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Bluegill Provide the Fireworks of Fishing in Summer

June 26, 2023 greg wagner

It’s hot. It’s humid. Whew! Yeah, it’s summer alright. Hey, has your fishing success slowed with the conditions? Well, one fish leads the way with lots of action for anglers in the good, old summertime — bluegill.

A male bluegill stands guard on its nest in a southern Nebraska pond. Underwater photo courtesy of NEBRASKAland Magazine/Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

Maybe it’s the kid in me, I don’t know. But, at 60 years of age (approaching 61), I still enjoy the constant activity of catching these small-mouthed, saucer-shaped, power-packed fish from the bank in summer, how about you? As someone once said: Bluegill bind us to memories that span the generations. How true!

Bluegill are fun to catch for any age! Photo by Polly Wagner of Omaha, NE.

I know, I know, the lowly bluegill, right — a sunfish family member with more nicknames than a popular sports figure, is a prey species that doesn’t get very big. Why in the heck would I waste my time along the shoreline or on a pier catching and releasing THIS FISH?

A bluegill up close. Photo by Greg Wagner/Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

Let me tell you why.

In my view, bluegill fishing is as American as apple pie and baseball. In fact, doing battle with an 8 to 10-inch bluegill on light monofilament line with an ultralight rod and reel combo using a nightcrawler (earthworm) ranks equally to landing a 21-inch largemouth bass on an expensive medium-action spinning rig with a flashy spinnerbait!

National and state fishing surveys prove my theory and show the bluegill as consistently one of the more popular fish sought by anglers.

Your blogger posing with a bigger “bull” bluegill he hooked from private sandpit lake in Hall County, NE. Photo by Polly Wagner of Omaha, NE.

Think about it. For a lot of us, bluegill fishing defined our first fishing experiences on the water.

Noah Wagner (your blogger’s son) began his fishing experiences with bluegill when he was young. Here he shows off a small bluegill he caught and released from a backwater pond along the Elkhorn River in eastern Nebraska. Photo by Greg Wagner/Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

Catching bluegill is the perfect segue for introducing youngsters and newcomers to the lifestyle of fishing. In fact, my kids still enjoy catching bluegill in Nebraska waters to this day.

Here is my daughter, Emma Wagner-Nichols of Elkhorn, NE, displaying a healthy bluegill she caught in a private sandpit lake in Dodge County, NE. Photo by Greg Wagner/Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

Kids today still get a charge out of catching bluegill!

Your blogger’s nephew, young Joey Aguilar of Grand Island, NE, prepares to touch a good-sized bluegill he caught on a nightcrawler in a private sandpit lake in Hall County, NE. Photo by Greg Wagner/Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

The post Bluegill Provide the Fireworks of Fishing in Summer appeared first on Nebraskaland Magazine.

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