Fished several lakes and creeks over the past few days and I noticed that the gills are sitting on nest. If the water is clear you can see them chasing other fish away from their nest. Also I have also observed small defensive red marks on the sides and the tails on most of the gills I have caught indicting their defending their nest. Gills are very active and biting good on sand and gravel bottoms.

I always thought that bluegills spawned when the water temps were in the lower 70's?

They start spawning at about 70 degrees and continue spawning through until fall. One female bluegill can spawn about 5 times during the season. Prolific critters.

Several anglers have said they had gotten eggs out of some of the gills they had been cleaning. Don't know the water temp. but it has to be well above 70 degrees-go figure.

Two weeks ago I kept 2 females and they still had eggs. That was out of a lake also.

'Gills spawn every full moon from May - Sept. We got a major semi final spawn coming with the August full moon. Can't wait! The biggest ones can be caught at night during the week of the full moon.

Rudy

Thanks Rudy for the information. I caught a very nice gill on Converse lake that was 10 inches long and the weight was 1.04 lbs. I watched her defending her nest and was surprised that she took a worm. I released her after a very good fight. I will be on the water the next full moon. Let me know how you do if you also plan to fish. Good luck.

Thank U rudy for info, I have a question, we usually catch Bream around Mothers day weekend when they on beds, are the blue gills mutch different, Im kinda new at breamin. and never had much luck. Will they they be in shalliw water as bream were?

You might be talkin' about the same species. A lot of folks call Bluegill Bream. Some folks call all panfish/sunfish Bream. But, Bluegill will usually start spawning when the water temps get to around 69 degrees. In San Antonio, that can be as early as the beginning of April. Bluegills will try to make their colony nests in a hard bottom area, such as sand and/or gravel. Their nests can be as shallow as 18" deep to as much as 6' deep or deeper. The clearer the water, the deeper the nests. Hope this helps.

I am going to Pines this weekend will check things out.

Let us know how you did and good luck.

blue gills / bream will spawn more than once each year, they start with the fullmoon in spring after the water reaches the mid 60 range then each fullmoon you'll find more in the bed area,I'm not real sure how many times they spawn,but I find beds all summer in Rayburn. smaller fish in the shallows larger gills a little deeper?

I did not get to wet a hook this weekend had to much other mess up to correct, maybe 2 weeks before I go again,

Full Moons, April through September, are PRIMO bluegill/sunfish spawning fish catching times! Night time is not only the right time, but the BEST time to catch em, for size, not numbers. BIGUNS!

Rudy

Fished several areas this past Thursday with Mike "USMC Guy" SA river, Leon Creek and Medina River. Rio's, Gills, and Longears all were on nest. Action was great-lots of fun. Several Rios had some good size. Gills were average and the Longears between 4 to 6 inches. All fish were very healthy. If this keeps up through September what more could you want.