Giant bluegill at Mantua (Utah) Reservoir provide fishing fun for anglers and kids

My grandpa, who died in 1977, had a small 2ish acre farm pond. I used to love watching the bream be aggressive on the beds. They would slam a beetle spin. I was fun to throw it across a bunch of bed and watch the fish come of each one to take a swipe at it...

If you watch the video, you'll hear Adam mention "Pelican in it's heyday..." Pelican Lake was once a nationally renowned bluegill fishery and I was fortunate to get to fish it back then. While the ones we caught weren't as big as the ones in your photos, they were amongst the biggest I've personally ever caught.

Unfortunately, someone transplanted carp into in in the late 2000's. The DNR here couldn't get them under control so they killed the whole lake. Then it was hit with milfoil and became basically unfishable. I haven't been there in years. Truly a great fishery destroyed by some short sited "bucket biologist".

Don't have a clue, but the two lakes I fish in North Louisiana, the bull bream get smaller and smaller. (Lafourche Lake and Woolen Lake around Beouf WMA)

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Don't have a clue, but the two lakes I fish in North Louisiana, the bull bream get smaller and smaller. (Lafourche Lake and Woolen Lake around Beouf WMA)

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Could be a few reasons.
1) Overpopulation.
2) Conversely, too much pressure and keeping too many before they have a chance to get bigger.
3) Depends on the lake and where you’re fishing. When I occasionally bream fished I always looked for beds and “smelled out” areas they were bedding. Everyone I know did the same thing. Then using side scan sonar at Santee Cooper showed tons of bream beds out deeper, out to 10’-12’ deep.