Houghton Giant Gills

[rscm5]

On Sunday night we finally found the bite and it was giant gills.
Unbelievable after almost 2 days of being frustrated.

[sabbott]

Depth, Lure, time, you can't just say giant gills and give no info.
I need the details

[MRocks]

Pictures?

Used to fish HL with my dad and 2 brothers when I was a kid. We would catch slab sunfish that were the size of a dinner plate (at least to a 10-year old). They would turn sideways and corkscrew up through the water, reflecting in the summer sun. What a fantastic sight and awesome fight that was!

[rscm5]

West Shore, evening, just leeches

[dobes]

Thanks, but how big, any pics? I know big gills are different by everyones standards.

[rscm5]

No pics but just short of dinner plate size!

[RJF]

I had a guy tell me last weekend they were catching dozens of 12" Blugills on Houghton Lake. I didn't see one, and doubt they were that big. Perhaps Crappies. Doubt they were Blugills.

[DetroitIron]

I've seen the big gills on Houghton. Some of them look like they hybrids, with big lumps on their heads that look like battering rams. I"m easily guessing
10.5 - 11 inches or so. Very nice.

I've seen our lake up north (St. Helen) with 10+ inch gills.

They're in the area.

Maybe thats where they get them from at Maple Valley restaurant up off M55 by Houghton. You can get a Bluegill dinner there that is very tasty. They even have a nice fishtank in the restaurant with nice gills swimming around in there.

Gotta love them gills. They tore up (2) twister skirts I had on a small jig on my ultralight two weeks ago when I was up north. Absolute blast. I caught a bucketfull of them, and a huge pumpkinseed that proceeded to kick some of the others butts in the bucket I had them waiting in (until dinner time:evil:).

[aquaticsanonymous]

I've seen our lake up north (St. Helen) with 10+ inch gills.

Those are bullheads on st. helen, not bluegill. Shhhhhhh!:evilsmile

[perchinatorx]

in may 09 we fish hl for nbaa classic and i hope ill have better results

[steve myers]

Don;t you love those people that say their catching 12 inch gils but for some reason they never show them.I once had a guy at work that he said he caught lots of 10 inch gills and I told him everyone he shows me I;ll give him 5 bucks guess what.Thats right that was 15 years ago he still works with me and I haven;t never had to pay him any money.Don;t get me wrong I know theres guys on this site that fish good bodies of water with huge gills in them that they catch but 90 per cent never measure them and their more like 8 1/2 9 which is a big gill but not huge.

[cuda man]

Back in mid 70 I work cleaning beaches up there for my uncle ,there were these guy that would come up to go fishing and catch huge bluegills , we try to find the hole they get them out off but never did.

[back2spool]

Caught a 10" gill in Houghton on Thurs.

Drifting a crawler harness (w/ crawler) in the East bay

Also TORE UP the pike on anything we threw, but only 1 or 2 keepr size. A few nice largemouth (15"-16") thrown in the mix. Gotta love Houghton Lake for variety. No walleyes though.

And...I have never seen a BIG perch taken from Houghton. Do all the pike stunt their growth?

[Houghton laker]

I've heard rumors of buckets of Slab sized Crappies in the winter mixed in with Walleye....But I think these are just silly rumors!!;)

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q33/houghtonlake/Picture073-1.jpg

[Zib]

I don't fish Houghton for panfish & I've never seen a 12" gill from there but I did catch a 13" crappie there this last July. I put it back for someone else to catch. :)

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j67/zibjones/IMG_1100.jpg

[steve myers]

I too have caught a few 13 inch crappies but only one gill over 10 and have seen maybe two over 11 in my 48 years.I;d love to see pictures of some big gills on here and I know Houghton is a great fishery and you guys showed it with your nice pictures.Maybe this winter I;ll try it.

