Attached pictures of Overton Texas Strain CNBG are so impressive as to classic CNBG characteristics that I have organized a club, and since Eric and Aaron are “kinfolks, are included as charter members.

Any or all of previous, current, or future recipients of these exceptional fish please join and share reports of exceptional growth rate and color characteristics currently being reported.

Honorary members North of Mason-Dixon Line accepted.

George I have been watching your grand babies but have not sampled them. Not going to until after the spawn. So for now they will just be fish stories. I do think that they have grown since Nov based on watching them feed. Better not say much more or people will think I fibbing.

Here are 2 pics of when they went in around Nov. 2.

Eric, I'll betcha you will see growth in the 2 inch range since November stocking ....
We need to establish a width category - more awesome than length.
Can't wait to see pictures of them ...

george, those 2 pics of that female are just 'plum' purty. I never knew the girls could have such distinct coloration.

Uh Oh! I see lots of darkened scales on the back, but a tiny flap. Now I'm confused.

Coppernose Gals, won't you come out tonight,
Come out tonight, come out tonight?
Coppernose Gals, won't you come out tonight
And dance by the light of the moon?

Burger, that ear flap has me confused as well.
What do you thnk Eric - Bruce - Bill?

Theo, you are now an Honorary esteemed member of the OTS CNBG...
Any other volunteers?
You don't have to be a poet to qualify ....

Just what George wants at this point reproductively immature male's of large size - I think - well lets hope they are not cuckholders or sneakers.

I love the 'green' on the face of that fish George. I don't see that in mine.

Caught this little boy today, my fish must be very cautious of safety they all have helmets on..



My bluegill pics on bigbluegill.com

Aaron, my wife caught that one and brought it to me to show the special colors.
Our fish came from turbid water the reason for lighter colors, wheres I would hazard a guess that your darker colored fish came from clear water .

Beautiful CNBG.
Love the colors and the helmets.
Great picture - keep them coming.
Thanks

That is a beautiful fish George. That green coloration is unique! I can't tell much about the tail tipping against the wood grain, however. I doubt that the fish Aaron is holding was one of mine, however, mainly due to the yellow tinting near the caudal fin.

I have two ponds of fingerlings from further CNBG enhancement in 2008 that I haven't dipped into. From the bank these look fantastic and improved. If they do indeed meet my expectations then I'll post the news on this thread. I also have already placed ~2000 intermediate CNBG from 2008 into growout ponds for 6inchplus production and can't wait to see this project progress. We are already planning and selecting the 2009 CNBG spawning parents and will have pics of them sometime.

Thanks George for starting the thread, kind of cool.

Yes, very cool.
I'm going to have to get my hands on some of these.

Todd, all fish caught the last couple of trips have come out of very tubid water, stirred up from these 30-40 mph winds we are having lately.
Tail tipping is obvious on darker fish.

I can't get over the growth of these fish - most 9+ inch

Beautiful specimens Aaron and George. My CN are from Ar., I may have to inject this strain into the pond.(And some CSBG, Ewest BG and whoever else has monsters. Or, I could just do some hard work like you folks have.

Burger if you keep feeding like you are I bet you have some monsters.

These are two fine examples of OTS CNBG...stocked 12/19/07 @ 4 inches...fed AQMX 500/600 daily...caught on 1/1/2009...

The 8 inch LMB stocked at the same time are now over 3 lbs
The 8 inch HSB stocked at the same time are now over 4 lbs

I put in 10 lbs Tilapia in Mar 2008 to take pressure off CNBG

Thanks Todd for all the awesome support !!!

10 inch 1 lb 6 oz

10 inch 1 lb 4 oz

Beautiful fish Darryl - welcome to the club ...

Bruce must to be drooling somewhere after seeing that picture.

That is incredible!

WOW!! The Rw of that bluegill is 156!

Not to downplay my fish, but there must also be something special about your water quality and not to mention your management practices!!

Thanks Archer!

Great fish. Are you sure the fish isn't dead and bloated!! Wow. You must get those posted to bigbluegill.com! That fish is almost looking like a round puffer fish!

I just fell off my chair...

