Domesticated bluegill?

[erichkopp]

I was fishing a canal today, and when I started fishing I could see maybe one or two fish in the water from where I was standing. Then maybe a few minutes later, there was a large school of bluegill hanging around where I was fishing, and I was catching one just about every cast. I decided to move so I could try to maybe catch some shellcracker or mayans, and noticed that the same school of fish moved to where I now was. I thought it was kind of weird, so I purposely moved around and fished from different areas on the bank to see if they'd still follow me, and they followed every single time. I thought maybe it was my bait that was attracting them, so I moved around again, only I didn't fish. I just stood on the bank, and they'd still follow me. What was even weirder was that they not only congregated around where I was, but when they'd get in front of me they'd also turn so they were facing where I was standing.

Has anyone ever seen or heard about anything like this? I even tried stomping on the ground to see if they'd get scared and swim off, but they didn't even flinch.

[crappie bug]

Sounds like sombody has ben feeding them alot.

[pstone]

Yup, amazing what some fish food everyday for a couple weeks will "train" bream to do.

[erichkopp]

A lot of them were pretty big too. Probably from all the "handouts" I suppose.

[kayaker]

You must be like a fish whisperer !

[fishintiger]

An apartment I lived in had a pond and the gills and carp would do the same thing. It's like they heard you coming down the hill. They would be at this one spot by the time you got down the hill. We would feed them fish food and bread all the time. I was fishing that spot one time shortly after feeding them. I caught a bluegill and while I was reeling it in, my rod doubled over and the drag started singing. I think a bass or a cat fish had decided they wanted the bluegill. What ever had the gill let go and I just ended up with the gill. One other time we were feeding them and while just standing there watching them gobble up the food there was a large explosion in the water. I'm pretty sure a bass or cat caused this. There was a largemouth that would sit in a little deeper water and watch what was going on. He would occasionally creep up and then as soon as he noticed that I seen him he would drift back to the slightly deeper water.

[harpenter]

Fish tank fish

[bobberdown]

I saw a large school of Bass, Perch, Carp, actually beach their self on a guys lawn one evening when he came down to the lake to feed them. Quiet a sight when you have fished the area for hours without a bite. Some of the carp were 8 to 12# and some keeper bass flopped on the grass and rolled back into the water.

[erichkopp]

I saw a large school of Bass, Perch, Carp, actually beach their self on a guys lawn one evening when he came down to the lake to feed them. Quiet a sight when you have fished the area for hours without a bite. Some of the carp were 8 to 12# and some keeper bass flopped on the grass and rolled back into the water.

Wow. I couldn't imagine seeing something like that. Could them being regularly fed make them less likely to bite one of your lures in the water?

[joejv4]

Yep.. just like fish in a tank, they can be conditioned by regular feeding to respond to the presence of a person. To them, if there's a person there, it must mean feeding time.

Some friends have a cottage where they feed the fish almost every day. When you walk out on the dock, you see the bluegill and sunfish swarming to where you're standing - then they just sit there looking at you, waiting for you to throw them food. It's fun to take a couple slices of bread down and start tossing crumbs on the water - they go nuts!