Recent Slabs (Bluegills)

Okay. Thanks a lot

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Originally Posted by tnpondmanager

I'd have to say that 10-inchers are not quite common in Laurel Hill. I've fished it several times myself, and have caught a few that size out of there over dozens of trips spread out over thirty years, but 7-8" is more the average size, and they make a big deal about a 10" gill - I check the Facebook page for the lake now and then, and they have two photos for all of this year of 10" bluegill, and no photos of an 11", certainly not a 12". I know that an 11" was caught out of there two or three years ago, but that was the first one I had seen that big out of the lake in years. 11" bluegill are hard to come by in public water these days, in my experience. They pop up every blue moon, but they're decidedly an anomaly - fishing for bluegill that size on public water is akin to hunting for a 14-point buck on public-access land. It may happen, but you're just about as likely to get hit by lightning. There's far too much fishing pressure, and the average level of angler awareness about trophy bluegill is about forty years behind what the awareness is for bass: most bluegill anglers, when they happen upon a bed of big 'gills, keep every big one they catch and think nothing of it. But there have been numerous studies by fisheries biologists (Illinois, Utah, etc.) in the past ten years that show beyond a doubt that removing numbers of larger bluegill from a lake permanently alters the genetic profile of the entire bluegill population of the lake, skewing it toward smaller fish. Until catch-and-release catches on with bluegill anglers, fishing for an 11" fish in public water is self-torture. There are a handful of public lakes around the country that somewhat regularly produce 'gills that size, but it's a small handful, and even those lakes are giving up fish that size a lot less regularly than they did even four years ago.

Private, intensively-managed lakes, on the other hand, produce this size fish much more often. The most notable lake, Richmond Mill in North Carolina, has numbers of bluegill over two pounds, has become famous for them; but it costs $1,000 a day to fish it, or $600 per person if you bring three other people with you. That lake has been stocked since 2005.

There are several private ponds in middle Tennessee that have been intensively managed since mid-2009 by yours truly, and which will likely give Richmond Mill a run for its money come next March. And you don't have to be a millionaire to afford to fish them:)

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Walt I fish Laurel Hill 4 or 5 days a week a lot in Spring and or early Summer. I can assure you 10 inch Gills are quite common there. Two years ago they came up shallow in June and stayed there until September. It was like being in Heaven that Spring. I will look through my pics and see if I still have some from there and post.



Regards

I'm just going by personal experience. I have not fished the lake as much in recent years as I did growing up; my grandfather and I had a couple really good trips back when I was in high school, trips where the bluegill averaged three-quarters of a pound each; but that was nearly thirty years ago. I've fished it a handful of times in the past three years, but mainly only from the bank which is pretty limiting on that lake. I caught several bluegill in the 9" range two springs ago down there (from the bank), and a couple shellcracker that would go 10", but I haven't seen a bunch of 10"s either for myself or anyone else. As many pictures as they take at that baitshop, I would think if they were common, that more than a couple a year would get photographed.

I just now went to the lake's Facebook page and did a little quick analysis. There are 51 photos of catfish posted for 2012, 27 photos of bass, 10 for bluegill. Out of the bluegill photos, two are the same photo of a string of 8-9" fish, and three more are of the same 18-oz. bluegill. There are six photos total, counting the three of the same fish, of bluegill that might go 10" - I say might because one photo is of a mess that a father and son caught, and there's one nice one that could've gone 10" but could also have been 9" but it's impossible to tell due to camera angle and not all of the fish being in the shot. So that boils down to four bluegill, max, caught all of this year from the lake, at least ones that were photographed, that even made 10". There were no photos of an 11" bluegill from this year, and one from last year. So one 11" and four 10"s have been photographed at the bait shop in the last two years. Two guys who flew in from San Antonio in July to fish with me caught three 11" bluegill in one morning's fishing.

But, if you have photos, photos don't lie.

Although, the original topic of the thread was how to catch an 11" bluegill - and unless Laurel Hill lake somehow has a contingent of fishermen unlike any others in our state in their ability to keep a secret, 11" bluegill are decidedly rare in that lake, just as they are in all but a handful of public lakes anywhere in the country. And I've been fishing that lake off and on for over thirty years and have never seen or heard of a 12" bluegill coming out of it.

I made a couple trips years ago to waters that were hours away, because I had read that pound-plus bluegill were common in those waters (Reelfoot was one of the destinations), and remember being pretty frustrated upon learning the fishing had been exaggerated, so I like to watch out for people contemplating such a trip. Of course I also enjoy fulfilling lifetime goals for bluegill fanatics, which is why I have worked so hard to make the ponds I guide on what they are.

Private water is where it's at for anglers who want to catch a trophy bluegill. Just my $.02...

:hesaid X 2, Good Post...

Thanks, Crappie1!

i've only seen one gill that was over 12''; it was caught in a pond that's totally secluded on a rooster tail; i'll be going there in the spring after deer season is done and over with; can't go now because of deer hunters; cant wait!

I would love to see a 12" Bluegill in a picture with a ruler on it plain enough to see it's 12" That would be awesome...

yep, hard to believe i know; my best friend hardly ever fishes and he called me to come to his place that evening to check it out; it was a monster; didn't even look real; i can get a pic of it but without a ruler

dang nice!

Those are some nice size Bluegills!