Bluegills not spawned yet?

[bmc]

My wife, kids, and I spent the day cruising the Bluewater, Big and Little Trout, and Wabana Lakes chain yesterday. Boy what a beautiful day for it. In the evening we set up on the edge of a cabbage weed flat in about 10-11' of water. The action was fast and furious with bluegills, largemouth bass, and my wife caught a bonus 20" walleye. We were just slip bobber fishing with leeches. A few of the gills were decent sized, so we kept some for a meal. Much to my surprise, some of the gills were still full of spawn. The spawn was really mushy looking to the point where I think they may have started to re-absorb their spawn? It was also a pale yellow color. Anyone else seen this?

Brian

[Matt Johnson]

Sometimes they won't spawn for certain reasons, and it may vary depending on the lake or body of water. I'm not sure exactly what all the different conditions are. But I think you're exactly right, the "once-ready" eggs have started the reversal process. We saw a lot of that last year too. I think it could also be possible that they didn't release all of their eggs, but they still might have released some.

I also know that exceedingly warm temps with high suns will affect the spawning process, but usually only after the eggs have already been laid and the males are hovering over the beds. The sunlight (heat) will push those guarding males into the shade and the eggs are more vulnerable to predators who like to steal them. It's pretty apparent when fishing sunfish on their beds during warm sunny days. In the morning you'll see the fish holding in the beds, but once that sun reaches it's height and the water warms up, those same fish will seek cooler water and they will only report back to the beds on intervals. Now, this might not be the only reason for why all sunfish vacate the beds, but it certainly plays a role on shallow areas which are in direct sunlight.

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson