# Bluegill bedding



## Outside9 (Apr 30, 2008)

Fished them all my life in farm ponds but never have understood when they start bedding. I usually just ride by one of our ponds and see they are bedding.

Can someone "splain" the moon thing and what triggers them?


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## Try'n Hard (Oct 23, 2008)

Sure - in March, April, May, June, July, August, and sometimes September, when the moon gets just right and when I have to work, they bed


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## Try'n Hard (Oct 23, 2008)

FYI - I've fished for them all my life also. Probably 500 trips. Caught them on bed about 10 times


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## Outside9 (Apr 30, 2008)

Try'n Hard said:


> FYI - I've fished for them all my life also. Probably 500 trips. Caught them on bed about 10 times


Okay..... I catch off the bed also but curious when they bed. I like catching those big ones by just dropping a cricket in their beds.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk


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## Try'n Hard (Oct 23, 2008)

My Grandmother was a true die hard bream fisherman - she always said
"Bluegills bed first full moon in April, Shellcrackers - first full moon in May" she would catch the males a few days before the full moon and the females a few days after. 
Sounds good?....It has never really worked for me. I have to go when I can and just hope I hit it right


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## Riverlover (Mar 5, 2016)

Gotta agree, full moon in April is pretty spot on but for crackers id have to say ive caught crackers beddin on Escambia in late March. Same exact spots my grandaddy and now my boys use. Water temp and weather has alot to do with it.


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## born2fizh (Feb 6, 2008)

Shell cracker bed before bluegill


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## Riverlover (Mar 5, 2016)

Bluegill


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## Try'n Hard (Oct 23, 2008)

born2fizh said:


> Shell cracker bed before bluegill



Maybe I got grandmas thing reversed. I get my love for fishing from her. She was daylight till dark. I can still see her fishing the earth piers at hurricane. She would have about 10 zebcos stretched out and would cover the whole end. She was reeling in a big bluegill on the dam at Bear lake the year after it opened when a bass hit it and got the bluegill hung in its mouth. She landed both on a 202 with 8# test. Bass weighed 12.8 pounds. She's been gone almost 30 years. I think about her allot when I'm fishing. Sure wish she was still around where we could go one more time


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## Donut slayer (Jan 16, 2009)

I've always caught them on full moon from March til Oct. Water temp low to mid 70's. I believe females lay eggs, male come fertilize eggs and hang around fanning bed and running off other fish. I've been told shellcrackers bed once per year and bluegills every month.


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## Bodupp (Oct 3, 2007)

Up here in the north country (Montgomery), I wait for the primroses to bloom along roadsides to indicate shellcrackers are bedding, but it's not a hard and fast rule - just means to start looking. If the water is clear enough, I'll stand on the front deck and run parallel to the bank in water just deep enough to clear the trolling motor. I'll be chunking a white spinnerbait ahead of the boat while searching for shellcracker beds. I'll mark 3 or 4 beds, then sneak back to the first one, etc.

When mimosas bloom, I'll start hunting bluegill beds. Sometimes you can actually smell the beds, but the most fun way is to find them with a popping bug, then anchor up and wear them out with crickets.

Magic times ahead, fellas!


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