Bluegill - Big Bluegill

Do you love big bluegill?

Two trips to The Everglades netted more than 500 fish. The fishing is red hot down there. We did catch bluegill, but not many. Bulk of the catch was oscar. Bet we caught more than 300 oscar over two trips.

They're the fightingest fish in Florida's fresh waters.

Caught most of them on Myakka Minnows.



Views: 2910

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Holy Smokes, Steve!!! I am having a hard time kicking the shack nasties and your aren't helping ;-) Keep the excellent reports coming and lots of fish pictures!!!
You guessed right. They can be traced back to 1954 in South Florida waters. I have to drive about 2 hours south to get into them. Too cold here in Sarasota. Oscar and other exotics seem to peacefuly co-exist with native species. There's some really good bass, bluegill, shellcracker and speckled perch fishing in The 'Glades. Last trip down, I even caugth four nice warmouth perch.




Oscar are very good to eat and yield thick fillets.
I bet they bulldog pretty good....are they good table fare?
That's nice Steve. Never caught an oscar in the wild, only in my aquarium. Never seen that fly before, could you post a photo. Thanks.
Check my new post: Tying the Myakka Minnow.
What a bulldog!

Looks like I've got another fish on my "fish wish list".
Bruce,

You've never felt a fish fight quite like an oscar. For most fly fishing bluegill and panfish, I use 6X tippet (about 3 pound test). That's waaaaaaayyyyyyyy too light for oscar and Mayan cichlids. I have to "beef" up to at least 3X and sometimes heavier.

They're very structure-oriented and their first response after being hooked is to get back into the structure. It's your job to keep them from doing that.

Typical oscar structure:

Now that is way cool! I love my fishing in Nebraska, but one of these days, I gotta do some traveling to get into some fishing like that! Thanks for sharing an outstanding trip report and the kick but pictures!!!
Well Bruce and Alex G. when your southbound on I-65 headed to I-10 you can pick me up at exit 19 in satsuma and I will do the cookin! I got some really nice flies to fish with to thanks to Alex!
Interesting! Its new to me! I went to Florida and one time we stay hotel for one night near Disney and I walked to a pond.....no fishing allowed! I saw some real big bluegills but I looked at it again and it is Blue Tilopia. Someday I would love to catch Oscar and Blue Tilopia!
How's Oscar fight? Like Bluegill?
Bluegills are tough little fighters, and Oscars fight like bluegills on steroids! GREAT fighters, very strong...especially on a fly rod!


Wow a fish that size sells for close to a hundered bucks in the pet stores here.

RSS

Latest Activity

Troy Dorman commented on John Sheehan's photo
3 hours ago
John Sheehan commented on John Sheehan's photo
Thumbnail

Lower numbers of Perch this Year

"This guy gave in and didn't raise his Dorsal tall for the photo!"
yesterday
John Sheehan commented on John Sheehan's photo
Thumbnail

Always great to see these Guys!

"Me too, little fightin' sports!"
yesterday
John Sheehan commented on John Sheehan's photo
Thumbnail

Cooked

"It was great! Thanks, Jeff!"
yesterday
Jeffrey D. Abney commented on John Sheehan's photo
Thumbnail

Cooked

"Love the cast iron prep…..brings out my southern roots….looks great!"
yesterday
Jeffrey D. Abney commented on John Sheehan's photo
yesterday
Jeffrey D. Abney commented on John Sheehan's photo
Thumbnail

Always great to see these Guys!

"Love them seeds…."
yesterday
Jeffrey D. Abney commented on Jeffrey D. Abney's photo
Thumbnail

Very Sunny Yesterday……5/7/2025

"Yes Bruce…..the tourney folks caught the bass during their spawn….now the bluegill…"
yesterday
John Sheehan posted photos
yesterday
Bruce Tomaselli commented on Jeffrey D. Abney's photo
Thumbnail

Very Sunny Yesterday……5/7/2025

"It seems you've been running into bass lately. After watching that bass tournament it…"
yesterday
Jeffrey D. Abney posted photos
yesterday
Jeffrey D. Abney posted a photo

Gravid Shellcracker…..5/6/2025

She was around an old prehistoric cypress stump….
Tuesday
Jeffrey D. Abney posted photos
Tuesday
Jeffrey D. Abney posted photos
Tuesday
Jeffrey D. Abney posted a status
"Fishing was tougher behind last nights frontal boundary….surface temperatures at 76 degrees today…25 total fish…"
Tuesday
Jeffrey D. Abney commented on Jeffrey D. Abney's photo
Thumbnail

Beast of a Coppernose…..5/3/2025

"Thanks Troy…..these are my addictive dynamics…."
Tuesday
Jeffrey D. Abney commented on Jeffrey D. Abney's photo
Thumbnail

Few More Weekend Winners on the Estuary….5/5/2025

"Thanks Troy….we’re taking off with the full moon next Monday…"
Tuesday
Troy Dorman commented on Jeffrey D. Abney's photo
Tuesday
Troy Dorman commented on Jeffrey D. Abney's photo
Tuesday
Jeffrey D. Abney posted photos
Monday

© 2025   Created by Bluegill.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service