Bluegill are truly Engineers

Comment

Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on June 13, 2013 at 8:46am

I took this shot while the water was down during a wind tide event Lori...notice how close to the shore line these beds are....bank fishermen have to be aware of these areas to avoid spooking fish....Hopefully a few Bank Busters will chime in with some ideas/suggestions that they use to increase thier success form the bank...In this case, with the water down a foot, the bluegill in this colony retreated for deeper water waiting the return of the river to normal levels.....On my rivers, they sit just off these bedding zones when this happens but are extremely difficult to catch because they are unsettled by this interruption.....

Comment by Derrick Bustle on March 13, 2013 at 2:06pm

Yeah especially since when Gills Spawn Bass are always waiting for them to leave their beds so they can eat the gills. I watch for gill beds too. And love to see them spawning. To me that means come away about 5 ft and look for the big Bass cruzing.

Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on March 13, 2013 at 12:49pm

This particular location has hosted big gills on the bed for years .....They generally will come back and be close to a certain area but these beds hold fish every year in the very same spot....what's interesting to me is the bottom falls off sharply to over 15 feet.......the fish like to have an escape route but it seems more intruders would have access to the nests this way......they like something about this spot.....not sure what makes it appeal so much....

Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on March 13, 2013 at 12:41pm

Bluegills survive best in their colonies.......I've seen flats on the Toledo Bend Reservoir on the Louisiana/Texas line have more than a hundred in one spot....very impressive work and very exciting to encounter as a Bluegill angler....

Comment by Derrick Bustle on March 13, 2013 at 9:43am

Its crazy they make their beds so close together. Bass really don't like to be close to eachother.

Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on March 13, 2013 at 8:46am

Everybody will be looking for these soon....evidence that an underwater engineer was here! Fish had backed off with the water down from recent winds....I just went in close for this picture....cool to see!

Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on June 16, 2012 at 12:30pm

Are these Coppernose Talented or what......cool looking work!