contacted Jim Gronaw, Bob Lusk and Jim Morgan and we decided to collaborate on some articles to expose the public to a place where a person could go to have a legitimate shot at two pound bluegills.

This blog will temporarily be open only to Lusk, Gronaw, Morgan, myself and others who have personally enjoyed this lake. We'll take turns commenting on some of our experiences. Keep in mind that many of the best photos and information will be saved for an upcoming article in "In-Fisherman" magazine. There are some pictures that are even more staggering that need to be held back for now. :-)

Stay tuned.

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Comment by richard cruttenden on March 7, 2018 at 3:01pm: love to fish for big gills

Comment by Marty Lemons on February 3, 2015 at 8:10pm: Richmond Mill is catch and release only, correct? And I live about 2 hours away.

Comment by Bruce Condello on November 23, 2011 at 11:40am: Very interesting, Sully! Sounds like a lot of fun!

Comment by James Sullivan aka Jimmy/Sully on November 23, 2011 at 11:28am: Back in the early '70s I used to fish an irrigation impoundment lake in Vernal Utah... Pelican Lake.. It was a controlled fishery lake w/Bass and Bluegills only. we fished it when the gills were on the beds.. they averaged 1/2#.. for every 25 you would catch there would be at least 1 that was 1/4# bigger.. all the way up to the king 2# gill 1 in about 200 fish.. LOTS of CPR but, always a nice bag full going home. Plain hook and a piece of crawler slow desent did the trick. I came to notice that the "1st." fish about 95% of the time using the head end of the crawler would be a male gill... the tail end "first" fish usually a female.. I even won a few bets on that theroy ! ! and only using at the most 3/4" piece of crawler.. Those were the days ! ! What fun.

Comment by van richerson on January 3, 2010 at 6:17am: nothing can compair to catching a gill like that

Comment by Billy Fason on December 26, 2009 at 8:51am: Just once before I die would I love to catch one of these........I am so envious that words can't convey.........my wife said no fish on the wall......but if i caught one like this.....it would be on the wall for sure......thank you for sharing.....just wish I could grow these in my little half acre pond......good show.

Comment by Bruce Condello on December 20, 2009 at 9:18pm: 12.25 inches

Comment by Jim Gronaw on December 15, 2009 at 7:14pm: Sharon, if my memory serves me correctly, I believe this bluegill was just a shade over 12 inches.