Thread: Redear on Barkley or Kentucky help

Originally Posted by Will_P

I too used to always be more concerned with returning the females and keeping the males until I watched an episode of In-Fisherman. In it they talked about lakes with monster bluegill and they stated to keep the smaller fish to eat and throw back the biggens. They also said that if you do want to keep the biggens make sure it's the females. So after thinking about it, it makes sense that even though the females have the eggs, that's all they do, the male is the one who fans the bed, fertilizes, and guards the bed and young for a short time. He's the reason they hatch and get life started. I now throw back the males and keep the females.

This is a great point that most people miss. Throwing back males is more important than throwing back females for those interested in preserving more large sunfish for the future. Redear in ky and barkley have been shown to survive up to 9 years old and have decent growth rates throughout their lives. The overall harvest rates are very low in both lakes, so its not a huge issue, just something to consider.

It is potentially even more useful to throw back large male bluegill. Not only do they do a better job of guarding the nest than smaller males, but some studies have shown that immature males who grow up in the presence of large males will put more energy towards their own growth and be more likely to become large males themselves. Alternatively, an immature male who grows up around other small males, will be more likely to put more energy into reproduction than their own growth, making them smaller in the long run. Rotating your fishing spots to relieve some of that pressure on the large males is a great idea.

Just remember that few bluegill in ky and barkley live past 3 years, so feel free to load the coolers up before natural mortality takes its toll. Overall harvest numbers are also lower than most people would expect, so the bluegill population can definitely take the pressure.

My problem with keeping the females is when I fillet them and jerk five ounces worth of roe out of them. That's why I don't keep the heavily pregnant redear. I start to realize that I just killed off 10,000 baby redear...that's a BAD feeling. The amount of roe a 1.5-2lb redear carries is pretty crazy once you fillet a big one and see it for yourself.

I have started to throw back 8 to 9 inch males that I know will be studs the following spring.