bluegill full of eggs?

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catman529

catman529

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The other day I was catching bluegills and cutting them in half for bait. One of them was only about 4 inches long but completely full of eggs. I thought it was unusually late in the year for them to be full of eggs like that.
 
Bluegill eggs are my favorite kind of fish eggs. Bluegill will spawn several times per year if the conditions are right. I've seen them on beds in July.
 
Just a drop of olive oil or butter, some chopped onion and saute a few minutes. Season well and eat with toast.
 
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so I'm assuming I should handle the egg sacs carefully to avoid parasites or disease from the rest of the bluegill, correct? If I am going to eat them raw that is. I'm always game for trying something new. Actually don't think I have had caviar before. Worth a try some time if I bring home a fish full of eggs.
 
Fry them with the same batter you used for the fish; we usually just used plain flout, salt and peper. Keep them in the sac as much as possible. We always fried ours last, because they do pop a LOT in the hot greese. Cover the pan helps.
 
Trapper John said:
Just don't do it with a gar. Those will cause problems. Pretty poisonous.
Click to expand...
I have not even ventured to try the meat of a gar.... maybe one day, but it doesn't seem appetizing. I will stick to catch and release with them snout fish.
 
I think the big rain and then the cold snap in May screwed up the bluegill spawn. They were just going on bed and then the rain and cold hit and scattered them.

I always see a few "straggler" bluegill here and there bedding on the full moon in June and July, but this year there are more bedding bluegill than I usually see. Yesterday I fished up in Spencer Creek on Old Hickory and I came across two or three very large expanses of spawning bluegills. I even found a group of bedding shellcracker.

Most of them were relatively small though - same as your experience. Maybe the bigger fish went ahead and spawned out by now and the smaller fish are still catching up, I don't know.

bd
 
catman529 said:
Trapper John said:
Just don't do it with a gar. Those will cause problems. Pretty poisonous.
Click to expand...
I have not even ventured to try the meat of a gar.... maybe one day, but it doesn't seem appetizing. I will stick to catch and release with them snout fish.
Click to expand...

the meat is ok. it's the roe that is poinonous. i know some folks that can gars. it tastes just like canned salmon.
 

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