Blue Gill Spawning

Blue Gill Spawning

The Blue Gill (Lepomis macrochirus) begins their spawning in the spring when water temperatures increase to around 70 degress (F). Their spawning peaks in late May, early June, and then continues until the fall when temperatures begin to fall.

We came upon this particular blue gill at Brooke Lodge. In this case there were only a few Blue gill spawning in the area, but many times you can find spawning colonies where there are 50+ nests. I was surprised to find out that females deposit 40,000 or more eggs in these areas and males fertilize and protect them until the eggs hatch.

Males generally make their nests on gravel or hard bottoms 1-3 feet deep.

During spawning the blue gills are very vulnerable to shoreline fishermen because they are easily caught trying to defend their nests. They will go after anything that enters that area and are therefore easy targets. Later in the summer Blue gill tend to move to deeper areas of the water making themselves less of a target.

Resources: http://grandfishingreport.com/pgs/lakeinfo/species/bluegill/bluegill.htm