Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Too many bluegill?

I sort of manage one of my relatives 3/4 acre pond and a few months ago had it re-stocked with 80 bluegill and 20 LMB . The LMB were about 6 inches and the bluegill were around 3-4 inches. I'm not sure exactly how many bass and bluegill there were prior to re-stocking but the population seemed to be pretty low from a few floods and hurricane. The biggest bass that I know of in the pond is 4lbs and there's a few 2lbers and the rest are anywhere from fingerlings to around 12inches. Lately Iv'e been pellet feeding the bluegill and the bass that were recently stocked and there seems to be well over 100 bluegill probably more in sizes from 1 inch to 6inch. The bluegill really chow down on the pellets at a faster rate than the bass. I'm wondering if the bluegill population is going to get out of control or will the bass that are currently in there keep them from overpopulating. Sorry for the long post.

In more northern ponds such as yours, LMB sometimes struggle to keep up with BG reproduction. Whether that will be the case in your pond, is unknown. You can begin tracking the relative weights of your bass and sunfish. If the relative weights begin to sag in your BG below 100-115, then you may be having issues. If you are feeding your BG, you should easily see RW over 100 in BG that are taking to the pellets well.

I'm thinking about adding a few more bass atleast 12 inches long. There isn't alot of places for the bluegill to hide so hopefully the bass will be eating like kings. Most of the time when I'm there I can see 5 or 6 bluegill swimming together right out in the open along with an occasional 6 inch bass or two. It's strange to see the small bass and bluegill swimming and eating together like buddies.