Mantua bluegill

[10_ft_Jon_boat]

I went to Mantua last week and fished from shore on all sides of the knoll on the east side.  There were a lot of people fishing and most seemed to be having good success.  It was easy to catch lots of bluegill on a night crawler, either suspended about 3 feet under a bubble or using a split-shot sinker to get on the bottom in deeper water.  I was somewhat surprised that I couldn't catch a decent sized fish, the largest being about 7 1/2 inches with most being considerably smaller.  I talked to a couple other fisherman on the bank as well as two guys in a passing boat and they reported similar catches.  Not sure if the food base for the bluegill is more limited for some reason or if there are simply too many fish in the reservoir.  A couple of years ago 9+ inch fish were common.  I brought home three of the largest ones and filleted them and found that they are infected with parasites.  All had the pepper looking cysts and one also had white worms.  These parasites have multi-host life cycles that include fish, snails, and fish eating birds.  The fish are safe to eat if cooked properly.  I also caught an 11 1/2 perch and it was parasite free.