42 Nebraskaland • May 2024
going to the prairie grouse leks and watching all of that
mating behavior."
Bauer said males will make a clicking sound, and if you
watch closely enough, you might see them fl are their gills
and pop their head to do so. Some won't have anything to
do with your lure because they are too preoccupied with
guarding their nest. And you might see the "sneakers" in
action. These small male fi sh take on the dull coloration of
a female. When a female does approach a nest, he follows.
Thinking he has two females on his nest, the parental male
won't chase the other male away, allowing the sneaker a
chance to deposit its sperm when the female releases her
eggs. This behavior, Bauer said, extends the inferior genetics
and can lead to stunted populations, a good reason to release
the big males.
"If you only knew some of the things that are going on
below the surface," Bauer said.
As for the solitary nests built in tangles sticks and rushes?
Studies have found that while colony nesting is the norm —
one found as many as 272 nests in a single colony — about
5 percent of bluegills are solitary nesters. And research in
Wisconsin found that while bluegills will nest in muck, sand
A pair of largemouth bass stalk a school of bluegills in the backwater.
Exactly as described in a research paper, the male bluegill
circles the nest on the outside of the female.
