What Are We Watching...
Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 9:16AM | MN Bound Editor Let me give you a few more details about what you are seeing. Yesterday is the day that we went Live with this camera. We had windy conditions which really stirred things up in the water. If you aren't familiar with the bluegill spawning ritual, they are very protective. I haven't seen the behavior like yesterday before, but that is probably because I have never had an underwater view running LIVE! What happened was all the particles and bottom content was being stirred around. This caused the fish to go on extra high alert, and chase after everything that came into their small zone. This made for quite the chaotic afternoon.
John Sikkila photographed this male bluegill last summer on a fishing outing. You can see the bright colors that distinguish them from the females.The nesting areas, otherwise called spawning areas, are small crater like indentations where fish like the bluegill, crappie and bass lay their eggs. Unlike many other fish that just drop their eggs and leave, these aggressive and protective fish will stay and gaurd their young. Here's how the whole process unfolds.
The male bluegill (colorful one) shows up to the annual spawning grounds when the water starts to reach the mid 60 degree range. Usually 64 or 65 degrees. Many times they come by the hundreds or thousands. The male then stirs up his area until he has a perfect crater formed out of the ground. Usually they like gravel or hard bottom for this. It also tends to range in about 2.5 to 6 feet of water depth. Once the nest has been created and the water temperature hits the perfect mark, the female moves onto the nest. She drops her eggs into the bowl shaped crater, and the male fertilizes them. This process will happen a few times until all the eggs have been laid. Then the males are on watch, and gaurd against anything that comes into its territory. It's life or death for these fish, and sometimes it ends in death, when they become food for creatures such as the northern pike, or great blue herons.
Some emails and viewers have also asked to learn more about bluegill specie, so here is a little bit more about the fish in general. In the midwest region they are considered one of the best table fare. In the panfish category, are directly related to the largemouth bass. Sometimes called sunnies, they also have many similar relatives such as a pumpkinseed sunfish and green sunfish. They can grow up to a couple of pounds, but a typically midwest bluegill will grow up to about 1/2 to 3/4 of a pound depending upon the genetics of each particular lake. They are hard fighters and extremely fun to catch. They tend to become a favorite specie for the family fishing outing, but for this purpose, they are going to teach us more about the underwater world of survival.
Here are a couple of great links to let you learn more about the bluegill specie. Click Here, or Click Here to learn more.
Watch, learn and enjoy as we are again given a very unqiue look under water.
Travis Frank - Travis@mnbound.com