Can I add those pictures onto http://www.bigbluegill.com ?

Or could you do it?

Holy smokeroonies. Those might be the best bluegill I've ever seen. I've seen Wr 155's that are 6 inches, but never a 10 incher!!!!

Those are the first BG I have seen that have a smaller tail to body ratio than Bruce's.

Look at the location - year round feeding temps.

Archer,

I wanna see some pictures of those in March 2010.

Archer,
You might quite simply have one of the very best fishing ponds in the nation, I doubt anyone could match those numbers for the overall average size of fish!

I would love to see a whole bunch of pictures of your pond and fish.

Thanks for the nice comments...I have put these on http://www.bigbluegill.com

To be honest, I just did what I was told. It was the experts on this forum and personal guidance from Todd that made all the difference. The stocking rates, feed, and structure ideas came from here, while Todd specifically targeted my size pond and goals. I want to have a good LMB fishery, so I built the pond with hills, dips, points, etc..., and included a gravel field, rock piles, tire bundle, and sunken Christmas trees. I also have geothermal coils in bottom.

I think the real key is that I started out with 118 hungry mouths (50 feed trained native LMB, 18 FLA LMB, and 50 HSB) and 100 4-5" CNBG from Todd. As the predators grew bigger, they probably ate lot of the 3-5" CNBG and babies, so when the Tilapia (10 lbs) kicked in, the larger CNBG had little competition or pressure. We fed AQMX 500 in the early spring and switched to 600 when we started catching fish with bigger mouths. I will say that the FLA LMB and YOY native LMB are always just under 1.0 RW while the feed trained LMB and HSB are above 1.2 RW. This leads me to believe I am short on small/med forage.

My pond gets no runoff water, as I have raised banks to increase depth. I use my well water to keep it topped off (not cheap BTW). I think this led to very clear water and a huge chara problem last summer. The weeds probably helped the CNBG escape predation, as you could barely move through the thick stuff. I used aquashade in Oct/Nov to destroy the chara, and at one point could see down 9 ft.

With Todd's advice, I am going to fertilize this year, as my water has already cleared from 18" to 40+" visibility as it warmed up (70F surface temp last week). I think this will help with the smaller end of the food chain and get more 3-4" CNBG in play.

As Ewest noted, the growing season is long here. I don't think I have gone 2 days in a row without feeding since Thanksgiving.

Without this site and folks like Todd I would be lost.

Thanks Again !!

Pond at sunrise, 3/4 acre


Chara problem in early summer -- it got worse !!


3.5 lb HSB


Tilapia after 3 months growth

Your fish are exceptional. Thank you for continuing to share your story.

Goodyear Blimp Fish!

You got some great advice, but you had to implement it, and you have done one helluva job. How much feed are you dispensing, or, are you hand feeding?
I keep forgetting, I dont live at my pond, and they always eat much more than the feeder throws out, when I hand feed afterward.
Have you eaten any fish yet, or strictly C & R. What are the coordinates of your pond? When are you at work?

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=12483&Number=143152#Post143152

In this thread Archer tells some of the story of these fish.

I dont mean to stop the thread, just helping Archer from having to type it all again. Also I dont want to speak for him because he may have changed many things from the time of this post. Still some great fish. And please we always love to hear how the story has progressed.

Here are some select CNBG males that I isolated yesterday to be used as broodstock this year. We will mix them with young, pregnant CNBG females in May/June. They represent the physical characteristics that I've been trying to breed into my fish for the last 5 years.

My order is in for late fall/early winter pick-up.....
2009 class OTS CNBG ...

Thanks jakeb for finding that thread...I forget to do that !!

We did eat these as I mentioned in the linked post, simply because I thought these large bulls would hinder the spawn by bullying smaller fish...maybe my fertilizer plans this year will remedy the low supply of 3-5" fish.

I hand feed AQMX 600 each evening about 30 minutes before sunset. I am up to about 3 lbs each day, but I believe I need to go higher as that is gone in about 8-9 minutes. The feed trained LMB are getting pig-ish ahead of the spawn.

