Pamplona. Spain is best known for a wild and crazy event that takes place each July in this city of 100,000. Men with more sense of adventure than smarts take to the streets of this European village for “the running of the bulls,” a week-long event that promises to result in scores of injuries and almost always a few fatalities as bulls are released into the narrow streets of Pamplona behind throngs of men and boys who are no match for the speed of the animals.
More than one Spanish version of “hey y’all; hold my beer and watch this” from some goober-headed Spaniard has resulted in a bull’s horn being thrust through a kidney.
This version of the running of the bulls calls for a thirst for excitement often exacerbated by a thirst for booze. No sane, sober person would risk life and limb facing down a beast weighing half a ton.
If the running of the bulls is something you feel you must try, I have a suggestion. What I propose is far less dangerous, the foe likely weighs not half a ton, but half a pound, and you don’t have to travel halfway around the world to give it a try. And you can still tell your buddies you just got back from participating in the running of the bulls.
This “running of the bulls” refers to bull bream, the kind I, as a kid, started running with on Black Lake near my north Natchitoches Parish home outside of Goldonna. This time of year, big pug-nosed bull bluegill run en masse to the shallows of Louisiana lakes with one purpose in mind; they’re there to make baby bluegills.
April and May are primary months for the bluegill spawn but they are still getting after it now that the weather has turned hot. Early mornings can still produce some bragging-sized catches of these scrappy fighters.
When the Good Lord created the bluegill, He must have had in mind dads and kids. There is no species better suited for a youngster to cut his/her teeth on a lifetime of fishing than the bluegill.
For starters, our lakes are full of them. From tiny bait-stealing punkin’ seeds to those weighing in excess of a pound, they’re here in abundance. Secondly, when bluegills spawn, they congregate by the hundreds, or thousands, onto suitable areas for this activity.
In Black Lake and every other Louisiana lake, a suitable area is usually relatively shallow with a hard sandy or gravel bottom where males fan out dinner plate-sized depressions on the bottom into which females will lay their eggs. The male fertilizes the eggs and stands guard over the nest until the little ones hatch.
Thirdly, spawning bluegills will attack virtually anything that ventures close enough to be perceived as a threat to the eggs, or that appears to be a tasty morsel. A gob of red wigglers or a gray cricket skewered onto a thin wire hook dangling beneath a split shot and cork is usually all that is needed to ensure a quick bite.
Few fishing experiences rival spawning time for bull bream. Quietly trolling to within the flip of a cane pole of a bed of bluegills is usually all that is involved. Anchor or tie off the boat to keep it from drifting over the beds and it’s often a “pitch ‘til you win” proposition.
Ready for the running of the bulls but don’t want to travel all the way to Spain and risk getting trampled or gored? Try bull bream. They’re in all our ponds, streams and lakes and they’re just waiting to run with you.
Contact Glynn at glynnharris37@gmail.com