Bluegill Behavior

[Uncle Jesse]

Saturday while paddling around the lake in my tube, I saw a red wasp struggling on the surface film (having no love and lot of scores to settle with wasp I did not attempt to rescue it). Three bluegills came up and "smacked" it and left it fluttering on the surface. I had several "smacks" on my hopper without takes. I would interested in you opinion on what was going on.

[tlerm]

I would have loved to watch that myself. I have no idea what they were doing. I am interested to hear what others say too.

[Rick Z]

MY guess is that the fish were to small to get the wasp or popper in their mouth. I try using a midge, as a dropper, when I have that happen
to see if the fish will take the midge. Also try a smalldiametger popper.

Rick

[jeffro]

My 1st guess would be that they were trying to "pull it apart" or maybe they have experienced a sting before.
think about this ...when you use live crickets or grasshoppers,alotta times when you get a hit,and check your bait,ya come up with just a piece of the poor liddle guy.... a school of perch are like a bunch of bullies to a grasshopper...they are a team.....just a thought.

[Dblackman]

I noticed that the other night with my hopper, the blue gills were violently attacking it or just playing with it. a few tried to eat it but ended up getting a hook stuck in their lip. Too bad I didnt feel like cleaning 4 blue gill at 330 in the morning. I lost that grass hopper the next day 20 ft up in a tree.
David

[Cold]

My theory...and it IS just a theory...is this:

A bluegill's eyes are on opposite sides of its broad, tall body. This gives it an excellent field of view, but very little, if any, overlap. Dead center in front of it (where the fly munching end is), I'd imagine that close-in, they have a blind spot. When taking something off the surface, the motions necessary mean that once the bluegill decides to go for it, the closer it gets, the more guesswork is involved in a target's location. Also as it tips up, its blind spot to the rear expands to the point that it cant see most of what's under it...a very vulnerable position. This would explain most of the gills I've caught, with their cautious inspection of a fly, then the quick acceleration up, quick grab, and fast turn back down into a normal position.

When you add to this hasty tactic a prey that is moving quickly and unpredictably (in terms of speed and direction)...or a prey larger than the gill's mouth, it's got to try to make the best of the situation without becoming lunch itself, so it will bite off whatever it can get, or, failing that, just abandon the bug, rather than risk becoming a bass snack.

[Uncle Jesse]

The gills were plenty big enough to have slammed the wasp, if I had a good camera ready I could have gotten a great photo of the 3 of them checking out the wasp. I was wondering about the possibility of having a fear of the sting. The wife of a friend says they are trying to kill the bug when they smack it and don't take the hook. That is an good an explanation as any I guess, the wasp fluttered off in the film.

[EdD]

Uncle Jesse, that's certainly a possibility. I have caught smallmouth that were hooked on the outside of their gill plates from where they were smacking the crawfish that I used for bait. That is a possibility with the wasp.

Inspired (mislead) by the copper john and other patterns that use biots for tails, I tyed up a dry that used two sections of goose quill for a tail. Small 'gills smacked that poor fly all around the pool but could not get the barb in their mouth. I got uncounted hits but zero hookups using that fly last winter. I realize that you said that your gills could have swallowed the wasp, but I wanted to share my design flaw with others, since it had been mentioned.

I can also make an off-the-wall suggestion. I have heard that many fish are very fond of the taste of ants, bees, etc. Maybe your 'gills were taking turns licking the lollipop, so to speak, before taking a bite. More likely they were just trying to kill it before eating it.

Ed

[jeffro]

I totally agree

[CoachBob]

Bluegill frequently "taste" before they bite. This is why a traditional bobber often "wiggles" before it goes down. If a bluegill is convinced the fly is food, it will take it agressviely. Otherwise, it will "taste" to see what the food does and what kind of mouth feel it has. This is a much more common occurrence with surface flies than with nymphs or wets.