Bluegill

Some of my fondest memories growing up was getting to fish with my dad. He would always tell me to be quiet, the fish can hear you and you’ll spook them away. Looking back, he was probably using that as an excuse to get me to shut up.

Well, it worked. I would stare at that red and white bobber waiting for it to go under. And when it did, you would have thought I had a Blue Marlin on the other end. At that point, I was hooked on fishing and the outdoors.

Most of what I caught was small bass, catfish, and “Perch” as we called them. Later on in life, I found out a true perch is a completely different family of fish. More than likely the perch I caught was actually bluegill.

Is it Bluegill or Sunfish?

Some anglers use sunfish and bluegills interchangeably. While it’s true that a bluegill is a sunfish, but so is a largemouth bass. Sunfish is a family called “centrarchids”, that contains 38 species of fish. Like bluegills,crappie, largemouth bass, etc. Bluegill is a single species of fish. Hopefully that makes sense, but to add a little more to the confusion. Bluegill are also considered panfish. It’s a word describing freshwater fish that usually do not outgrow the size of a frying pan, like bluegill and crappie. Panfish are considered good eating. I agree with this consideration.

Diet

When young bluegill are not being eaten by bass, they themselves are eating zooplankton. As they grow in size, their diet switches over to insects. They will attack the unfortunate grasshopper that jumps in the water with the fierceness of a shark. Baitfish, crawfish and frogs are also on the menu for a hungry bluegill. This past summer, we were swimming in a creek with crystal clear water. We noticed a water snake swimming close by. We also noticed 3 or 4 bluegill had ganged up on him and attacking without mercy. Not to eat him of course, he was too big for that, but to drive him away. Their attempts were successful, because he was leaving the water and headed for the bank. We decided it was time for us to do the same, about 20 ft from where we believed the snake to be. Needless to say, our swimming was over too.

Spawn

The bluegill spawn begins in the spring, When the water temperature reaches around 60 degrees. The male bluegill will use its tail to fan out a circular depression in shallow water anywhere from 1-4 ft. of water. This is called a “bed”or “nest”. It’s done in areas where other males are doing the same thing. One of the easiest ways to tell the difference between a bass bed and bluegill bed, would be bluegill bed numbers are highly concentrated in a single area. A bass bed will be isolated.

After the male has made the bed, which is 6-12 inches in diameter. He then swims around the bed trying to entice a female with his bed building skills.

So when the male has successfully attracted a female, she will lay her eggs in the bed and the male immediately fertilizes them. Later on, we’ll discuss the reasons for the urgency.

Bluegill are not monogamous. The female will lay her eggs in several different beds in the area. After the spawn, the female leaves and the male is responsible for caring of the eggs. He will use his tail to fan the eggs and make sure no sediments settle on them. Remember, there’s a lot spawning going on around the nearby beds. The water is bound to get churned up a little bit.

The male will continue to guard the bed for about ten days until the eggs hatch and the fry swim off. At this point, the male leaves the bed to recuperate. He has been guarding his domain aggressively for awhile. Food and rest are in order for him to turn around and start the process again.

Bluegill spawn is pretty interesting and the males use some downright nasty techniques to get the girl. When it comes to the spawn, males take on one of three roles. Each with a different strategy in mind, they include the parental, sneaker, and satellite.

PARENTAL-The parental bluegill is in no hurry reproduce. He’s patient, he’s mature and he’s a man on a mission. Suprisingly, he could be 7 or 8 years old. That seems old for a fish, I figured most would have died from old age at 8. The parental bluegill waits on reproducing and focuses on self development, by eating and getting proper rest. As I mentioned above, the spawn is very taxing on the males.

You may be wondering, why the long wait?

Well, for one, He’s big, bad, and attractive to the ladies. Plus, he’s smart enough to avoid death by engaging in reckless behavior. The parental bluegill is the total package. He attracts the best females and increases his chances of passing on his genes. Another reason for waiting until full maturity would be safety from predators. Bass are fully aware of the bluegill spawn and they capitalize on this moment. A large bluegill is harder to swallow and far more intimidating. Not to say that a predatory fish wouldn’t try to eat a big bluegill, but the odds are in the bluegills favor.

For me, this is a real eye opener. Knowing what I know about the big, mature, male bluegill will prevent me from harvesting one in the future. I will enjoy the catch and find satisfaction in outsmarting an old fish, but will return it to the water hopefully unharmed and able to pass on his genes. I mean c’mon, he’s waited his whole life to reproduce, I couldn’t rob him of this moment.

SNEAKER-The sneaker male is just what you would think it is. He’s usually smaller and immature compared to the parental. He doesn’t want to put the work in on building a bed or attracting a female. Instead, he waits for the female to lay her eggs in the bed of another male and darts in to fertilize them before the parental can run him off. If he’s successful, guess what else he doesn’t do?

He doesn’t stick around and take of the nest!!!!

His cunning ways may not always pay off though. It is believed the parental bluegill can tell the difference between his offspring and a different bluegill. They have been observed selectively eating certain fry. Maybe they smell different to him, or maybe he’s so starved that eating his own is the only way to get some food in his belly.

SATELLITE-To me, this is the most devious male of them all. You may be wondering what happens to the sneaker males when they grow older. They become satellite males.

These smaller beta males will masquerade as females in an attempt to gain access to the bed and then fertilize the eggs. This is known as “kleptogamy”. Yeah, it’s a dirty trick, but they gain access to the bed and pass on their genes at a younger age. The satellite male might end up getting his butt kicked from the parental male when he finds out what happened. This technique is considered more successful than the sneaker tactics.

I know it seems like I’m dogging on the sneaker and satellite males, but these two types ensure genetic diversity in a body of water. So looking at the big picture, they are very important.

In the next article, we’ll take a look at the male and female bluegill. Some of the color differences and markings. See ya then.