Hybrid Bluegills

While bass fishing at the local park I saw some dead hybrid gills floating that were really nice size so figured they must have stocked some recently. Next day I went back with the ultralights to try and stick a few. One rod is a custom 1 piece 7.5' that
I hadn't used in several years since I got the JDM bug. Rod is moderate action but casts the tiny jig and float a lot farther than my 7' JDM rod that I never leave behind at home. The hybrids cooperated and put a large bend in the rod. Caught over 30 hybrids and gills in a few hours. Gills were smaller but the hybrids averaged around 8" with the biggest hitting the 9" mark. Glad I knocked the cob webs off this rod, going to be using it a lot more and will take it with me on next weeks trout fishing/camping trip with my son.Attachment 494664Attachment 494665Attachment 494666Attachment 494666

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One more picture.

Nice gills !
After experiencing JDM equipment; I find it interesting to go back to my USA market equipment and compare them according to their use .
For me I’ve found I prefer my older domestic rods in the longer configurations for my float fishing where sensitivity isn’t needed as much as flexibility.
Thanks for sharing.

Very nice!

Good job. Nice!

Nice ones! 9" 'gills are a hoot to get in to.

The reel used with the 7.5' is a Revo MGX20 spooled with 2# sos mono. Fished it with a 1/48 chub head with a#8 sickle with a 1" tube. Other rod had a duck feather jig on it. Caught more on the duck jig but most of the bigger hybrids were caught with the tube jig.

interesting for sure , never seen larger versions stocked before , sounds like fun to me .....
too bad they revert to greens after a few spawns though , they can grow REALLY big in hybrid form in some cases
them look big to me , just saying
KABOOM bro

Usually when they stock hybrids they are smaller 5-6" fish. Don't know where they got these but a lot of them are in the 1/2# range, maybe more. Definitely big enough to fillet. I will pass on that and leave them in the lake to eat their smaller cousins. Lot's of little tiny sunfish in this lake. They are super aggressive, had a couple try to eat my 3/4" weighted float off the top, actually had it in their mouth before spitting it out.

Very nice and chunky fish. Thanks for the walk along.
Bob

Those hybrids look like the ones I catch out of friends pond here in TN. He stocked only those in this small pond for the grand kids. They are a bluegill/war mouth cross. I usually use a 1-32 oz head, a small float and a crappie nibble. They usually eat that better than a worm. Good luck.

Those are stocky looking fish Jim, I’d be happy with some of those too. I have a 6’6” one piece Fenwick that I built that’s a light action and lots of fun with a beetle spin. I dust it off now and then and always wonder why it rides the bench so much. Then I get a smal LMB on it and the fun is officially on, really handles them well. Also good to hear of your days beginning to cool off. Still too hot here most days.