Bluegill Mortality Rate.

[EdD]

That's one of the reasons why I use size 12 and larger hooks for tying bluegill flies. Also, the Ketchum Release Tool ( http://www.cabelas.com/product/Water...h-All+Products ) is extremely useful in retrieving swallowed flies. I released a 4" bluegill that had swallowed a 2" long streamer so deeply that the eye of the hook was well and completely inside the fish. The de-barbed nature of the hook helped, but that tool slid down and extracted the hook as neatly as a surgeon could have done. THe patient swam off vigorously.

Ed

[Big Bad Wulff]

Blue gill mortality? Didn't think you could kill one of them!

Last year: Caught a blue gill. Put in the back of the kayak (in air). Fished another hour. Drove home. 30 minutes later I was filleting bass and that one blue gill. The bluegill was swimming in the sink after I filled it up! I think they are about the most hearty fish there is. Bass a close second. Trout? Look at a trout the wrong way and it will die!

[adglife]

That's true! Trout are so touchy.

[Prairieschooner]

Three of my favorite bluegill holes are clearly marked "catch and release only". Kinda takes any discussion out of the equation.

[Uncle Jesse]

From what I have been told about bream in the south, that would not normally be consider good management practices because the reproduce so frequently. There will be fish on the beds here for 5 months, makes the bass happy, happy, happy. But leaves the bream small if not removed. I emailed this photo to a few friends yesterday, the guy holding the fish raises them to stock pond over in Mississippi. This is a Coppernose Bluegill, 23 oz. 12 1/2" long. To get a preceptive of the size of the fish save the photo and blow the total format size to 15", the resultant size of the fish is lifesvize. This is the result of a very well managed pond, feed and fertilizer.

Coppernose Bream 23 oz001.jpg