Bluegill have good table quality, good fighting ability, and are easily caught. A single female can deposit more than 50,000 eggs. The male then guards eggs and fry. After nest construction, the ripe male selects a gravid female and entices her toward the nest with aggressive nudges and bites. Few females lay all their eggs in one nest, so each nest contains the eggs of several females.
Males zealously guard the nests from all intruders and keep the eggs free from silt.
Sometimes Bluegill hybridize with other members of the sunfish family, Green Sunfish and Pumpkinseed.