I want a beautiful colored male bluegill...

[JEAE21]

These are some of my past catches...i'm thinking they are all males.
but are they colored like this all year long? I thought so at first but then it might be different depending on the lake...i caught the 3 below in spring, fall, and winter so...
too bad i released them...i'm looking for one like these...bright/dark orange belly, really shiny looking sky blue "gill", and no vertical stripes on the body.

http://s59.photobucket.com/albums/g317/JEAE/?action=view&current=Kame-San063.jpg
http://s59.photobucket.com/albums/g317/JEAE/?action=view&current=Killi019-1.jpg
http://s59.photobucket.com/albums/g317/JEAE/?action=view&current=Killi032.jpg

the 6 i caught the other day were probably all females..and didn't have the color that i wanted..

 

[id10t]

Most vibrant coloring will come wiht the spawn... Also, color changes with weather, etc.

 

[fishlvr]

These colors occur on "bull" males during the spawning season. In captivity, in most cases, that's all year long. Keep them at 72-75F and feed them well and you will get the desired color. Verticle bars come with stress. If you keep them healthy, there will be no verticle bars(for the most part). I also advise that you only keep one male in a tank. They can be very aggressive.