The Lake Where You Live

I’ve enjoyed good fishing for bluegills this winter, and as I’ve pulled them up through the Birch Lake ice I’ve been struck by their simple beauty.

I’ve said before that tropical fish barely outshine some of our native species, notably crappies for their large and delicate-looking tail and fins, pumpkinseeds for their array of bright hues, and yes, bluegills for their wide range of coloration.

As I lift each one up (and put it right back down the hole), I can’t help but notice the variety. Some are nondescript, just black vertical striping on a greenish background. Others are quite brilliant, especially when held up against a background of bluish ice or virginal white snow.

The black spot behind the gills (technically the operculum flap) is a consistent feature, and so is the blue tinting that runs along the lower part of the gill covers and extends toward the mouth, although this does vary in intensity. The uniformity pretty much ends there.

In some the base color of the body inclines more toward yellow than green; when hit by sunlight they almost seem to glow. Most striking is the color variation on the belly, between the pectoral fins and the gill covers. Sometimes it’s a brilliant lemon yellow. Other times it’s a rich orange, like the yolk of an egg fresh from the farm.

I’ve also noticed variability in the fishes overall shape, some more rounded than others. I wonder sometimes if these differences are innate to the species or if to some degree they exist because of the capacity of the sunfish family (of which bluegills are a member) to hybridize. Are some of the “bluegills” I catch actually crosses with pumpkinseeds or a less common sunfish species?

At times and on various lakes I have caught fish that combine the bluing around the gills with the mottled yellow and green body of a pumpkinseed — a hybrid for certain. Bluegills are also known to cross with green sunfish, which are less abundant in Wisconsin than pumpkinseeds but are distributed widely in the state’s lakes and streams.

It’s also true that coloration in many fish species changes to reflect the character of their surroundings. For example, I’ve caught smallmouth bass in stained-water lakes that have more of a reddish cast than their characteristic greenish bronze tone.

But then, the bluegills I’m catching through the ice present a broad spectrum of coloring even though they come from areas of perhaps 20 square feet of lake bottom. 

In any case, part of the charm of fishing through the ice on the recent string of unseasonably mild days is not quite knowing how the fish pulling hard at the end of the line will look when I lift it from the hole. 

I don’t keep them because I already have a couple of meals’ worth of fish in the freezer. But while the bluegills don’t end up as a meal for the table, they do present a feast for the eyes.

Ted Rulseh is a writer, author and lake advocate who lives on Birch Lake in Oneida County. His new book, “Ripple Effects,” has been released by UW Press. You can learn about it by visiting his website at https://thelakeguy.net.