DWR Willard Fall Netting

[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]In the "olden days"...BS (before shad...and wipers)...there were lots of both bluegills and green sunfish. In fact, it was legal to use whole dead green sunfish for bait. Caught lots of bluegills inside the marinas and some places around the dikes. They really schooled up inside the south marina under the ice and you could fill a bucket with them.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]Since bluegills and green sunfish stay small (bite size for wipers) for a couple of years, a lot of them get eaten during the months when there are no eating size shad in the system. Ditto for small crappies. That is one reason for the fewer numbers of crappies compared to earlier times.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]Like bass, bluegills like to hang near the rocks...and inside the marinas. So they are less likely to show up in nets set out away from the dikes. There are still bluegills to be caught...and some nice sized ones. But there are just not the numbers nor many fishermen who fish in the right places with the right tackle.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]Here is a picture of one I caught a couple of years ago while pitching plastic for crappies. I can't remember the last green sunfish I saw from Willard. There used to be swarms of them all along the rocks and up into the inlet channel at the south marina.
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