I've always had a soft spot for bream fishing since I grew up chasing them throughout the tiny creeks behind my house as a kid. But I was able to experience the greatest bream fishing trip of my life last Sunday while out with Waco_kid. I have never seen so many monster bream come out of the water in one day. I don't mean monster as in your average large fish but we caught many many fish over 10" and the fish I usually consider keepers all went back in the water since they obviously had some growing to do compared to their brothers and sisters. It would be a dishonor to yourself to not take this man up on one of his guided trips.

Nice Haul! Good job.





Side Note: Getting hungry for some Bluegill!

Nice Catch. Fish fry coming soon!

We only caught 500 or so. They should be fine. All kidding aside, I sure hope the number of fish we harvested didn't have a negative impact on this body of water. Especially since we didn't concentrate in one area very long and also came no where near fishing 1% of the area in this lake. Many species were caught which should decrease the chances of damage. However, if we have impacted this body of water I'm sure there's some pretty well educated individuals not far away that can rectify this situation. Say, we did keep even the smaller fish, would we have further impacted the general sunfish population by over fishing? I'm not sure where this line may be or by which manner I should walk it in order to be a positive impact for the habitat. I always try to do my best to respect nature and the animals that live there. If there is truly a problem here please enlighten me further and I will definitely keep that in mind when I return.

Tn while in part I agree with you . That being said I believe that happens on ponds and small lakes . I think certain lakes have what it takes to produce big fish in big quantities for many years . I have seen a few great lakes ruined from over harvesting . I do not think this is the case on this particular body of water . IMHO

I'm no avid bluegill fisherman. I fish maybe 5 times a year and this is the first time I've caught bluegill like this in my life. Not to mention the other four trips are always for crappie but that a whole different lecture. I kept so many because my family and I enjoy nothing more than a big mess of fried bluegill. None will go to waste in any way unless there's a spare piece of two after the meal of which my dogs will thoroughly enjoy. I have no shame in this situation and I will most likely repeat this trip next year. Respectfully, I honestly don't care how you feel about this situation. Good luck in growing your bluegill to enormous sizes and then watching them die a natural death so the turtles can feed on their corpse. I prefer to see them soaked in grease.

I find it baffling that some people feel the need to [censored] all over the way that other people live their lives.

As long as what the OP did was within his or her legal right, why do you feel the need to disparage him/her? If you feel that passionately about it, work to change the laws. There is plenty of precedent with slot limits. If you are afraid that the bluegill fishery in TX (or any other state) will be severely impacted by keeping the keeping and cleaning of large bluegills, then what have you done to get the laws changed?

Also, the articles that you posted have no actual data in them, just some anecdotal comments from the writers that their favorite bluegill places no longer have "big panfish". And in regards to the study that was conducted 25 years ago in a Canadian lake, all they did was prove that nature works. Of course if you remove the larger fish that tends the nest, a smaller one will come in an fertilize the eggs. What they didn't do is figure how the reproductive cycle works in Southern lakes where the growing seasons are a lot longer and some fish go through two spawns per season. I would be interested to see this same study done in a Southern reservoir studying the strains of bluegill (greenies, redears, etc) that are prevalent down here where the lakes don't ice over in the winter.

To the OP. Great catch and I hope you had a blast!

I for one agree with TN. There is really no excuse for keeping a large cooler of fish. I used to think you could not hurt the population of a large lake with a rod and reel, but I have changed my mind over a fishing career spanning 7 decades. Keeping a dozen or two for a meal is one thing. Keeping a cooler full is another.

The same applies to other fish. I hate to see pictures posted of the back of a pickup or boat filled with crappie, catfish, or sand bass. At least the TPWD imposed limits somewhat protect those species.

No excuse huh? For what reason do I need an excuse, I'm confused. All I can tell you two highly opinionated gentleman is get your butts out there and get in on the fun before I catch every last one out of the lake.

Ignore the troll and it will go away. As for the topic at hand all I can say is this. I've been catching and keeping buckets full of BIG Bream from that lake sense 1985 and guess what THEY'RE STILL THERE!!! It is an 1800 acre lake, not some community pond. TN book a trip with me and I'll prove it. I have this Sunday open...

If Tpw does not impose a creel limit then I can not see why people should not have a choice on amount kept . They argue about keeping a lot of bass or crappie . There is a creel limit . If you kept more you are in violation of a law . If and when there is an imposed creel limit of panfish I will obey it . Til then to each their own . This was a fun topic meant to let people know about a great place with a great guide . Live and let live

+1

One thing to consider in those studies is fishing pressure. The lakes in Illinois and Wisconsin (30+yrs resident) have a lot more people that fish for gills. I'd be willing to bet that when the gills are spawning almost 90% of the people on those lakes are fishing for gills. I have found that to be the exact opposite down here. My last 2 times on this lake I found hardly anyone fishing for them.

Doubt me? Just look to see how many people look at the bluegill section on this forum, usually there are more people looking at the rough fish section...

Here we go again. We all see what bass fishing has become, Lord, please don't let someone say they ate one. And the catfish elites are working hard to make it shameful to take a few home to eat. But now the gills. Getting slamed for taking a bunch home to eat. How freaking stupid can it get.

Nobody gets grief over keeping some fish to eat, bass or other wise. Look in the recipe section, lots of bass eating fans. Nobody is throwing a fit about people eating catfish either.

It's going out and intentionally targeting the biggest specimens for the table that people don't like...... It's no different than running trotlines on twok during the winter and keeping 25 blues over 50lbs. Perfectly legal but shouldn't be.