Category Archives: Sunfish

Lake Trout, Sunfish

June 26, 2011 Fishing Report

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Fishing at Round Valley slowed this weekend. My buddy and I got out on Sunday at the crack of dawn and by 8:30am the bite was finished. We caught bluegill on phoebes and Rapala (even a double header!). We stuck around til 11:30am drifting herring but only managed to drift from one side of the lake to the other.

One fella in caught several Lake Trout from his kayak, but that was before 8:30 as well.

I recommend getting out early or fishing before and into dusk, but who knows it may have just been this weekend.

If you were looking to get out and just enjoy the lake then it was an awesome day. Saw lots of folks on kayaks, pontoon boats, and shore fishing all enjoying the day.

Sunfish

Fishing Bluegill Spawning Beds

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Bluegill, Bream, Brim whatever you call them are members of the Sunfish family. There are also among the most abundant fish in Round Valley Reservoir AND they are spawning right now. The two weeks before and after memorial day usually correspond with the height of Bluegill spawning which occurs at 75deg. water temp.

During the spawn, males are aggressively guarding their nests or beds while the females hang out close by. Something like 95% of Bluegills caught on spawning beds will be males, so don’t worry too much if you are keeping your catch.

Locating Bluegill Beds: Bluegill beds can be found by sight from shore and boat. Look for areas with a hard sandy or rocky bottom and of course the tell-tale spawning beds that look like closely packed craters on the moon. See below pic.

Bluegill Spawning Beds

Bluegill tackle: The world record bluegill weighs 4 pounds 12 ounces and was caught in 1950. The big takeaway here is… use light tackle or ultralight tackle and have a blast catching 1 pounders all day. To say 6lb monofilament is overkill would be an understatement.

Bluegill Terminal Tackle: small, small, small. Small bobbers, small long shank hooks (size 8), small splitshot. I use long shank hooks because Bluegills have tiny mouths and are crazy aggressive so the long shank makes it easier to remove hooks and minimizes deep hook sets.

Bluegill Bait: small, small, small or nothing at all! Waxwoms, garden worms cut in half, small pieces of cheese or dough molded around a hook or heck even an empty hook!

Catching Bluegills: Cast your baited hook on top of a bed and wait… that’s it! Adjust the distance from your bobber to your hook. The closer you can get your bait to the bed, the better. you can also cast past the bed and real slowly to drag your bait (or bare hook) across a bed. The guarding male will attack it.

Bluegill Size and Creel Limit: in Round Valley Reservoir there is no size limit however you can only keep 25 combined sunfish (Rock Bass, White Bass, White Perch, Yellow Perch, Sunfish (except Banded Sunfish, Blackbanded Sunfish, Bluespotted Sunfish, and Mud Sunfish which are all protected), Bullheads, White Catfish, Suckers, Carp, Bowfin). Yep… only 25.

So get out there with your light gear and bring your kids, right now is a great time to catch lots of scrappy Bluegill.