Do they congregate by size?

The fishing has been decent in my part of the world here lately. We are having an odd spring with wild temp swings but we have still managed to find a few fish. I am noticing they don't seem to fluctuate much in size. If we start off catching smalls, they stay small. We got into some good sized shell crackers and they all were good sized, we even kept a few for the frying pan, and even the non keepers were still good sized. I have tried changing bait size to attract bigger ones when we hit the smalls, I've tried going deeper, shallower, switching from live to artificial, edging out into deeper water, all the tricks I can think of, but non the less, if we start out with small fish they never get any bigger. I'm stumped

Bluegill do congregate by size. Not that a bigger fish can’t be in the mix but usually they stay around other same class year fish.

Regards


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Well; that answers that lol. So would a person be advised to move to a different spot if you find yourself reeling in only small fish? I will say, sometimes we are looking for what we call "silver dollar" bluegill for flathead bait, normally though we are looking for fighters if we just want to fish a while or once in a while we like to catch some eaters.

I have always moved to find the size fish I am looking for.

excellent question and one we all think about IMO. but when your ketchn crappie or BG it can be hard to leave a good bite no matter what the size as it is FUN! But if your looking for eaters then you do have to move. on my home lake when the spawn is on stays on for quite a while and you ketch one 4 to 7 incher after the other but don't get into bigger males even when you move. so it's a mystery.

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Originally Posted by gunwhatgun

Well; that answers that lol. So would a person be advised to move to a different spot if you find yourself reeling in only small fish? I will say, sometimes we are looking for what we call "silver dollar" bluegill for flathead bait, normally though we are looking for fighters if we just want to fish a while or once in a while we like to catch some eaters.

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If you are looking for bigger fish you should move. This exact scenario is why I started buying super ultra light and xtra ultra light ords. I wanted to have fun with the smaller fish when that is all that is available. Thinking of going to an XXUL for those "Silver Dollar" type fish....LOL.




Regards

So, I ran an experiment this evening. My daughter wanted to go fishing, so we hooked up the boat and headed out I took her to that spot because even if they are small, the bite is usually on and we can sit and catch a few and let her get warmed up from a long fishing hiatus. once she was back in the rythm of casting and setting the hook. I started creeping up the creek looking for new spots. About a hundred yards up we got into better fish. Not monsters mind you but definitely better. Solis 6 to 7 inchers and very healthy looking. a little way up further and they got small again, but came much quicker and very aggressive.