A Coppernose Bluegill isn’t its own species, it’s a phrase used to describe a bluegill that has turned a copper color due to genetics, water conditions, or diet. But it’s still a bluegill. It is the same species as your local silver and bronze colored specimen.
It is just a shorthand way of describing a physical characteristic. The reason that’s important is that it informs your fishing strategy. When you think there’s something special about the Coppernose Bluegill, you’re going to seek out some special bait.
Understanding Coppernose Bluegill Color And Traits
What Is a Coppernose Bluegill
Chances are you won’t find it. Those fish are just normal bluegills. They protects beds, they roam around vegetation in schools and so on.
The color variation is cosmetic. It doesn’t dictate a different instinct. Knowing this prevents overthinking things.
There’s no new trick here. Just realize it’s a fish. It’s all about the environment.
Why Bluegills Change Color
The color says something about it. Because bluegills are very responsive to there surroundings, they adjust their colors to survive. They will darken if water has lots of tannins.
Their lateral bands will be more prominent. And the metallic sheen may take on copper or bronze colors. That’s because the pigments in the fish’s scale react to the background and contrast with light.
The fish is blending into the environment. One of the first things you’ll notice is that copper-colored nose. It occurs because head turns a darker reddish color.
You see that in murkier or deeper lakes which tend to change the light spectrum. What they eat is also important. Bluegills eats almost anything.
Diet and Genetics Factors
They’ll eat smaller fish, crayfish and insect. What they eat affects their coloration because of carotenoids in their diet. If a bluegill feeds on some crayfish, for example, they might turn out with richer orange and red colors.
This is similar to what happens with flamingos, which become pink due to the nutrients in there diet. They process it and deposit it into there tissues. The end result is more vibrant looking fish than others.
But this doesn’t make the fish healthier. It just means that it has access to different food source. There’s genetics involved as well.
Evolution and Camouflage Traits
All bluegills aren’t born with the exact same base color. Naturaly, some run darker then others. That’s particularly common in areas where the fish have adapted over time to certain predator.
Camouflage becomes the favored trait. Darker fish lives longer if the bottom is mucky. And that leads to change over generations.
Population shifts more and more towards that appearance. It’s those genetically darker stocks that get tagged as Coppernoses. But they’re still *Lepomis macrochirus*.
They have same DNA as your clear water lake fish, just different shades. Most anglers mistake these indicators. If they see a darker fish, they think it’s a bigger or older fish.
Color Does Not Indicate Age
That’s sometimes true. A dark Coppernose may be an older fish. They might of had more time to pick up some of those diet based pigment.
And older fish will usually spend more time in that deeper stained tannic water. But when the conditions are right, that young bluegill could resembles that Coppernose. So don’t let the color fool you into thinking you’ve found a trophy.
Look at the size and behavior. Color is a clue to the habitat, not the age. So while it will tell you where the fish is coming from, it won’t tell you how long it has been there.
How to Catch Coppernose Bluegill
And keep your approach simple. Fish the same lures you would on typical bluegill. Small spinners, worms and crickets all does the trick.
Target the structure. Drop-off areas and weed lines are good places to start. Then fish it like you would any other gill.
They will bite exactly like one. The copper nose is just icing on the cake. There is a little something different about catching them, but it do not change the game.
Understand the difference. Appreciate the adaptation. But don’t get hung up on the color.
Catch the species not the paint job. That’s how you catch them smartly.
