Strange Sight

[DickM]

I went down to Axehead Lake today for a couple of hours of Bluegill fishing. For a change there was not a breath of wind and the lake was dead calm. I unlimbered my 3 weight and started with a small black beatle. The fishing was slow but when I would hook up, it was with a large bull. Then a Seagull showed up. He started making passes over the water about two feet above it. Every time he made a pass the Bluegill went nuts like they were rising right in the path he took. This happened 8 or 10 times. I have never seen anything like this and cannot explain it. Anyone have any ideas???

[DShock]

Were the bluegill protecting their nests? Spawning beds?

[DickM]

I really haven?t seen any nest in close to shore. The water is still quite cold around here and I would call this prespawn. That is why I think that I picked up mostly bull Bluegills today. (They seem to be staging for the spawn.) I saw nothing on the water. All I can think of is that when the gull flew over it made insects nervous and they started moving around and this might have excited the Bluegill.

[Joe Billingsley]

....or made the Bluegills nervous with the shadow, especially if they were in fairly shallow water or up near the surface.
Joe.

[ohiotuber]

Interesting. I have nailed some really nice gills after grass amurs passed through, stirring up weedbeds, along with stirring up aquatic "gourmet items" that seem to call in the bulls.
Mike

[DickM]

Joe............
I?m sure that the shadow of the Gull would make the Gills nervous. A large predator bird like that should make them skidish. The thing was that the Gills seemed to be taking something off the surface not just splashing around. I was trying to plot the Seagulls path so I could cast to where his shadow would pass. I got a couple of nice hits by doing this.

DickM.

[Big Bad Wulff]

This may sound strange but are they looking for bird droppings for some odd reason?
I saw a large 'blackbird' drop the LARGEST amount of droppings I have seen come out of a bird over the pond I was fishing yesterday.

[Micropteris]

Sometimes it is just an energy change in the fish. They may have been spooked or caused some other reaction or came to investigate a change. Usually when they change moods etc. they are easier to catch/ less selective.

As with everything it is not an always situation.

[Micropteris]

It could also be they were eating dropping like BBW stated.

[DickM]

Big Bad Wolf...........................
Actually that makes some sense to me. Possibly the Gills have had Seagull droppings before. They would contain mostly fish with some garbage added for extra flavor.