Bluegill - Big Bluegill

Do you love big bluegill?

My 7 year old daughters 2nd fish ever caught and its a PIG!

So I decided to take the kids to a small and I mean small farm pond down the road. The house has been empty for a couple of years so I figured Id give  it a try. The pond is really small maybe 2000 sq ft.  I was expecting to get a couple of small 5 " gills if we were lucky. First cast she pulls out this Brute! 2 pounds 11 ounces, 16 " girth and a whooping length of 15". Shes tickled to death and its going on the wall for her. Caught it on a redworm and bobber. Called my buddy up and he instantly caught a 11 1/2" , 1 pound 7 ounce gill thats a trophy in its own right.

 

Also I believe this to be a bluegill but could be wrong. Several people have seen it and they all believe it to be. Maybe you guys can verify?

 

 

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I can say with virtual certainty that this fish is a hybrid. Which makes it no less impressive than a pure strain bluegill. Folks who do growth evaluations of bluegill and hybrid bluegill will tell you that a 2-11 hybrid bluegill is actually more of a feat that a 2-11 bluegill...so congratulations again on a spectacular catch.

The yellow fringed tail is a dead giveaway for hybrid fish.

Biologist say that hybrids are sometimes considered to have a greater growth potential only because their larger mouth allows them to exploit different, and larger, prey items during early life. Hybrids are more likely to be fish eaters than planktivorous. Consequently you see ponds that are stocked with both hybrids and bluegill have hybrids that reach a pound much more quickly...it's a competition thing.

But when it comes to actual top-end growth potential, logically the F-1 hybrids will acheive sizes somewhere intermediate to the two parental species. I.E., bluegill can grow to three pounds, green sunfish to 1 pound, and the hybrids will end up somewhere in between.

Careful analysis of state records shows that bluegill tend to grow larger than bluegill X green sunfish hybrids.

So I'd like to say once again, "congratulations" on a mind-boggling catch. If anything a 2-11 hybrid is even more impressive than a 2-11 pure bluegill.

This is quite honestly the biggest hybrid BG X GS that I've ever seen!!!
Thanks again for the compliments guy's. DNR also agrees that this is a hybrid. They are going to try to work out some sort of award to compliment her since it cannot be entered in the fish of the year award due to it not being a purebred bluegill. Thanks guys!
Heres a couple more pic's guys. Had to gently thaw the fish for better pictures so that she could be featured in the local paper this saturday.
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I can't get over how enormous that thing is. Makes YOUR hands look tiny, let alone hers.
holy moly that is a pig alright, monster sunfish!!!! wow !@@@@!!! like zoinks scoob! that thing is a monster!!!!
are you sure that's not a whale...LOL...nice catch and I'm sure she's HOOKEd for life now!!!
Showed it to my daughters (6 and 7) and they were duly impressed, as was the baby, who said "Fishy!" :-)
Astounding fish and story. I just got word of a pond that was recently opened up after being fenced in for over 30 years and was reported to produce 2 lb gills. It is actually within the city limits of a small town about 25 miles from me. We fished it last week and got 9 to 10 inchers, but the teenager who alerted me to this water was dissappointed because we didn't get any 'big' fish.

Yes...check out any and all ponds...you never know when, or where, that giant lifetime trophy will show up! Congrats!
OMG, what a fish! Tell Jade Congrats
It's a green sunfish x bluegill. What a giant! Congrats to her!
Wow what a catch! . Bluegill of a lifetime. I've seen only one of those in my lifetime. He came up on fish food and was about that size. Red worms and bobber can catch pigs. That is amazing!
Looks like a huge Green Sunfish, and an even BIGGER SMILE!!!!!!!!! Great Fish!!!!!!!!!

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