need advice

[kevin lawlor]

i just bought a boat...ive always caught a lot of small bluegill out of my flat bottom boat.Im ready to find the big ones!!! out in the lake.are the big ones with the small ones?..where to look for big ones?....any advice would help thanks...

[dick tabbert]

As a rule from my experience there beds are made usually in sandy gravel bottoms.

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

To your fist question, bluegill gravitate to a gravel- sand substrate for breeding. Beyond that, they orient elsewhere in the water column. I think of them primarily as mid to deep column transients. This means about any fertile base structure suits them. One species, red ear, are primarily bottom feeders. They seek out a firm but light bottom where mussels , clams and other benthic invertebrates can be found.

As for your second comment, Johnny, this site originally sprang from the founders of PondBoss.com.
Our benefactor, Bruce Condello, is intimately involved with that group.

As the name suggests, management of pond resources is a key driver for them.
Primary among their tenets is the concept of leaving the best fish in any pond for breeding and culling out excess numbers.
Quality fish can share their quality genetics ONLY IF WE allow them to. And give them elbow room without excess competition for food
This is a common theme here at BBG.

It isn't that we release all fish ... In fact, when there are too many small or stunted fish, it's better that you remove the excess numbers. What we espouse is the practice of selective release. Most of us see ourselves as stewards of a finite resource.

Id like to thank you for embracing this with us.

[Donald Schmotzer]

 Dick and David gave you some really good advice. If you can't find the beds, fish drop-offs, rock piles and brush. And it is true, the Bigger Gills tend to be on the deep water side of the structure. If you know where a creek flows into the lake, fish the creek channel especially if it runs near or under a big tree or a steep bank etc. Also remember, the Gills (around here) tend to bed right after the water warms up in the spring, during the first full moon in May. H O W E V E R, The gills, (especially the BIG Gills) will go on a feeding binge a week of two before that. It is not unusual for me to catch a few of my biggest gills of the year during that time.....(in SC it is near the end of April). In hot weather, shade that covers deeper water, such as bridges that go over a creek channel or boat docks that shade drop offs are GREAT. Like the others, I recommend that you return any big females you catch that are full of eggs, so they can "muster-in" a new brood of BIG GILLS. We are just a few weeks away from some of the best Gill fishing of the year.......Don't miss it..( just my $.02 )......Don in SC