New Fairfield Lake record - Pond Boss Forum

Texas Fishing Forum
09-21-09

New Fairfield Lake record at 1.90 lbs,11 1/2 inches in length,and a girth of 14 3/4

Originally Posted By: JIMMYSNOVA

Posting this for Midlothian Joe he caught this Lake Fairfield Bluegill record Friday 6/19/09. Missed the State record by that much. I knew I should have taken off work and went with him. He will post later this evening with details. I took these pics and the fish was HUGE!!! :eeks: Hopefuly pics come though, yes my wife had to help me but I am learning

Hope everyone is having a great day.

[IMG]http://i870.photobucket.com/albums/ab266/pug75154/DSC03316.jpg
New Fairfield Lake record at 1.90 lbs,11 1/2 inches in length,and a girth of 14 3/4

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I wear a size 12 shoe

Yep he looks HAPPY!!! :rolfmao:

Originally Posted By: Midlothian Joe

Sorry for the late post,here are more details.My wife and I went to FF friday fished from 9:00am-2:30 caught 40 and my P.B. and pending Lake Fairfield record around 1:00 as soon I pulled it in my wife said Joe that has to be some kind of record I kind of played it down and said I dont think so but without a doubt biggest one I ever caught so I just threw him in the ice chest and kept on fishing because they were biting really good! After 2+ hours on ice we decided to head in and while I was loading the boat there were 2 State park officers at the dinning hall and my wife asked them if they could weigh my fish and they called to the office at the front gate and there were Game Wardens there and they said no problem. Honestly I probally would have not bothered to get it weighed but my wife was pretty insistant, but glad I did,just wish I would have kept him alive long enough to weigh him in at his true weight and here is why,he easily was a new Lake record at 1.90 lbs,11 1/2 inches in length,and a girth of 14 3/4 after the Game warden took all my info he told me I narrowly missed the State record of 2.02 lbs. I know there have probally been lots of big bluegills caught at FF that never made it past the fish cleaning station, maybe bigger than the one that I caught,and here is why I say that I went back to FF today,had about 50 crickets left from yesterday could not let them go to waste(lol) plus I had to be in Corsicana for a B-day party later.Fished from 10:30-1:30 caught 21,including my next to P.B. 1.50 lbs/10 3/4 and had another that went 1.25 (same Game warden weighed them for me,thanks Mike),with all that said I think there are plenty of possible record gills that have been caught at FF or will be caught, sure would like to here what some of you breambusters that fish FF alot P.B. are? Also thinking about getting the 2 big gills mounted together on a piece of driftwood, do any of you guys have anybody you would recommend and what do you think something like that would cost?

Joe

ROUND!

Incredible.

Somehow we need to get permission to move these to http://www.bigbluegill.com

Does that BG look female to you?

My first guess was male, but I'm by no means certain. A little fresher coloration would help, but I think I detect some burgundy on the breast.

[Disclaimer: All following statements are IMHO and everyone is entitled to know better or at least different.]

A fine example of how you need to know the range of size/shape/color variation in the local population to make the best guess possible.

Opercule is round and small for the body size. There are little or no indications of secondary male characteristics like breastplate and helmet. These are what make me lean towards female. But I would not select it for a single sex pond of either flavor in any case.

Huge freakin' BG.

Too bad this fish had been on ice for two hours � probably be state record. This is my home lake � or used to be � power generation lake so hot water year round and full of year round tilapia for algae control.

This Lake stocked with CNBG, Florida LMB and salt water Red Fish by
TP&W.
Bruce, here�s the link if you want to follow up contact for BBG site.

http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbt...eld#Post3604401

Wow nice fish.

Congratulations, that's a very impressive fish. I had no idea that they got so big. My goal is to be able to catch them at one pound in my ponds, but don't know if that's possible or not. I think one pound bluegill would be very cool.

That picture on the paper plate really shows just how big it is.

Thanks for the great story and pictures.

Eddie

Originally Posted By: Theo Gallus

[Disclaimer: All following statements are IMHO and everyone is entitled to know better or at least different.]

A fine example of how you need to know the range of size/shape/color variation in the local population to make the best guess possible.

Opercule is round and small for the body size. There are little or no indications of secondary male characteristics like breastplate and helmet. These are what make me lean towards female. But I would not select it for a single sex pond of either flavor in any case.

Huge freakin' BG.