I am seeing many more CNBG that are equal to or bigger than these feeding very heavily when water > 68F. I never thought about tracking CNBG growth (just quantity), but will now each time one is caught and released.

Also plan to harveset all small LMB that we catch, which should help keep the mid-sized fish count up.

The mth prior to spawning is IMO the most important time to feed because of the marked need for increased nutrition. Keep in mind that in locations where BG spawn several times a year that this period can run from Feb to Oct. Plus the first part of this period usually coincides with water temps ( 60-75 F) that produce maximum feeding , growth and metabolism.

Jeez Todd, those fish look great!

Here are some pics of males isolated today, fish that originally were obtained from pure Florida stockes. I love the orange and white tipped tails combined with copper banding and other color combinations of these pure CNBG.

Wow! Those are beautiful!

Todd, I gave you a plug at http://www.bigbluegill.com/profiles/blogs/todd-overtons-big-coppernose

Todd. those are the best photos of "pure" Florida CNBG I have ever seen.
Absolutely beautiful....

That last BG has the fewest sidebands I've ever seen.

Does fewer vertical bars mean anything to you Theo? I've heard that pure coppernose have fewer and more distinct vertical bars.

That is certainly the case with these OTS CNBG.

BUMP...
Todd - Eric - Aaron - Archer - Anyone?

30 September, 2009

This thread covers the question in detail. Todd is right about less bars. They are not however always visible. See this thread above for pics and this pic





http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthread...e45a7#Post66844

Here’s a couple of OTS CNBG from yesterday’s fishin’.

They were pale and white when they came out of cold deep water but when left in live well for a while the color returned.
They had cream edged tail fins and brighter color but faded before pictures taken.

Increased feed so hope for a12 incher this spring

They're either growing really fast for you, george, or that scale is in centimeters. The bottom one doesn't look any more mature than a 5" BG!

Theo, you took the words out of my mouth. Tiny head for the length. Very young.

Agreed, my first reaction was that fish has alot of growing left to do!

Yep not grown yet. Should have some data on mine in a week or so.

OK, time to bring this thread back to life:
Today’s CNBG – couldn’t hit 11 inches today but a 12 incher has to be hiding out somwhere.
Wore them out today – hate to tell how many we caught!
Many 9-10 inchers!!!

Those sure are some nice looking fish. I may just have to stock a few just to see if any can adapt to my climate.

Now if we have a winter like last year, they will all die, but that was not the norm.

Thanks for the pics.

Can you say obese !! I need to get some pics of your grandbabies.

George, did you go out fishing after I left you yesterday? Nice fish!!

Scott, you left our house Wednesdy after pigging out on Tex-Mex, remember? You had me salivating over the 12 inch CNBG you caught on your friends lake so we had to make it to the ponds yesterday.
What a day!

We caught big CNBG on almost every cast but no 12 inchers.
Don't think we will - ours get wider and broader when they get 10-11 inches. 9+ inch CNBG were hitting a pound and 10 inchers were 1 1/4+ !!!

George, that's right, I still hadn't been to bed when I posted it. It was today when I posted, but it was thurs in my mind.

Great looking fish! The rain followed me home, it's drizzling out now and in the 40's. Yuck.

Thanks for showing me how to tie the flies. I have "dig out your fly tying supplies" on todays to-do list.

George those pics are just plain awesome. Thanks for sharing, and going to the trouble to document, for the sake of all.

Todd here is one of George and your grandbabies at 1 year. Beautiful fish.

Hey guys, help me out on this – full moon – CNBG spawning time, right?
Why were we catching big males and only one big female?
Were the bigger males chasing off the ones we caught and the big females are on the beds?

We tossed all the small females.

George, I don't know about CNBG, but here with BG the Males stay on the nest and the females are usually caught in deeper water just off the nest colony before they drop their eggs.

Dang Ewest, Nice Fish! Can I use the pic?

Sure you can use it.

Thanks Ewest I'll add that pic to the website, and will be posting some pics of pure CNBG broodstock that will be stocking out this year for reproduction. Very excited about these.

George, reviving a thread here, but what's the current status of these fish? Todd has these listed under genetics on his site, but there's not a different designation for them on the price sheet.

