Picture below of BG stocked March of 2013. Lacked a couple hundredths of being a half pound. Right at 8". This is about the biggest size of the BG I have been catching. Most in the 7-7.5" range, but quite a few now reaching 8". I think growth really slowed this summer with very low water levels and poor water quality. Earlier was seeing a few sores on fish. Now that the water is at full pool and looks to be of much better quality, fish are also looking much better.

One thing amazes me, we talk of mouth gape and the size of fish that a fish can eat based on mouth gape, yet I regularly catch fish of a size that in no way could swallow the lure I'm using. Look at this picture as an example. So why do the fish bite on these lures that would be too large to swallow? Territorial? Bite first and question size later? It is wounded so bite at it? (like dogs will turn on an injured dog even though before injury they were friendly). Any fish psychologists out there? Why do they go after something that is bigger than they can swallow?

Edit: looking at the picture again, MAYBE that BG could have swallowed another sunfish the size of the lure. But I've also caught 6" bluegill on this lure.

Nice!

I suspect they are not trying to eat a lure that big but are trying to assert dominance over it thinking it is a smaller BG in their territory.

Do you feed your fish?

I've caught BG on bigger crankbaits. I wonder if it isn't a territory thing, it's a fin-nipping thing and they get caught on the hook.

I've caught 10" BG on 3" imitation BG crankbaits. No way could they fit the fish in their mouth. The ones that I've caught are all on the rear hook.

That makes sense. The "get away from me, this is my space" nip a bigger fish might give a smaller fish.

It is funny though, I've caught more on the bottom treble hook than the rear. Cut the middle barb off of the back treble hook on one of my favorite small crank baits because the BG would get caught in the mouth on the belly hook and then the back hook would snag them in the head or back. (these are my brood fish, not ones I'm harvesting to eat, so I want to put them back in the water with as little damage as possible)

Could be time of year or water temp also as most of my larger gill are deeper around structure now, so maybe they are hitting it from below instead of behind like they might in the summer.

Yes, hand feed them all the way around the shore line nearly daily.

Were your stocked BG 1"-1.5"? Very nice BG for 18 months of growth. Pellet feeding does help make bigger fish faster.

The RES in my aquarium sometimes "nip" and push other RES on the cheek when they are in a territorial mood, they will also flare their ear tabs out.

Nice looking fish.

This pic was taken during the LMB spawn in april of this year in one of my ponds. I didn't weigh or measure the gill but guessing 10+ inches and over a pound. It's a 3 inch crankbait in its mouth. Was he expecting to eat it?

There were some approaching 3". Most 2" with some smaller. I was very pleased with the quality of fingerlings Wallace Fish Farms provided.

Very nice fish. Do you know the age as when it was stocked or is this a fish from a recruitment in an older pond?

I have caught a number of BG as well as LMB and CC on that very same style lure only mine is a pattern with some orange on the belly. One of my favorites.

Notice he was caught on the bottom treble. Most of my BG same way.

I'm not really sure of the age of the fish. The pond is a friend of the family and was supposedly stocked in the 80's. There are bigger gills in there but I never really tried to target those. I was catching a bunch of stunted bass that are in there and this gill came and whacked the crankbait.

Stunted bass ponds produce big bluegills.

The current goal for our pond is to produce pan fish. So a somewhat LMB heavy so we can harvest a good number of LMB in the 2-3# range. That should also produce some nice pan size BG.

Do date, I've not been bitten with the "big fish, trophy on the wall" bug (sorry Cecil ). But then a couple years ago would have never dreamed that I would enjoy fishing or done as much of it as I have this year. So as the fish grow and my angling skills improve (hopefully) who knows? Maybe my goals will change.

But for the time being "many" relatively easy to catch "nice size" fish floats my boat better than a "few" monsters. "Lots" of half to 3/4 pound BG & RES and 2-3# LMB would be great.

So that's the current management focus, and any information anyone has to help me get there would be appreciated. After reading lots of PBF posts, hopefully I have a handle on it, but if I'm veering off course Bill, please don't hesitate to steer me back on.