I fish eddy creek alot and the biggest gill I've caught was 9 1/2" long. I generally keep gills that are at least 7" long.
Just curious what you guys consider a keeper gill. Just wondering if I am thinking about what others are as far as size and is it common to catch 9"+ gill on barkley.
8 inches = keeper size
Again the min. size gill is 7" that I will keep. But the biggest I've ever caught was only 9 1/2".
I was just wondering if that is about right. I just thought the gill's ought to be bigger.
I have caught 12" redear also, just not 12" bluegill.
8 inches is a good guideline. Of course, it mostly depends on how many bags of fillets I currently have in the freezer.
My thoughts for gills is that if I am hungry for fish, and it is big enough to filet I will keep it.
If I'm hungry, if its got 2 eyes and a butt is all it takes haha
I have caught lots of Gills that are 10 inches long with a 13 or 14 inch girth. I catch a lot of females that are 10 and 11 inches with a 10 or 11 inch girth. But in the Caney Fork River we catch 5 and 6 inch Gills as thick across the shoulders as a 10 inch Gill. I think the rule of thumb is how fat the Gill is and maybe not the length.
That's what I 'm talking about, it simply doesn't get any better than landing a 12-13 inch shellcracker. Jim Doom said it's similar to seeing that big buck walk up on you as you're in the stand preparing to take a shot. I've done the deer thing, give me 13 inch crackers all day over that.
I've got to get down there one spring, I'll bet the fall cracker bite is pretty good to though. Up in here in Indiana, the redear bite is good in April and May, then picks back up in Sept and October.
Thanks for the info guys. I was just wondering if I was missing the boat with my perceiption of the the blue gill in Lake Barkley.
Sound like I'm in the same frame of thought as most of you about what a keeper gill is. thanks again.