I have heard there are giant Bluegill in Lake Fairfield? My question is can you catch the big ones bank fishing around campsites or do you need to get in a boat and locate them?

I never have fished it so I would not know. But you have an advantage anytime you can fish from a boat.

If you look at Google Earth, find the main launch ramp, and draw a line due west to what Google calls Balls Branch. Any where along that bank.

Never fished FF before. At one time there were GIANT BG in that lake. Would not surprise me at all if they returned.

Plus #1.

At one time years ago it was known as the Best Bluegill lake in Texas. I would have to argue that Fayette is the best !

I wouldn't even attempt to fish the banks at faurfield. Hydrilla has absolutely taken the lake over. With that said, fishing from a boat, huge bluegill are still being caught.

fishing_ken I watch your videos on YouTube! I would love to go out with you some time to Fairfield and get some Donkey Gills!

Fairfield has made a good recovery since the big fish kill years ago. However now that they closed the power plant you will have a seasonally cold lake. This will reduce the growing season of the big gills. This is why Fayette and Fairfield produce so well. Fortunately TPWD stocked copper nose which have good genetics for warm water fast growth . However if you keep removing the large males the overall population will dramatically decrease in size due to genetics being taken out of the lake and native fish interbreeding. Males are the ones which pass the big gene along. Nothing wrong with keeping some fish to eat but I tend to focus on the eating size throwing the larger males back. You will notice most good bass lakes are good gill lakes. This is due to predation on the small gills. Now that Fairfield is a marginal bass lake and no longer stocked with heavily feeding red fish it could decline quickly with too much pressure. I fished Fork extensively in the late 80's and 90's. When the bass virus whacked the LM population the gills overpopulated and created a dink fest for many years. Now that bass have recovered the bream fishing has picked up. Still not to its glory days. Enough said just throw some of the big ones back and enjoy the ones you keep!

Could not have said it any better skilletshot. That's key to keeping our lake healthy and help the growth of the big fish population.

DON'T TAKE THE BIG ONES mid size fish taste the same

Agree 100 %...I think the mid sized ones actually taste BETTER...throw back the bigger ones that represent the future of the population...

"Under nine is fine" would be a good rule of thumb.

I just toss them all back and buy fish at the store when I want some to eat. Lot less fuss and the fish that get tossed back into the lake instead of the cooler are way more appreciative.