By: Jim Gronaw – Date Posted: May 11, 2011
It all started about 53 years ago. My father got me out on the water at a small pond and there it happened…I caught my first fish! It was a bluegill, probably no more than five or six inches long, but to me, it was a trophy. Years later, while in high school, I would seek out the local bounty of small ponds in the country region of central Maryland where cornfields and cow manure ruled. Hot steamy summers saw me on my bike pedaling within a 20- mile radius of my home to seek out more high-end bluegill water.
Fast forward to today…and I’m still at it! Looking for good bluegill water, waters that the bass guys all say I can have for my own. They want bigger venues, bigger game. The stakes are higher. Me? I just want to fish away from the crowds and catch big panfish, slab-sided gills that weigh a pound or more. I don’t mind the deer flies and I don’t mind the cow manure fragrance. I’m bluecollar, easy to satisfy, don’t get out much. Low maintenance. And, like that small child fifty-odd years ago, I haven’t changed a lot. Some kids never grow up. That’ right…I caught my first bluegill when I was five, and I haven’t been the same since.
It is no secret that small ponds and lakes throughout the land provide outstanding fishing opportunities for bass and panfish. Some are public and some are private. Many are overlooked. All are worth investigating. I have been blessed over the years to have fished nearly 200 private ponds and lakes in the Mid-Atlantic region. Some were duds, some were fantastic. But the overwhelming pattern I have noticed is that most of the biggest bluegills come from the most humble abodes. Small cattle ponds out in a field. Woodsy, shaded ponds tucked back at the edge of the forest. Nice, manicured ponds in a rural back yard. Small, public puddles at a local park setting. Retention ponds from past development. All can yield King Kong-sized gills.
In just the past few years, I have found a half dozen public lakes with big bluegill populations that literally nobody cares about. Some anglers fish them and catch hordes of 10 to 13 inch bass (fun in it’s own right) yet think you are wasting your time when you constantly catch and release larger than hand-sized bluegills, all day long. “Kid’s stuff!, I have heard them mumble, as they unhook another 10 inch bass and somersault it back in the drink. That’s OK with me, I’ll just keep on acting like a kid.
So….what’s a big bluegill, anyway? Having fished more quality panfish water than most, I will still say that a 10-inch bluegill is a very impressive fish in all but the very rarest of waters. Many states currently list the 10-inch benchmark as the standard for a citation or award patch. Most 10 inch gills will weigh either side of a pound and are awesome fish to the eye. Many state record bluegills came from ponds, pits or quarries and reached astounding proportions. The ‘big fish, little pond’ concept goes a long way here.
Many good bluegill ponds I have fished contain high numbers of small bass, with dynamics that seldom see a largemouth in excess of two pounds. Other ponds have a good cross section, and several year classes of both bass and bluegills are in the system. In other words, the pond is balanced. Still other waters have seemingly low numbers of very big gills cruising its’ waters. It can vary. A trophy gill can show up anywhere, but I’d put my money on a pond or overlooked, small public lake for record potentials for most states.
Like the old school meat hunters and trophy killers of the past, I used to keep every 10 inch and up bluegill I caught, along with every 8 and 9 incher to boot. I was the bluegill population’s worst enemy. I was dumb, arrogant and self-serving. It took me a long time to grow up. Now, I have adopted a personal slot limit 8 to 9 ½ inches for keeping fish, which I seldom do. All gills over 10 inches go back. In a lifetime of fishing for them, I have caught nearly 500 bluegills over that benchmark, releasing the last 350 or so to get bigger and enable another panfish freak to hopefully catch and enjoy that trophy fish. Don’t these fish deserve the same respect and treatment of any other top-line predator gamefish? Of course they do!
Memorable trips have come and gone, with old black and white photos in faded scrapbooks with outsized gills filling their pages. I can remember one of our best trips in a small central Maryland pond in 1994 when my son and I caught and released 23 bluegills from 10 to 10 ¾ inches on simple bobber and worm fishing from the bank on a warm May evening. Those fish were amazing! I allowed Matt to keep three fish, which he was elated to do. Then, a few years later, he fussed at me because I kept a deep-hooked 10-incher from another pond. ‘You know you’re not supposed to keep bluegills over ten-inches! Why did you do that?’ I had a hard time explaining that one.
I guess the best thing about this big gill gig is that it is so close to home and there are so many places to do it. Sure, I keep my mouth shut on a lot of vulnerable waters. But I’ll take a trusted friend to any of my top bluegill spots. And with a granddaughter just about ready to try the fishing thing, it looks like the pattern is going to continue. It’s back to basics on many fishing fronts during this, and maybe future, economical times in this nation. Small pond, big gills, great fun! Like I said…some kids never grow up!
Note: Probably the premier website on bluegills and panfishing is BigBluegill at bigbluegill.com. Check out the fun and info, along with some astounding fish photos and great articles about these and other panfish species.
