Louisiana State Record Bluegill

[Keith Ritter]

A new state record may have been caught In Louisiana 

http://www.nola.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2016/05/angler_boats_louisia...

[Keith Ritter]

Slip the top ten bluegill caught in Louisiana have been in the last eighteen years. This shows me the size is trending up not down. LA has size regulations on Bowfin, Buffalo and Freshwater Drum, fish other states don't even feel are worthy of regulation. I doubt they are mismanaging bluegill if they are managing bowfins. The state record White Crappie is only 3.8 pounds, in Tennessee it is 5lbs. So maybe the fish are just smaller I don't know. I'm not a wildlife biologist.

[Lord of the Fly , Rods]

I know I have seen bigger bluegill caught down in Louisiana , I have seen them , the lack of reporting of bluegill down there is that they eat them, they are  a renewable resource .  LOFR

[jim cosgrove]

i will search around and there are written accounts in old books and magazines of  plate sizes bluegills.one such story was about using a an orange humpy fly.not a fly that would be in a modern top 10 list.i know a guy who ate a 13 pound bass,i saw the pictures of it.he gut hooked it and didn't waste it.it would have been close to or broke the state reccord at the time.they are renewable ,i can catch 2 or 3 hundred on flies right now.they are on the beds right now but few would be more than 6 inches.the same spot 10 years ago would have had mny 8 to 10 inch fish.we released several crappies over 14 inches this spring as they were full of eggs.kept limits of 10 to 12 inc fish for the table.the few places i can go to after work and still have a shot at a 1lb gill i release everything,have for years,these fish keep me sane.i love flinging flies to them.way to valuable to me to catch them just once

[Slip Sinker]

…i did notice the bowfin and the freshwater drum... nice... but still Unlimited on B.Gills its like they consider them invasive species

[Tony Livingston]

Let's remember that a lot has changed over the last couple decades regarding BG fishing. This very website is a good example, Nowadays a prime fishing spot can be posted one minute, and viewed by a few thousand hopeful anglers the next. Maybe the fishing pressure is the same or even less than 50 years ago, but the average angler is much better equipped now then they were back then too. I recently read a post on another forum where an angler with a newly purchased side scan sonar was astounded to discover large, bedding bluegills out in deeper water, completely hidden from sight. The bigger the male BG, the better the piece of real estate he can claim as his own.....and that most certainly includes prime nesting spots out in deeper water. Maybe he was safe 20 years ago, but not now. Technology, including the internet and instant communication, probably accounts for a large percentage of  record or near-record catches over the last couple decades.

I have said many times here, and will continue to do so....it may be nigh impossible to fish down the quantity of bluegills, but anglers can absolutely fish down the QUALITY. One fellow's trophy is another angler's big fish.....there is a difference. It's about perspective sometimes. Here in Indiana, the state considers a harvestable BG to be six inches, and their management strategy reflects that. Six inches!!! C'mon! Sure there are plenty of bluegills here, including some truly nice fish, but there's room for improvement. I can catch 10" class bluegills in a few special, public spots, but you better believe I keep their locations to myself. The sad truth is most states simply don't manage for bluegills, or if they do they are utilizing data that is 50 years old. The notion that you can never overfish bluegills  has been proven false in numerous scientific studies, yet it remains as the cornerstone of management strategies nationwide. The truth is we know more now than we did 50 or even 20 years ago. And what we're finding out is grandpa and dad may have had it wrong, and sheer luck and angling inefficiencies helped prop everything up leading to false assumptions.

Inescapable fact: every two pound bluegill ever caught once weighed one pound. If it went home to the frying pan at one pound, it never would've made two pounds.

[Lord of the Fly , Rods]

You cant have your cake and eat it too !   LOFR

[Tony Livingston]

I believe I can, if I limit myself on the size of the slice I cut!  ;)