Let's catch big bluegill

[Ryan Davis]

There are a handful of lakes where I'm from that are secret huge bluegill fishing so come on up belcourt ND Turtle Mountains

[Damon Toney]

Yeah, around here the big bluegill are hidden in plain sight.

1. Most people around my parts don't target bluegill.
2. The ones who do are only fishing the shoreline.
3. The big bluegill in my neck of the woods are out in the middle of the channel better caught via trolling or drifting.

[Slip Sinker]

Wow… some exceptional fish in that Turtle Lake area… my guess to the exceptional sizes that you are experiencing is outstanding gene pool easily recognized by the height to length ratio of your fishes. What would you guess as other major contributors… maybe less fishing pressure? Food sources?

10” fish in my county here in Michigan ar rare… in a 10 year period an avg of 1.5 fish over 10” are caught per year in the county. I caught the second 10” plus gill in my local lake in the past 10 years and it made the local paper.

In my lake I believe the deficiencies lie in the fishing pressure and poorer genetics caused by fishing pressure.

So I fish where the masses don’t fish to find the hidden colonies of the larger b.gills.

I agree with the way you and Clifton fish… you are definitely on a pattern of big fish and you let the lunkers and trophies go… KUDOS and continued success in your big B.Gill quests.