We have like a twenty acre lake on our place. Went out to the boat dock and took a net and scooped it in the water and got a full load of bream. Did it again at a different spot and full again. Can anyone tell me why they are doing this???

They do love to congregate around and under docks in general. Do you fish off the dock or throw feed into the water for ducks, etc. that'll bring them in and keep them congregating. Also if there is any more structure/brush under the dock for them to hide in. I'm not an expert, but those are my thoughts on it...

Sounds like there may be an over population of Sunfish in that lake. Usually this time of year the Sunfish are in deeper water and are not that active. How is the rest of the fish population such as Bass,and Cats?

Actually just did another test and they are all up and down the bank, not just under the boat house. I have never seen this happen before. Maybe the lochness monster found her way to the lake here and has the fish scared. Lol

Plus #1. Would be curious to know the size of the Sunfish being caught and the condition of the Bass and Cats in the lake. Good chance of over population. Just my two cents.


Side Note: There are several anglers who are pond experts that every now and then will post here. Hopefully one of em will see your post. You may also want to post this in the Pond section of the forum as well.

Actually, I may be selling myself short. If you are looking for the record holder of the world's Smallest Bream, I very well could be in the conversation. That's a special sort of expertise...

Banker. The ones I was pulling up in the dip net are small. The bass are healthy and a lot ranging in double digits. No cats but a bunch of big crappie. I have just never seen anything like this before.

Based on what you have said it sounds like the lake is in pretty good shape. With a good population of Gills it is good to hear that there are some double digit healthy Bass in that pond. Those small Gills are a good food source for Bass. Also the Crappie are a super fish. The only thing I can think of other than over population is they were possibly feeding at the time you were netting.

Here is a pic of what i dipped up at once.

Looks like a healthy mess of Gills. Good chance that you just happened to net some schools of some hungry gills searching for food. Just my opinion.

If I had to guess....

Could be the lake isn't that deep so the fish are coming into the shallows to get warm during the day. I'm also guessing you're scooping them up around 1:00-5:00pm? Which is usually the warmest part of the day.

Could also be the water in the deep part of the pond is not to their liking. Low o2, clarity, cover, structure, or any other variable. It's not often you'll find a lot of bream that close to the bank unless they are spawning. Being that close to the banks leaves them open to all kinds of predators; terrestrial, airborne and predators with fins.

Goodtimes, were the fish swimming close to the surface such that you saw them before you netted them, or did you just guess there might be some there and run the net to see? If they're swimming slowly near the surface you could be having a low DO (dissolved oxygen) issue, which is not as common in the winter but can happen, especially after a cold snap. Hopefully that's not what was happening and the fish just happened to be there. Were they flopping vigorously when you netted them, or were they more sluggish? If the latter, that's not a good sign and would typically indicate either an oxygen issue, or some other water quality problem (but most likely oxygen). One other possibility if they're swimming lazily just under the surface is that they're looking for that warmer water as another poster suggested. The key indicator as to whether or not there's a water issue is how lively the fish were when you netted them.

If the fish were frisky, and you're netting them easily anywhere around the pond, the bluegill are badly overpopulated. That's great if your goal is trophy bass - that's why your bass are doing so well. If on the other hand your primary goal is big bluegill, you won't get there unless you make adjustments to the pond.

Hope this helps.

Best thing you can do for the over population of them is open up your lake to some of us to fish your lake. So you can get the population down a bit.

i am not sure but i do know we hammered the redear sunfish in 3 foot of water or less last year at this time
they were active and feeding and i never did figure out why they were so shallow in the dead of winter
it could very well be the water is warmer ...or an oxygen issue ....
or numerous other factors ....
are any of the fish actually dead or dying ?
btw ...if its an overpopulation thing ....
a couple or 4 blue cats will solve the issue pretty fast