Obviously part of the answer is pond management. The Bluegills in managed ponds where they are fed grow huge. But why are the Bluegills in Lake Athens bigger than those in Joe Pool or Ray Hubbard for an example?

Just my opinion I would say food source, amount of predator fish in the water body,water condition,and seasonal weather conditions,would all play a major factor on sunfish size. It seems the warmer areas produce the bigger sunfish. Again just my two cents.

My first answer would be fishing pressure. I did a little research online and discovered that both Joe Pool and Ray Hubbard are within the metropolitan area of Dallas - that right there is the problem. One of the sources I used even noted that Joe Pool receives tremendous fishing pressure - the article stated that the fishing has remained good, but obviously it hasn't in terms of bluegill size. Lake Athens is by Athens, which according to the source I just consulted has a population of 12,000, as opposed to the 1.2 million of Dallas. Joe Pool has been stocked with coppernose multiple times; Athens has coppernose as well, but they're reaching a larger size almost certainly simply because they are getting the time to do so.

It was once believed that bluegill populations could not be overfished. But a few different studies that were done beginning in the 1970's found that public lakes often were having the majority of their catchable-size bluegill removed by angling within a few months of being opened to the public, and that the size structure of the bluegill in those lakes never recovered. Then a little over ten years ago fisheries biologists in Illinois discovered the "sneaker male" phenomenon, which explains why.

There are two distinct populations of male bluegill within any population: the males that mature sexually at a good size, typically 7" or 8" or larger, with all of the physical traits anglers admire, such as the hump on the forehead, the large opercular flap, the dark colors on the body, the maroon or burnt-orange patch on the chest; but then there are males that mature at three or four inches and that have none of these traits but look just like female bluegill (more elongated body shape, olive and yellow or pale coloring, small opercular, etc.). These latter fish have been dubbed sneaker males by biologists because they will approach a nest on which a mature male is guarding eggs just laid by a female; the mature male thinks it's another female come to lay more eggs, so it lets the sneaker onto the nest, and the sneaker fertilizes the eggs with its inferior genetics, and the overall size structure of the population of bluegill in that water body just went down a little.

If you've ever known about a lake that briefly had amazing bluegill fishing but got hammered with fishing pressure and never recovered, this is why.

A couple states have changed their regulations on bluegill in efforts to improve size structure, but for the most part, regulations at this moment for bluegill are where regulations were for largemouth fifty years ago.

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Those are some interesting comments TN PM. I'm amazed that there would be enough people that would
actually target bluegill to make that big a dent. Sure, a lot of kids fish for bluegill off of docks or the bank.
But I think a very large percentage of anglers target bigger species and especially those that have boats.

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There is no doubt that bass are the most popular freshwater species in this country. But you would be surprised how many people fish for bluegill. In two different lakes, one in Michigan and one in Wisconsin, 13% of bluegill over six inches were removed with three days of the lakes being opened to the public for the first time. In another Michigan lake, 24% of legal-size bluegill were removed within the first three weeks the lake was open to the public for the first time:

http://people.bethel.edu/~kisrob/bio321/articles/cobleBluegill.pdf

And this was back in the 1970's when there was a fraction as many people fishing as there are now.

A big part of the problem is that regulations have not followed the science. When it was realized that big largemouth could be fished out, regulations were changed, catch-and-release became popular, and bass fishing improved in public waters. Too many bluegill anglers still feel they have to keep enough fish to feed a small town when they get on a bed of bluegill, and it doesn't take long for the big ones to get fished out this way. Anglers once kept stringerfuls of big largemouth until it became frowned upon to do so; every die-hard bluegill angler I know is hoping that someday that day will come with bluegill.

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My context is Texas only. I've read MANY more stories of bluegill seeking in northern
states, whether ice is in or out. Much more so than here in Texas. Right now, my experience with good bluegill water has
always been associated with a healthy population of largemouth bass. Or as in Calaveras, big redfish and catfish populations.
And like I say, I have seen very, very few people cleaning bluegill on cleaning tables at various lakes.

But I'm not complaining about the lack of bluegill fisherman. And I'm blaming Chuck for turning me into one. LOL !!

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A bunch of Bluegill are hard to beat!

Good post. Lots of information. Thanks for sharing.

Yep!

I agree with your post. For me, the biggest bluegill of the season is usually caught on the first or second outing in the spring. I think the thing to do is keep the smaller ones and return the big ones to the lake. Selling that approach to the die-hard bluegill angler is possible. Unfortunately. that does nothing about the "perch" fisherman who does not know what he is catching but keeps everything, regardless of size. The saving grace is most such fishermen do not know how to catch big bluegill.

Another problem is the cast net user who throws a net on the bed and wipes out the entire population. Declaring the bluegill a game fish would fix that problem if the game wardens enforce it, but the big catfish lobby would throw a fit if that were the case because it would eliminate the use of bluegill for bait.

lots a little freshwater shrimp to grow fat quick on in east texas

You're right, Smithaven, a simple solution is to keep the mid-sized bluegill, and not a coolerful of them, and release the big ones to preserve the genetics and allow them to get bigger. There doesn't seem to be much momentum for that at the moment, however - it seems there are too many anglers who feel entitled to keep the coolerful regardless of how it affects the fishing in the future.

The biggest problem however is simply the archaic, harmful regulations. It's hard to say whether the state biologists for the many states with such regulations are not aware of the last forty years of science on bluegill growth, or simply think anyone who fishes for bluegill does so only for meat, or just don't care. It's discouraging at any rate. I personally have seen several lakes ranging in size from 40 acres to three hundred, lakes managed by TWRA, briefly develop top-notch bluegill fishing with fish in the 10" range being common, only to see the fishery wiped out within a handful of years - in multiple cases it only took two years - as the word got out and anglers took home big bluegill by the bucketful. And not a one of them ever had good bluegill fishing again, or will as long as these non-regulating regulations are in place.

The biggest factor I've seen for growing big bluegill in large or small waters is fertility. A fertile lake can sustain more and bigger specimens of each specie. A sterile water means less forage and cover for the most part.

You're right, Jagg, in that fertility can make a big difference. But its benefit is completely negated if there are inadequate regulations in place - every one of the lakes I allude to above that briefly had great bluegill fisheries, are fertilized on a regular basis by TWRA and have great fertility.