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We went yesterday and caught a nice mess of ears, one was 10.5 inches along with some tickling the 10 inch mark. These fish seem to be eating nonstop for the upcoming winter.
I've got a question regarding their diet, this time of year when I clean them, they have a white, cheesy substance in their gut. It almost reminds me of chewed up swiss cheese, very thick stuff and you can tell when you cut into them. The bigger redear seem to be full of it, is it mussels?
could it be maggots?????
Partially digested mussels mixed with whatever else they are feeding on?
worms are falling off the tree right now and they are white
Mussels would be my guess I know the ones I got a two weeks ago at glendale were full of the same thing you are describing.
I'm thinking it's mussels, the bluegill I cleaned didn't seem to have this substance. I don't think bluegill are capable of eating mussels the way redear are, so that would explain the situation.
I caught a big mess of ears a few years ago in October down at the Hoosier Forestry that had this same food in their guts. This were big redear too, all over ten inches with two approaching the eleven inch mark. I haven't seen it in redear under nine inches or so.