# Giant Bluegill!



## fishmounter (Oct 17, 2017)

I am so lucky to live close to a lake here in southern California that has such great trophy-sized Bluegill in it.  Not only that, but my close neighbor keeps his very nice pontoon boat in a marina slip there at the lake.  We fish with ultralight outfits and use only 2 lb test line. As any fisherman knows, Bluegill are strong fighters for their size. With a big Bluegill and 50 feet on line out, it can take up to 2 minutes or so to net the fish!  You have to have a good reel with a smooth drag on it and just take your time bringing a big fish in. We usually release all fish, but sometimes we will keep a few smaller ones to eat. To help keep this lake a Bluegill trophy fishery, all Bluegill over 9 inches are released, usually after a photo like these two.  Mine on the left was only 10.5 inches long and my buddy's, (who is the lake panfish expert) big female was 12 inches.  How many fishermen have caught Bluegill that are 9 to 11 inches long with regularity?  We know there are larger ones in the lake, so we just keep trying for them.  The lake record is 3 1/2 pounds and about 13 inches long, but one of us is going to break that lake record soon!  HA ha!


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## Falcon (Oct 17, 2017)

Yep.  That's the biggest bluegill  I've ever seen.

What lake are you talking about,  FM ?


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## SeaBreeze (Oct 17, 2017)

Nice looking Bluegill Fishmounter, caught a lot of different fish in my day, but can't say I've ever caught a Bluegill.  Are they easy to clean, good eatin'?


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## NancyNGA (Oct 17, 2017)

Great catch, fishmounter!


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## tnthomas (Oct 17, 2017)

Nice bluegill!   Never caught one that biig!

Maybe Lake Perris?


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## fishmounter (Oct 17, 2017)

tnthomas.. You are correct my friend!  It is Lake Perris.  I live in nearby Riverside which is about 25 minutes from the lake.  Many fishermen think Bluegill are a kid's fish, but when they get this big, I have more fun than I do when I go bass fishing.  Bluegill were a fun, colorful and easy fish to catch when I was a kid.  There remains something very special about fishing and catching these fun fish as an older adult.  It gives us a reason to smile.
SeaBreeze.. We fillet the fish that we keep, and for me it's very quick and easy to do. (I've filleted many, many fish.)  I don't like any bones in my bite of delicious fish.  And yes they are one of the best eating freshwater fish.  Right up there with crappie!


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## tnthomas (Oct 17, 2017)

fishmounter,  yea-  used to do a lot of boating on Lake Perris, camping too back in the late 80s.    I did shore fish from time to time, but mostly liked to troll.  I liked to get the larger fish and fillet them to avoid the bones.

One time I did catch a large sunfish on Lake Castiac, don't remember which kind.

I used to fish Silverwood as well, not much luck trolling but over by the floating outhouses the crappie bite was pretty good.


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## terry123 (Oct 18, 2017)

Great looking fish!  Used to love fishing.  Theres nothing better than fresh caught fish for dinner!


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## rkunsaw (Oct 18, 2017)

We have both bluegill and hybrid bluegill in our lake but nothing close to that big.

I fillet fish too, but bluegill are too small to get much of a fillet but they are easy to catch. We eat mostly bass and crappie.


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## Ken N Tx (Oct 18, 2017)

rkunsaw said:


> We have both bluegill and hybrid bluegill in our lake but nothing close to that big.
> 
> 
> I fillet fish too, but bluegill are too small to get much of a fillet but they are easy to catch. We eat mostly bass and crappie.




Ditto.. Bluegill (perch) are feed for catfish and bass down here, they don't get big enough to fillet..


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