Am I to assume that all his CNBG are now OTS strain, or is a question for Todd?

I guess what I'm asking your opinion on is, are these still a preferred fish and are you still happy with the results?

Al, if you have Overton's CNBG, you have some of OTS best genetics in this part of the country. IIRC the name came from Eric's and my fun naming "Overton Texas Strain" or Erics's "Over the Top Strin" CNBG.

They are the result of pure Florida CNBG that I donated to Overton that were imported directly from Florida, combined with his pure Florida broodstock CNBG that were caught in Florida and brught to Todd's fish farm.

Eric has posted photos of some of his CNBG - they are giants!!
All of my CNBG are out of this broodstock - I stocked 100, 6+ inch mostly male first generations spawn - yeah -I'm happy!!!

Fair enough. I've fished for LMB my whole life, and for some reason CNBG suddenly intrigue me. Maybe it's the 2 small money pits (ponds) I've been working on, but the appeal is much higher for them right now than my "trophy" pets. It seems like all I do is cull small LMB because I need to, but get excited when a huge CNBG hits my lure.

As always, thanks.

Al, I know you for an old hand Lake Fork bass fisherman but I see you on the road to recovery…

Same as you – fished for LMB my whole life – remember to this very day the first bass I caught some 80 (yes 80) years ago …..I was about 7 years old fishing for “purch” with worms and a cane pole – ran out of bait and picked a berry blossom and put in on my hook – caught my first bass – guess I was the one hooked.

After fishing Lake Fork on all three rises, Fairfield, Monticello. Welch and Broken Bow, I got bored with bass fishing and discovered catching Texoma stripers a lot more fun – wore out three boats and 5 motors in 20 years.

Then I discovered HSB in ponds were the most fun of all – don’t match the excitement of a big bass tail walking bass but will outfight them any day of the week.

Fly fishing is fun – just the challenge I guess – every fish I have ever caught from our main pond has been on a fly rod – my wife is a better fly fisher than I ..
Only spin tackle occasional use in small pond to transfer fish to main pond.

My first love has become CNBG –
“but get excited when a huge CNBG hits my (fly) lure”.
George

I'm right there with you George, and all that sounds very familiar. LMB have almost become a bigger, badder, testosterone thing, and it's wearing me out.

For those of you that frequent Texas Fishing Forum, a Camelot Bell thread just got pulled after getting really ugly. The cost, and even merit of trophy bass produced in an controlled environment really brought out anger in a surprising amount of posters. A simple thread on the cost for a trip there became a chest bumping contest of who's skills were the greatest. Nobody here seems to rant and rave when they find out Bruce Condello has 2 lb CNBG. All anybody wants to know is how they can do it too.

So to me, growing them, i.e., trophy CNBG, is actually better than having them. If I do, it means I've got a healthy pond, and I'm doing things right.

Maybe even someday there will be a Bluegill Pro Shop, but I doubt it, and that's fine with me.

Bluegill Pro Shop.... I like the sound of that....

They are absolutely gorgeous CNBG with very good growth potential. I might clean up an old small pond around here and stock OTS CNBG and SMB and HSB with FH and TShad and see what happens.

Don't tell Mrs. G that!

Yes, AL, we still are selecting and growing OTS strain coppernose bluegill on the farm. We select our best males every year and cross them with young pregnant females. We aren't breeding selectively for monster fish (although that program is likely in our future) like Condello, however, we are breeding for pure genetics. Our goal is to produce a bloodline that breeds true year after year, and matures at small size, to be exceptionally prolific as coppernose bluegill should be. Fortunately they also grow large, as coppernose bluegill should under the right conditions.

We ran into a new situation this year, however, with supplies of our OTS strain. It was a challenge for us to have in stock the hundreds of thousands of bluegill that were needed to restock across the state after recovering from the historic drought conditions. Plus we ourselves were negatively affected by the drought, which put a damper on our 2011 production. This year we contracted with a producer who was able to provide us with some of the best coppernose bluegill I've ever seen (aside from my own OTS strain) in order to fill gaps in my supply. I was hesitant to do this, so I examined these fish closely before offering them to my customers. They display the copper banding and definite yellow tipping on the caudal fin. Without a trained eye you will likely not be able to tell these from our OTS genetics.

