Jumbo Bream Allure

They don't jump or don't flash spectacular iridescent colors, and a REALLY big one weighs less than a fairly small version of most other popular game fish. That said, genuine jumbo bluegills possess tremendous allure. Big bream are brutishly strong, and they attack baits with sometimes-ridiculous gusto. However, I think the greatest appeal lies in the fact that a jumbo totally defies what a bluegill is supposed to look like. They are so far from the norm that they almost don't seem like the same kind of fish that crowd the banks in every cove and that I caught with bread balls on No. 16 hooks from the banks of neighborhood ponds when I was a boy.

Whatever the reason, I'm no different from most other anglers I've been around. As many opportunities as I have enjoyed to fish all over the country and even in other countries, I still get absolutely giddy at the prospects of swimming a Road Runner past a cypress tree and having it hammered by a bluegill I won't even be able to wrap my hand around once I land it.