Theo, here�s a cooler full of Lake Fairfield CNBG for comparison.
Note the fish in upper left corner of cooler compared to big CNBG male in center of cooler.

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthread...at&fpart=12&q=1

I'll stick with "female."

Dinner plate!

That looks to be a very young fish. I'm going with immature male. Man, those are some awesome fish for public water. Is Fairfield a cooling lake? Maybe the redfish help keep BG numbers down? Whatever it is, it definitely found it's own honey hole.

Originally Posted By: burgermeister

That looks to be a very young fish. I'm going with immature male. Man, those are some awesome fish for public water. Is Fairfield a cooling lake? Maybe the redfish help keep BG numbers down? Whatever it is, it definitely found it's own honey hole.

Burger, it's a warm water power plant lake and tilapia thrive year 'round with optimum forage for Reds, FLMB, HSB and CNBG.

Very nice BG!

Eddie, your goal is not only possible, it's eminently reasonable, especially for a long growing season like Texas. I'm just getting back into pond managing now, but in years past I've had multiple ponds in which the bluegill averaged close to a pound, including one in which they averaged fourteen ounces for several years, up until I moved to CA and thereby had no ponds to manage. And the ponds were in TN, which has a shorter growing season than TX.

If you tell me more about the current status of your pond, i.e. water clarity, water temp, pH, species present and in what sizes/numbers/health, I can tell you how to do it. Send me a PM.

How big was that biggest CNBG in the cooler, George? Looks like it was at least a pound and a half, if not more.

And Joe - awesome, beautiful fish. Congrats! And don't take anything away from your accomplishment - you caught the lake record. All of us 'gill fishermen who have never caught one that big are now officially envying you.

Bruce, I would tend to concur with you that the fish is a male, due to the coloring on the breast as you noted. It also has a semblance of a helmet, and certainly is much more rounded than females tend to be. The operculum threw me at first, as did the mouth which seems smaller than a male's mouth of that size would normally be, but I would think it's a male. Or perhaps it's androgynous. (joke, insert laughter here)

Question for you, Bruce - does that fish look to you like a regular-strain bluegill? It doesn't seem to have any of the coloring of a coppernose, particularly on the head above the eyes. The fish in George's cooler pic display beautiful, unmistakable CNBG colors; but said colors are absent on this fish, save the burgundy on the breast which regular-strain males often have.

Walt � I wish I could claim some credit for these fish except for �borrowing� photos from Texas Fishing Forum site, but I bet the angler doesn�t mind us braggin� abut his CNBG.

I agree that the BG is a male, and a mix of what I call a TAF CNBG (Texas Arkansas Florida).
Below is photo of one of my male TAF CNBG compared to a �pure� CNBG.

Sorry for the upside down pic. here's a pic of a 10" northern strain Bluegill caught from a local lake. The pic was taken right before it was released into the pond.

I am more impressed by the round shape of that fish than the 1.9lb size. Its basically a perfect circle.

Originally Posted By: jakeb

I am more impressed by the round shape of that fish than the 1.9lb size. Its basically a perfect circle.

Looks like the Good Lord used a protractor to make that one.

Here's an example of how breast color alone can be deceiving. The breast color on this female packed with eggs from stained water sure looks like a male's doesn't it? (Sorry I've posted this before but I wanted to make a point.)

Actually, the color on her breast looks pretty gold to me, which is standard on a female. The lake record 'gill has burgundy on its breastplate, as Bruce noted; that's a color that is commonplace on male 'gills, but which I've never seen on a female.

Originally Posted By: Walt Foreman

Actually, the color on her breast looks pretty gold to me, which is standard on a female. The lake record 'gill has burgundy on its breastplate, as Bruce noted; that's a color that is commonplace on male 'gills, but which I've never seen on a female.

Interesting. Maybe the color on my computer screen is off as it looks quite dark orange to me. A lot darker than the females I usually see. (You're referring to my above picture right?)

Anyone else?

It looks gold/yellow on my computer screen. And, the body shape is much more that of a female's (elongated) than a male's. Just my two cents but it looks to me like a female.

Originally Posted By: Walt Foreman

It looks gold/yellow on my computer screen. And, the body shape is much more that of a female's (elongated) than a male's. Just my two cents but it looks to me like a female.

Body shape and the fact that it has eggs the size of baseball in make it obviously a female. I was just commenting that the breast is as dark orange as the typical males I see.

I would have said female on that one, without the eggs. Breast color and gill flap. Definitely darker upper color than normal, though.