I have been told that if a bull gill pees on you while you're taking the hook out that it is a sure sign you caught him off of or near a spawning bed. I caught several that did Saturday, one swallowed the hook and peed the whole time I was digging it out. I've been peed on a lot this year and I wonder am I getting close or are the gills just peed off at the Boogieman?
I've been on beds before and usually the boober never slows down when it hits the water, just goes downtown. These guys were a little slow but just as tasty.
So, was the fisherman who told me that right or just sqeezing too hard?
Well.... I can't answer this definitively, but speaking from personal experience I've had BG pee on me nearly every month of the year, caught at all water depths. Then again maybe my hands are too cold.
Thanks Tony, finally a real answer. The guy who told me this was giving a fishing class and is a serious local fisherman. He believed it but your experience says maybe it just happens. I guess I got too cute with my question and just got cute answers. I like to play that game but I would like to hear more real personal experience like yours. In the Deep South where I am, some say BG bed year round, but not where you are I imagine. So maybe it's just a common thing that means nothing.
Hey Boogieman...I tend to think that spawning male gills emmit sperm when they are caught off the beds. This happens alot during the spawning months in my mid Atlantic area, but I have never noticed it to happen during cold months. And I would imagine that if it happens in off-colored or cloudy water then you may well be on to a spawning area that you otherwise would not have been able to see due to lack of water clarity.
hey boogieman, I don't know if you will ever will get a true answer to your question about peeing fish , but I have been told the samething about the fish doing that, but who knows the real answers to all the b.s. questions that we see on here, if you ever find out for sure will you let the rest of the rookies know on here,it will give the rest of us something to talk about. LOL
Hey guys, there were some good fun answers to this question at first and now some real opinions are starting to come in. I am hoping that some with lots of Gill catching experience will continue to add their opinion. Perhaps someone who has ponds and breeding experience and knows the facts will enlighten us. Maybe it's something we can all start paying attention to and see if it does happen when we get in bed with them. Maybe it has nothing to do with being near a bed but everything to do with "that time of the month", ie. Full Moon, New Moon.
I think the person who told me this knows where every Gill and Cracker bed is on most of the waters around here. He finds 'em somehow pretty regular. I'm sure fish tend to return to the same bedding area year after year and maybe he and his fishing buddies have just kept good notes when they do stumble up on a bed. Or maybe he knows what he's talking about. I still think he does and when I get peed on I'm gonna get serious about the spot I'm in. Put a big red X on it or something.