So if you purchased Coppernose Bluegill from us this year then YES they were good coppernose genetics, but may or may not have been our OTS strain. I want to make it very clear that I make it a point to be honest with my clientele. So if you ask then I will tell you what they are, and if you request OTS only, then that will be what you get.

Todd, thanks for the honest update. Momma and I always make a Spring trip to you for our Tilapia and whatever else she thinks is pretty, which is usually another thousand CNBG.

I've posted before about my CNBG brood pond, and they are all your fish. Although it has been a work in progress, your fish have been as they always have been, great.

I may be wrong, but I'm not as concerned with genetics as I am quality, and there's no question about the quality of your fish.

See you again next Spring.

Todd when are you going to get some more of George's babies ?

I improved on them and going to reintroduce some back into George's pond this Fall!. I can't wait to get some pics of them. Gonna feed em good this summer.

"Figured you would appreciate this mount"

Todd, thanks for your permission to post fantastic photo - had to share!!!
Photobucket turned photo sideways.... but you know......
Neat mount!!!

Did they both come from Todd's place?

Todd said: "The cnbg is just a generic replica but the colors are coppernose."
Betcha the otter was "home grown" - Todd?

He otter not have gotten in Todd's fish vat. A fatal mistake.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=79900&page=1

Todd please repost the pics to the linked thread.

Well, we done the deal yesterday ....

Here’s a couple of photos of their one year old daddies…





Picures below ar YOY 6 month old OTS CNBG stockers that came back home to roost…
Results of best of the best 3 year Overton CNBG breeding program.

OK, Al (FireIsHot) and Brian (Highflyer) have joined our OTS CNBG club, and I have been fortunate to be an observer to the stocking of the latest “best of the best” crop of Overton’s latest spawn – a selective five year+ rogram of pure CNBG genetics

By virtue of geography and having a couple of very good friends, they are permitting me the courtesy of following the progress of their program.

The photo below is the first seine of Overton’s OTS CNBG brood pond, being the top graded fish:



These fish may be siblings of my OTS CNBG that I caught this week from our pond that was stocked late 2012, dependent on early/late spawn:



Photos below are Brian and Al’s virgin brood/ forage ponds:


[IMG]





Any or all of recipients of OTS CNBG jump in and enjoy the fun and keep this thread going – we have some outstanding PB members and we need company!

George, who once thought BG was just “bait”…

Here is one of George grandbabies at 1 year. Beautiful fish.



More pics later. BTW I need some more of these.

Perfect confirmatiion of OTS CNBG!

Here you go George. This one has to be from those I got from Todd last year, so I'm putting him at 13-15 months. Was a little over 10", and weighed 20oz. I caught several at 6-8", so I'm assuming they were from last year's spawn. They had the same conformation markings.

Water's pretty clear right now so as best I can tell, I now have 3 distinct strains of CNBG in my puddle. Along with the OTS, I have a more pure Florida strain with classic markings, and then the occasional SF/CNBG mutt.

Al, perfect confirmatin of OTS CNBG!
Copper head.
Few vertical stripes.
Pearl tail tipping.
Red tint tail (I am told.. )

I can spot an OTS CNBG from twenty paces - you got 'em my friend!
G/

Had so much fun catching big OTS CNBG this weekend thought I would revive this old thread.

To review the characteristics that confirm the Overton Texas strain, photos below are yesterday's Male and Female OTS CNBG.

Male OTS CNBG


Female OTS CNBG

Both of those fish have a very vibrant, young look to them. There appears to be a lot of remaining up-side to their growth potential. Thanks for the great photos.

I agree, very immature.
Best guess - female CNBG is one yeat old and male late spawn 2012.
Thanks much!
George

I've heard lots about the OTS CNBG here. What separates them from "ordinary" CNBG? Do they grow faster, get bigger, eat more aggressively? Is their genetic profile superior?

Sorry if this question has been answered before, I'm just curious.

PS Gorgeous pics.

