Size Matters

When Bluegill fishing, size does matter. An 8 inch cricket cruncher in public waters in East Tennessee is a welcome keeper in my book any day. Tennessee recognizes anglers who capture and photograph a 10 inch gill with a trophy fish certificate. I have never reached this threshold on my home lakes (Cherokee and Douglas) but today I caught my largest of the season. Bluebird skies, sweltering sun, and no wind made the fishing tougher than usual but I did find a few that wanted to cooperate. Here is an on the water picture for our California Friend -
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Man they are a pretty prickly site, and tasty too.
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An even Dozen were invited home, with a couple of hook swallowers making up the bag. I do not like to kill a fish and throw it back if I am allowed to keep it. Under sized Crappie throw backs are the law, but a sharp knife will clean a small gill and make use of his fillets as our Creator intended.
Three big boys of the morning:
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The middle guy had 4 golden spots above his operculum, something unique indeed. The 9 inch mark on my Grandfathers old white measuring stick was scared today but just not achieved. Maybe after the Memorial Day Holiday when the moon is its fullest I will hit my mark.


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Good day for sure!

Nice catch.

Regards


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Great report and pictures! Glad you had a good day.

Great catch

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Congrats on a fine catch. I try to measure and compare bluegills based on what the body of water offers. In Central Ohio at the places where I am able to fish, an 8 1/2 to 8 3/4 bluegill is a fine fish and I'll take 8" bluegills all day. It's all relative, and allows me to feel good about what I do catch.

Great catch, I did the same, yesterday!

I love the 8-10" ones, but the 7" will do in a pinch.

Good catch. missouri also recognizes a 10"er. Haven't hit mark yet this year either. Nice mess of fish for sure.

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Originally Posted by trypman1

I love the 8-10" ones, but the 7" will do in a pinch.

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That one looks to be 10in according to the yellow ruler. That is a nice one for sure, I bet he put up a heck of a fight, and tasted even better!


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Great post

I fish for the tug

I have fished Illinois,Missouri,and Kentucky pretty regularly for 30 years or so now. Bluegill have suffered the most in overall size reduction across the board among the fishes. There was a day when you could catch washtubs of 9" and up fish. Now just a few places left you can catch them that size, but not in the numbers you use too that size. However...Illinois does not have a quantity or size limit on them.Except where special regulations apply. And a few waters have a lot of 7 to 8 inch fish that need harvested. Light tackle it is still pretty fun how hard they pull. I keep and clean some every year. Occasionally I just scale and head a few for a treat. Takes me back to a simpler time.