Originally Posted By: Bruce Condello
At least with bluegill I get lots of practice finding out if I was right or wrong. The filet knife is a good verification device. \:\) \:\)

I would say that the fish in the photo is 99+% certain of being a male, but I wholeheartedly agree with you that you can never be absolutely sure!


And this is why I may be going to all fish cages for production for my niche market. It may have other advantages too such as no wasted energy in spawning and they won't get beat up making the beds.

Although I religiously sexed the gills this year before releasing them into the big pond, I had some bluegill reproduction in the pond albeit a very small amount. I suspect I may have missed a puddle when I drained down the pond last year and rotenoned, but I'm not 100 percent sure.

When Theo posted that female bluegill with the black scale tipping that sent a shiver up my spine! \:o

And can we say with 100 percent certainty that there is even a remote chance that a very small percentage of bluegills could change sex or be a hermapahrodite as in other fish species?

If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.