Actually I believe overwintering will work but you have to do it right. I will probably be overwintering bluegills this year as they are going to be stocked into a pond but the pond has not been built (still waiting for excavator #$@%) and I want to be sure to be able to sex them 100 percent and this is not the time of year to do it.

Here's how I will do it as I have simply floated one in the ice before and it was weighted down and sunk somewhat. Most of the fish survived but most escaped due to the sinking.

Once water temps drop into the 40's and stay there I will cover the top of the cage (I have cages at least 7 feet in diameter) with the same material the sides and bottom are made of. I will probably give the cage a good cleaning in and out with a push broom standing on the pier and rotatiing this square cage to remove algae build up before sinking. I will use black plastic lock ties to secure the top and will make sure there is no avenue of escape. My PVC frame have holes drilled into them to allow the PVC to fill with water and sink evenly, but they are floated with orange juice containers, mineral spirits containers, laundry detergent etc. I will one by one remove these and attach one side of the cage to about 3 1/2 feet of nylon rope and the pier and the other sides of the cage I will secure these air filled containers with the same length rope. Therefore my 4 foot deep cage will have the top of the cage about 3 1/2 feet below the water surface and the bottom of the cage where most of the fish will converge will be about 7 feet below the surface of the water. With the water depth at this point about 11 feet that means the bottom of the cage will be about 4 feet off the bottom. The fish need a slightly warmer santuary in winter which is closer to the bottom as we all know. I'm pretty confident this will succeed and will keep you posted.

If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.