The warmest water always points to the greatest concentrations of crappie, bluegills & more. Incidentally, McKenzie’s huge bluegill—which was a world record until it was topped by Hudson’s fish—beat the then-previous world record mark by more than 2 pounds! Maximize your panfish effort by simplifying your setup. As such, while the well-known bluegill may not look like much to the casual observer, it’s a fish that provides far more punch than its diminutive size might suggest. Lionel Ferguson, of Philadelphia, Tennessee, hauled in a black crappie weighing 5 pounds, 7 ounces, on May 15, the newspaper reported. © 2020 Outdoor Sportsman Group. Chelsie Walters and Jessyca Sortillon - August 31, 2020. She has coauthored a handbook for teachers on school-wide discipline and has contributed tips for special-needs students in the basal curriculum for RCL Benziger. Reelfoot Lake, a 15,000-acre lake in the far corner of northwestern Tennessee, is the only natural lake in the state. Ferguson already held the state record for the fish, as the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency confirmed the fish’s size in June, WBIR reported. With all of that in mind, just how big is a 2-5 bluegill? In fact, Thomas’ big bluegill catch was large enough that it provided a near-miss at the Sooner State’s bluegill benchmark. In fact, any bluegill above the 1-pound mark is a trophy specimen, one to remember for a lifetime. Some landowners even create trophy bluegill ponds, others research the Internet to find out-of-the-way natural places where slab-sized bluegills can be caught, and a few even specialize to the point of seeking record-sized catches of the pint-sized piscatorial critters. Bluegill are a panfish found in most of the warm water ponds and lakes in Tennessee. But maybe the two well-known American writers should have focused less on angling’s hall-of-fame species and written something about the simple bluegill instead, a sunfish species that in many ways, is the most important piscatorial critter of them all, offering far more muscle than a big marlin ever could. In addition to Arizona and California mentioned above, 16 other states—Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Tennessee—all have state-record bluegill benchmarks north of 3 pounds. |   It is is known for its clear water and good fishing. Because the bluegill is a natural presence in most waters across the U.S., known to nearly all who have ever picked up a rod and reel. Baitfish for Bass: Search, Suspend or Sink Crankbaits, Southern-Style Fried Shellcrackers Recipe, 6 Steps to the Perfect Trigger Pull on Your Compound Bow, 19 Ways to Get Your Crossbow, Compound Ready for Opening Day, Quick-Strike Tips for Early Archery Deer Success, 10 Expert Deer Hunting Preparation Tips for Opening Day, Gauge Temperature Changes for Spring Panfish, Work the Night Shift for After-Dark Crappies, The Story of Record (and Near-Record) Bluegills, Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, Bubba Blade: Multi-Flex Interchangeable Blade Set, New from Old Town: Sportsman Autopilot 136 and Discovery 119 Solo Sportsman. The largest lake in eastern Tennessee is Norris Lake (norrislakeinfo.com) a Tennessee Valley Authority reservoir lake. © 2020 USATODAY, a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, Inc. Boating on the Tennessee River in Alabama. No matter what they are caught on, bluegills often serve as the gateway species for a lot of young anglers, luring them in for a lifetime of fishing fun. "When I caught the fish, I was hollering,” Ferguson told the newspaper. The size of a good bass, Hudson’s big bluegill is the specie’s all-tackle world record in the International Game Fish Association record book! It is a shallow lake with an average depth of only five to six feet. Part of the Sunfish family, bluegill prefer warm water lakes, rivers, creeks, and ponds.Bluegill are opportunists when it comes to feeding and will commonly eat things like plankton, insects, worms, and small minnows. All Rights Reserved. Leaf Group is a USA TODAY content partner providing general travel information. Give a Gift   That’s evidenced by the tale of a 4-pound., 12-ounce specimen pulled from Alabama’s Ketona Lake by T. Hudson back on April 9, 1950. But not by much, mind you, as Sutton’s story details. Bluegill are found along the steep, rocky shorelines. To get started, click the link below to visit mymagnow.com and learn how to access your digital magazine. The International Game Fish Association announced that Ferguson officially broke the previous world record of 5 pounds set in 200 by John R. Horstman. (Photo courtesy of Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation). Michele Norfleet is a freelance writer who writes on travel, home and garden and education topics. The lake has more than 600 miles of heavily wooded shoreline with rocky outcroppings. Watts Bar Lake (wattsbarlakeinfo.com) is another TVA project on the Tennessee River in Northern Tennessee. Two others are near-misses to the “Four-pound Bluegill Club” including Arizona's 3-pound., 15.68-ounce state-record specimen and California's benchmark of 3-14. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY. But judging from the size of the smile on Joshua Thomas’ young angling face, that’s more than OK. Crankbaits mimic exactly what they eat when hungry — other fish! Read by millions of school-age kids down through the years, the story is one of angling literature’s most legendary tales, describing the fierce battle between an aging angler named Santiago and a massive marlin that broke an 84-day fishless streak as it was battled in Gulf Stream waters between Cuba and the Florida Straits. Bluegill tend to run in schools of 20 to 30 fish and congregate around a food source. Redear sunfish are delicious any way you prepare them, but this simple, traditional recipe is... Field Skills: Want to be a better shooter? This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Plan your next fishing and boating adventure here.

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