BLUEGILL: AMERICA’S FISH
They are plentiful, strong, fun to catch and delicious, too
SAMBURG, Tenn. – As we troll past a couple of the 200-year-old cypress trees that dot northwest Tennessee’s Reelfoot Lake, Alan Clemons gets a whiff of his childhood. It’s a hint of stale sweetness, akin to a slightly overripe cantaloupe or watermelon. Not unpleasant and immediately recognizable. Bluegill. “In the spring when they’re spawning, you can smell them,” Clemons says. “It’s a very distinctive smell.” It’s also something of a time portal.
“I learned that when I was about 7 or 8 years old and fishing with my mother and father on Big Nance Creek in northern Alabama,” the 52-year-old married father of two says. “My mother could smell them. She would say, ‘ We need to stop right here.’ And we’d stop and anchor up and start catching bluegill.
“I’ve never forgotten that spring bluegill spawning aroma. It’s different than what people know as a fishy odor, like at the market or docks. Once you get a whiff and realize what it is, you’ll not forget it.”
That’s what bluegill can do for you. They bind us to memories that span generations. Clemons’ mother, Ann, died in 1984. But the scent of spawning bluegill pulled her presence into the boat as if she were sitting in the bow.
“If you’re trolling along a bank calmly and quietly, and if the water is clear enough, you’ll probably smell that; that sweet smell,” Clemons adds. “And you’ll know you are in the right spot.”
Perhaps that’s why bluegill are so popular among anglers of all ages and skill levels. Or it could be because they’re so darn fun to catch.
“Nothing will paste a silly grin on the face of even the most seasoned angler (faster) than catching a bluegill he or she can barely wrap their hand around,” says Jeff Samsel, content specialist for Thill Floats and a dedicated bluegill fisherman. “I’ve heard people jest that if a bluegill got as big as a bass you couldn’t reel it in, and that’s almost true. They’re flat-sided and all muscle.
“They don’t draw many headlines, but every angler enjoys catching them.”
Bluegill, like largemouth bass and
25 other kindred species, are members of the sunfish family. They are found across most the United States, Mexico and southern Canada, and have been introduced to waters in Europe, Asia, South America and beyond.
They are popular with fishermen for several reasons: They swim nearly everywhere freshwater flows, they provide tremendous sport on light tackle, they’re delicious when lightly battered and fried. And they are relatively easy to catch, particularly in spring and summer during the spawn.
A bluegill spawning bed can contain
50 or more nests. These are roundish areas fanned out by males on a relatively firm, smooth bottom. Find one bluegill and you’ll find a bunch.
While spawning bluegill are found in bunches, they are not inextinguishable, cautions Billy Blakley. He is the head guide at Blue Bank Resort on Reelfoot Lake, a bluegill lodestone folded into the northwest corner of Tennessee. When fishing a spawning bed, Blakley puts only male bluegill on ice. Males typically are darker than females and have an orangish colored breast.
“Don’t keep females off a (spawning) bed,” Blakley says. “That’s a bad thing to do. It will dry the bed up.”
During the spawn, look for bluegill in 2 to 6 feet of water, often near woody cover or vegetation. Later in the summer when fish move away from spawning areas, you’ll find them in deeper, cooler water. But they tend to travel in bunches, strike with vengeance and fight with fury.
“Bluegill can be fished for almost year-round,” says retired Kentucky fisheries biologist Paul Rister. “During the spawning period you want to fish shallow. If you are in an area with vegetation or fallen brush, I’d fish the edges of that cover. After the spawn the bigger bluegill might be found on deeper banks. But bluegill are not picky eaters.”
Pound for pound, bluegill might be one of the strongest freshwater fish. They are often described in colorful terms: For most anglers a hand-size bluegill (6 to 9 inches, roughly, depending on the size of one’s hand) would be a keeper fish. An 8-inch fish would be about a half-pound bluegill. A 1-pound bluegill (an 11- to 12-inch fish) is rare, and a 2-pound ’gill is the catch of a lifetime for most bluegill fishermen.
The International Game Fish Association’s all-tackle world record bluegill is a 4-pound, 12-ounce brute — a heavyweight mark that has stood for 68 years.
You’re probably not far from good bluegill fishing. Reelfoot is a top destination for big bluegill. But it’s hardly the only one. Clemons also recommends Guntersville Lake in northern Alabama and Lake Seminole on the Georgia-Florida line for strong numbers of big ’gills.
I’ve fished for bluegills from the Dakotas to Virginia, including in my home state of Kentucky. But the largest bluegills I’ve caught came from a small remote lake in Ontario’s Killarney Provincial Park.
Samsel suggests South Carolina’s Santee Cooper and Pymatuning Reservoir, which straddles the PennsylvaniaOhio line about 50 miles northeast of Youngstown.
“But one of the very best things about bluegill fishing is that the action can be good in so many places,” Samsel says. “And the best place to fish for many people is as close as a neighborhood pond, county park lake or creek that runs through town.”
Successful tactics for bluegill fishing fit any fishing budget or style; from a cane pole and a box of worms to a four-figure fly rod tipped with a hand-tied fly.
Blakley is a cricket-fished-under-abobber man.
“When they’re on the beds it’s nothing but crickets for me,” he says.
Like many anglers, Samsel loves returning to his roots:
“I don’t know of anything else that can make someone who has fished around the world or caught other species of big fish get so happy and excited as when they catch a big bluegill.”
“One of the best things about bluegill fishing is that the action can be good in so many places.”
Jeff Samsel