Pre Spawn Giants

Type: Nontidal
Region: Central
Location: Farm Pond

For some reason we are catching bluegills with body dynamics the likes of which I have never seen in north central Maryland. The females are bulging with eggs due to the pre-spawn almost to the point of grotesqueness. I am thinking that WR numbers for these fish are almost off the charts. In a lifetime of fishing, I have never seen so many 10 to 11 inch fish so heavy, both males and females.

My brother Tom Gronaw and I recently enjoyed some sensational bluegill fishing at a Mason Dixon area farm pond. The bluegills were actually briefly 'on bed' by April 20th of this year, (the earliest I have ever seen) but quickly backed off as our water temperatures and weather cooled way down for the past three weeks, delaying the spawn from fish that were all but ready to drop eggs. Could this have lead to egg development that just continued to grow and expand in these larger adult females? Some of our fish have approached 1.5 pounds in weight!

Anyway, simple bait-tipped jigs in 1/32 or 1/64th ounce worked great about 3-4 feet below a bobber. Most fish are well beyond bedding sites and suspended over slightly deeper water in local farm ponds and small public lakes. Look for bedding red ears soon as some of them have move shallow as well.