Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Can I overfish Bluegills?

Bluegills can definately be over fished and overharvested. The extent of each (fishing overharvesting) will be dependent on yor goals for the pond. State the goals for the pond then we can add more comments.

Over fishing (depends of the pond size hrs/ac/yr & skill of anglers) with lots of catch and release tend to produce hook shy or aks hook smart bluegills. Over harvesting generally causes the average size of the to be smaller. Quite a bit more general information can be provided on this topic, but answers to your question should be directly related to your goals for the pond. IMO your "friends" tell you that "you can never catch too many BG" because it is your pond and not theirs; plus they have probably never owned a pond.

Part 2 Fatheads will feed primarily fish that tend to capture prey primarily insectivores and carnivores. Fathead fry and those less than 1" are eaten by young fish eating fish (piscivorous), opportunists, and many panfish including bullheads and young catfish. The main problem with fatheads is you can't keep them around long enough fot them to be beneficial for longer than a year or two unless your pond has only a few predators. Predators that are reproducing quickly wipe out fathead minnows even in ponds with lots of artificial structure.