Bluegill Morning

[Stan Wright]

Fished the little white, 2", Senkos in the grass for peacock bass....
One little one about 12 inches.... lost several more. Bluegills everywhere.
Caught them on Senkos and Beetle Spins.

Didn't see any larger peacock bass. Water level is dropping 6 inches a day... shouldn't be long before we start seeing big spawners again.

[OO7:BASSINASSASSIN]

Any theories as to why the bluegills had such a good spawn? Is this a sign something in the lake has changed? What will the impact be in the future? If only the crayfish, medaka, and the largemouth bass can make a comeback like that!

[Stan Wright]

Thursdays fishing was the same as Wed.... lots of little bluegill and bass...
and just a few small peacock bass.

Do you think all that flooded grass is making it safe for the bluegill?
Were they around all the time, and just hiding deep or in the thick brush?
We've caught some 4 inch bluegill, so they must have had a good spawn.

Caught 16 little baby largemouth bass on Thursday... they are fat and healthy... are they from a good bass spawn.... or they bbass that was recently released from the hatchery?

More questions than answers.

[roadwarriorsvt]

I'm hoping that since the grass was submerged, it made for a good spawn for the BGs. Now that there are a good supply of BGs, that will mean food for the LMB & peacock, so larger bass maybe? Hopfully so.

[tkki1230]

I finally got around to putting in some fishing today. From reading everyone's posts, I figured I might as well catch some Bluegill fingerlings from this year's spawn to put into my pond. The Bluegill were everywhere like everyone said, but I was very surprised at their sizes. These fish are at least 2 or 3 years old. Some of the Bull Males that I caught were easily 8 inches. They must've been deep all this time, and have crept up into the grass when the water level rose. In fact, there were some Males that looked stunted, where they show some of the traits of mature males, like humped helmet heads, but only have 5 inch bodies. I'm pretty sure that the Bluegill were around for a long time, but were in areas where anglers couldn't see/catch them. There were also a lot of largemouth and Tuc fingerlings everywhere. I wonder if there's enough food in the water for these fish because I have yet to see any medaka, crayfish, insects, or anything else. The water actually looks barren and void of life. Hell, maybe I'm just getting old and going blind. Anyways, today was a good day. Caught lots of BG's for my pond!!

[roadwarriorsvt]

What size pond you got? I've got some BGs trained on pellets now. After a week or so, I'd throw in some crickets or meal worms to get the BGs eating, then finish with some pellets. Now when I walk up to the pond, the BGs come right up to me wanting to be fed!

[BASSTRACKER]

from what ive read the average largemouth will grow a 1/2in to an inch every month for the first 2 years in a healthy lake. i thought the hatchery ones were in the 6-8 in range when they realeased em after a year. the ones i have been seeing are like 2-3 inchs. seems like a good spawn. the bluegill i have seen wernt all that big maybe 3-4in but i have no idea how long it takes em to grow, whatever has changed sure seems to have worked! if we can only get crayfish back in the lake there would be plenty of food! i have seen huge shad pods on the depth finder, maybe just waiting for the summer feeding frenzys. oh ya and whomever didnt drain the lake and kill the spawns this year, THANKS its been great fishing grass beds and feeling like old times!

[tkki1230]

What size pond you got? I've got some BGs trained on pellets now. After a week or so, I'd throw in some crickets or meal worms to get the BGs eating, then finish with some pellets. Now when I walk up to the pond, the BGs come right up to me wanting to be fed!

My pond is more like a big tub. I think it's about 700 gallons plus or minus a 100. What kind of pellets are you feeding them?

By the way, has anyone been catching any Bluegills on the South fork side?

[roadwarriorsvt]

I've got a large blue pond (tub) also. Got it from Waimanalo Feed Suply. Its 625 gallons. I'm feeding them small koi pellets for now until they get bigger. The BGs really love the meal worms & crickets followed by the pellets.