The OTS CNBG is a special strain of pure Florida genetics developed by Overton Fisheries in Buffalo Texas.
To the best of my knowledge Overton Fisheries and Tyler Fish Farm are the only two hatchery/fish farms producing pure strain CNBG in this part of the country.

I have been fortunate to have participated in this program for some 6 years by donating one original pure CNBG strain to Overton’s pure brood stock that were brought directly from Florida. Todd Overton is an outstanding TAMU graduate fisheries biologist and has selected brood stock each year to produce desired characteristics chosen for body shape and specific color/markings.

OTS CNBG differ from ”ordinary” CNBG that are imported from
Arkansas by fish trucks and often questionable genetics.
IMO Overton’s special CNBG strain are the faster growing with superior shape and special markings

I believe that growth potential of any fish species is largely controlled by environmental conditions as well as aggressive feeding program.

I lost some of my largest specimens in a bad fish kill in 2011 when our 2 acre pond shrunk to 1 acre during our record heat wave and drought conditions. We restocked with some special specimens and now recovering with some really outstanding fish that we are xcited about.
Love OTS CNBG!

Maybe Todd will jump in and comment on this years crop - they are in such demand that he often sell out early.
I have no business connection with Overton - just a satisfied customer.
George Glazener

Thanks, George. I'm in the planning stages for my hoped for (but long delayed) pond and am trying to soak up as much info as possible. This helps, I want a pond full of big, eager CNBG to get my young grandkids hooked on fishing!

Thanks for posting those pics of such beautiful coppernose specimens George! We haven't selected our broodstock 2014 OTS production yet but we will try to get some pics of those specimens for this thread. Nice work.

Here's an OTS Momma caught this afternoon.

He has the white tipping and vertical markings I see in Todd's fish. It gets much easier to identify them after side by side comparisons with other CNBG. Mine tend to be a little darker than George's because of my clear water.

Beautiful fish Al and George!


I realize that I may be exposed to bluegills a bit more than what is generally regarded as the norm, but has anyone else seen the photos of the coppernose coming out of some California lakes?

Quite distinct looking, and very large.

Nice work Al and George - beautiful OTS CNBG !

Bumping OTS CNBG thread to show relationship of length vs. width:

Eric's one year old pure OTS CNBG


FireIsHot OTS CNBG


Here's one of mine


Overton's CNBG

George
Beautiful fish!! That's what I have to look forward to! That's what we put in our pond also. Wow can't wait!

Firelshot, in your post and picture above:

"Here's an OTS Momma caught this afternoon.

He has the white tipping and vertical markings I see in Todd's fish. It gets much easier to identify them after side by side comparisons with other CNBG. Mine tend to be a little darker than George's because of my clear water. "

Is that a female?

I'm a NOOB at sexing BG and need help along the way.

Thanks

Oops, I think I figured out what I did wrong. Momma refers to the person who caught the fish, not the expression that it was an 'OTS Momma'

I see the He came later in the post indicating you know it is a male fish.

Sorry about the mixup

Those of us from the north of the US aren't allowed to call anyone a 'momma' unless it truly is our mother (too many racial overtones in our neck of the woods even if it is meant as a loving term) I think it is more common to use the term in the south? Thus I misread the post.

I like the 'momma' reference for one's wife better than what I often hear around here (the old lady, or even worse, THE WIFE, as if she is property.., or THE MISSUS, as if her only defining characteristic is that she is female...)

CC, that's a male.

He's got the black scale tipping, the heavy brow(helmet), elongated ear tab, heavy chin, and just a bigger CNBG than most females.

I thought, but confirmed with Todd this week, that CNBG females will also have a yellow tint to the pectoral fins and chest area when they're ready to get ready. Not fin tipping like a HBG, just the actual coloring itself.

Also put me in the noob category. I'm trying to learn to sex CNBG at a smaller size, but it just takes time. Most of the pics posted here are of larger BG, so a side by side comparison of smaller fish is working for me. The problem is my larger CNBG are more aggressive, so it's hard to catch the smaller ones.

Momma EDIT: I forget sometimes about regional language differences. Yes CC, the Momma reference was to my current wife.

Awww!!!