[TroutFishingBear]

I too have caught a few 13 inch crappies but only one gill over 10 and have seen maybe two over 11 in my 48 years.I;d love to see pictures of some big gills on here and I know Houghton is a great fishery and you guys showed it with your nice pictures.Maybe this winter I;ll try it.

so happens when I was younger I was the holder of the C&R bluegill record back in Colorado with a 12.5". I'd caught many even bigger than that really, and so did my dad. Unfortunately that record is now broken. I used to catch them on cricket flies (I actually got the record on a 5" senko though). Here's some CO gills my dad and I caught, just to show you that 10" gills do exist if you know where to find them. Now the biggest gill I've got in michigan has been about 8.5-9", and only a couple of those.
my record fish for a while (like I said, caught quite a few bigger, only did this one for the record though)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v196/Elmntr3350/recgill2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v196/Elmntr3350/recgill3.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y158/TheBigTimeKing/eed1e7cd.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y158/TheBigTimeKing/jly0522.jpg


So are the gills at this houghton lake like these monsters?

[outdoor junkie]

I've caught tons of them over 12" in St. Helens as someone mentioned. But these are Hybrids that have been planted not true gills. I've heard of some bigens coming out of houghton. Caught a mess of them through the ice last winter around 10".

[outdoor junkie]

I've got a pond in my back property that I can pull some out that are over 15". Maybe I can take a pic and get in a magazine.:D

[steve myers]

Are the real deals nice bluegills.Yes I do see quite a few of the hybrid redear sunfish over 10 inches and thay are fun to catch although I throw most back to eat the 8 inch gills that taste much better.I beleive theres big gills in Houghton and 10 inchers there are probably alot more common then most other lakes.This winter if you need a partner for some gill fishing I'd love to go I have most everything but transportaton on the ice.

[DE82]

My biggest Gill I got out of Union a while back, came in at 12inches even. I got one in my gallery I got this past ice season on a glow shiner ficious jig that went 11.5

[fishmaster1]

I've caught tons of them over 12" in St. Helens as someone mentioned. But these are Hybrids that have been planted not true gills. I've heard of some bigens coming out of houghton. Caught a mess of them through the ice last winter around 10".


Just my over 30 yrs of fishing St Helen right on the lake mind you. I have never caught or seen a 12" bluegill or sunfish or pumpkinseed caught from St Helen. As for catching a ton that size and calling them hybrids can't be they just planted the hybrids 1000 of them last year or the year before. There are some nice ones, have only caught a handful even close to 10". Alot of time on that lake. Brian

[fishinthed]

And...I have never seen a BIG perch taken from Houghton. Do all the pike stunt their growth?

If anything, thinning their population would allow them to grow bigger: less competition for food. Overpopulation stunts the growth of any species of fish.

I think it's the shallow, warm water that keeps 'em small. The largest perch tend to be in large, cool lakes.

Bluegills and sunnies, on the other hand, do just fine in warm water. And the pike and bass probably keep their population in check and therefore their size up.

[outdoor junkie]

Just my over 30 yrs of fishing St Helen right on the lake mind you. I have never caught or seen a 12" bluegill or sunfish or pumpkinseed caught from St Helen. As for catching a ton that size and calling them hybrids can't be they just planted the hybrids 1000 of them last year or the year before. There are some nice ones, have only caught a handful even close to 10". Alot of time on that lake. Brian

Been fishing it for 12 years. And you just aren't fishing right.;)

[fishmaster1]

With the technoligy and unlimited recources I highly doubt your techniques are top secret or havent been used. Brian

[steve myers]

Nice gill you have in your gallery.I would like to see these other big gill catchers post theirs too.I know you fish alot especially in the winter and so do I have 3 perch mounted and 2 are from LSC and now I have to try it a little more for those big gills.Good job.

[Matty_joe86]

<img src="http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/500/sport.jpg" />


That is a pic of a 12 incher i caught out of wakely lake 2 years ago

[steve myers]

Is that the lake that is catch and release?