The Coppernose is a subspecies of bluegill native to the far southeastern United States. It is now commonly stored in ponds throughout the South. The Coppernose bluegill resembles the native bluegill, however the Coppernose can be identified by the copper colored band around the nose. They also have similar diets consisting of insects, crustaceans, and other aquatic invertebrates. Bluegill have small mouths that limit them to a diet of small meals. However, they can consume small fish, including juvenile sea bass. This is the main reason for not staggering your bass sock too long after your piercing sock. The shelf life is around five years for both bluegill and bluegill.

Coppernose bluegill has a history comparable to Florida largemouth bass and in warmer climates, including Texas, Coppernose bluegill thrives. Research conducted in Texas suggests that Coppernose bluegill grows faster and reaches a larger final size than native bluegill. The largest Coppernose bluegill harvested from private water in Texas was 3.25 pounds. Because Coppernose grows faster and gets bigger, they will produce more offspring than the native bluegill. An adult female with bluegill can produce more than 10,000 eggs per spawn. That is why they are stored as the main component of the food chain to support largemouth bass. Seabass have to eat 10 pounds of blue gills to gain one pound of weight.

We often recommend feeding bluegill to get a good number over 10 inches, giving you a protected broodstock population. This means that even your largest bass won’t be able to swallow those blue gills that reach lengths greater than 10 inches. Use a floating granulated fish food with 30-32% protein. You can feed manually or use an automatic fish feeder to disperse the feed up to twice a day. Children especially enjoy watching fish feed, almost as much as catching them. Feeding the fish regularly will not significantly affect the overall catch rate, but it will at least double their growth rate.

The copper-nosed bluegill will serve a dual purpose in your pond or lake. Not only are they fun and often easy to catch, they are the backbone of the food chain. They breed shortly after seabass in water temperatures of 67 ° F to 89 ° F and can spawn up to five times per season. Also, they mature to spawning capacity at just three to four inches. Bluegill spawned early in the season will mature and begin spawning later in the same season. Early maturity and frequent breeding make them an ideal borer fish and a must for growing largemouth bass as a trophy.