Visiting TFFC

Bluegill Spawning Area

IBluegills are popular in ponds, streams and reservoirs for two reasons: They are a great deal of fun to catch, and they serve as the base of the food chain for other fish that people enjoy catching.

When you’re a bluegill, someone is always out to get you.

Bluegills are prolific spawners. You can see the round beds the males sweep out with their tails in the bottoms of ponds. Females deposit 40,000 or so eggs to be fertilized by the male, which then guards the nest until the eggs hatch. Bluegills spawn repeatedly beginning in the spring and continue until the water cools in fall.

Because bluegills produce so many young, they can overpopulate a pond unless their numbers are controlled. Bluegills are a favorite food of their close relative, the largemouth bass, and are often stocked into bass ponds to serve as food.