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???
Were the bluegill protecting their nests? Spawning beds?
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.
…or made the Bluegills nervous with the shadow, especially if they were in fairly shallow water or up near the surface.
Joe.
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
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.
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.
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.
It could also be they were eating dropping like BBW stated.
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.
I thought about the droppings, too. I know a lake near here that has a lot of high cliffs around it and when the birds are flocking on the sides of the cliffs the catfish stay right under them to eat their droppings. I don’t know if bream are more discriminating in what they eat than catfish or not. I also don’t know what fly you would use to imitate droppings - I guess Taylor Streit’s S**t Fly??
Joe
I have had the same reaction in a small pond, but it was due to my fly line false casting over them. At first I had no idea what was going on, then just chalked it up to them getting spooked by my false casting (they are not the only ones!). If they were feeding just under the surface, a bird flying by quickly and closely would probably make them turn tail up, and head downward very quickly. I’m assuming the disturbance was rather violent and not just some heavy rings from a rising gill.
Alan
Interesting. I’ts been a long time since I fished Axehead. Used to do pretty good on the bass there. Seems like the Cook County Forest Preserve Lakes are doing pretty well this year – hearing good things about Saganaskee, Maple, and Tampier as well.
jsalkas…
I like fishing Big Bend Lake early in the season, because it is shallower and warms up faster for an early spawn of both Crappie & Bluegills.
Axehead on the other hand is much deeper and cleaner and warms later, but fishes better throughout the season. Parking is now a problem because of road work, (expansion of the expressway.) You now have to park inside the Forest Preserve boundaries. That forces you to leave at the prime time of sundown.
Interesting… thanks Dick
I’ve had the same reaction when casting a lure, with mono, over the top of blugill. It looked like a mass panic reaction every time I cast over them. They must all be looking skyward to react like that, to something as small as a spinner.
I suspect that they were very near the surface and the shadow spooked them. I’ve seen it happen when a great blue heron flies over as well.
I’ve also noticed bass following along behind a night heron as he stalked the shore. When the heron spooked the bluegill, the bass would swoop in and grab a meal as the fish darted away from the heron. The next time I went out, the heron was following the bass as they cruised the bank. When the bass went after fish and they darted towards shore, the heron was there to grab them. Seems like they’ve develped a symbiotic relationship at the expense of the bluegill.
Jim Smith