Description

Bluegills are a hardy fish, thriving in middle-to late aged eutrophic lakes and small ponds. Overpopulation is common in a lot of these waters where predation is not heavy, and this leads to a huge population of stunted fish. However, when found in waters containing large pike and largemouth bass for example, bluegills large enough to be worth targeting are present. Any bluegill over a pound will put up a great fight on light fly tackle, and are willing biters that will take small artificials as well as bait. They spawn in early summer and a big male sitting on a light-colored nest sticks out like a sore thumb, and will attack anything that invades his space. Really big bluegills grow large, fleshy shoulders and are termed "knobheads" by anglers who pursue them. In early summer you'll find knobs in shallow mud-bottomed bays where the sun warms the water most. The early emerging vegetation atrracts big female gills as they recover from spawning. As summer progresses larger fish are usually found a bit deeper, like on the weedline.