Carp, walleye, smallmouth bass....bluegill!

[Bruce Condello]

Periodically we see the fishing media try to direct us to the new "in" fish. Carp have seen a resurgence, walleye started having their own tournaments, smallies had multitudes of stories written about them.

Now it's the bluegill's turn!

Bluegill have it all.

Catchability.

Eatibility.

Trophyability...(might not be a REAL word)

Enjoyable for all ages.

I just wanted to say thank you for the surpreme effort by all on this site to promote the bluegill.

To me, the ultimate day of bluegill fishing would go like this.

I'd reach a quiet pond by car just before daylight. Then I'd slip into my float tube. Then I'd take either a spinning combo, or a nice light fly rod setup...and start fishing.

The bluegill with be biting hot 'n' heavy. Lots of 7-9 inchers. I'd decide that about ten of the 7 inchers were going to go home with me. I'd fry them up whole after scaling and feed my family a delicious meal. Hopefully I'd be able to whip up some homemade hushpuppies.

Then, suddenly I'd have that big bite....

Would it be a largemouth? Hopefully not. I appreciate the largemouth. He's a willing fighter, and puts up a respectable tussle...

But then I'd scream as I saw a massive 11 inch bluegill spinning in circles below the tube! What a fish! Huge hump, bright colors...the whole package.

After landing the fish, one of my buddies from BigBluegill.com would snap a quick photo and I'd return the fish back to the crystal clear depths.

Perhaps I caught the fish last year when he was a stout 9.5 inches...and perhaps I'll catch him again when he hits 12+.

But for now, I'm satisfied. The bluegill has filled all of my fishing needs.

It's been a good day.

[Steve Crowder]

I agree with you Bruce. After all the different fish that I've caught, the bluegill DOES satisfy my "want" to go fishing.

[Bruce Condello]

LOL. I like the "dismay" part. :-)

[Bill "Musky" Modica]

Bruce, this sounds like one heck of an "ultimate day".....Mine would go more like this...Get to the launch just before dawn only to find more than 75 trailers already in the lot......head out to the productive shoreline that is receiving heavy fishing pressure....jockey for a position within the flotilla of fishing crafts, then proceed to hammer above average gills using spoonology to the dismay of several onlookers.

[Rudy Reynosa (True Shot)]

Before coming to this site I would only fish for bass trout and other larger game fish. I would fish for bluegill 5 to 6 times out of the year, and I would all ways through them back, until I came to this site that is. Now I got about 5 new light rod and reels in different lengths just for bluegill fishing. Now don't get me wrong I still do lots of big game fishing but now and days I gust can't come home with out getting some big gills home for supper. In my opinion seeing a big gill/other pan fish come up and bust one of my top water fly’s is just as good as seeing a large mouth bass busting a buzz bait out of the water, or when you see the gills grab your jig it’s like a smallmouth chugging down a jig and pig. Well maybe not the intense but you get my point. I also try to get the local kids to try and fish for gills which is why I sell my fly’s so cheep to the local tackle store.

[Tommy Winton]

Great post. Dont know if i would change anything about that day.