I realize that D.I.E.D. and I are sort of rebels for hanging onto our Green Sunfish but I gotta tell ya they sure are fun to catch.

This specimen was 9.5" long and weighed 11oz. It was a complete blast to catch....



I know that they will compete with LMB and BG on some level but I love to catch them. They fight like demons. Is there a way to manage a LMB, GSF and BG population in a 3 acre pond? I hate to erradicate my Green Sunnies, I'm growing quite fond of them (not in an abnormal way mind you).

So how can I manage to keep these beasties? Any thoughts?

Jeff :

Almost all ponds and their contents can be managed around. In your situation GSF are the dominate sunfish in the pond and are doing very well. That is not the case in most ponds with GSF. I can't imagine anyone here saying get rid of them in your situation. Lets see what others recommend. There are a number of options but they all depend on your goals. Its your pond and your goals -- learn how here but ,do it your way , but most of all enjoy the journey !

Protect your top end predators! Stay LMB heavy if you can. I have seen a GSF lake with outstanding WR's on LMB once the LMB get over 15".

OUTSTANDING Jeff! !

Observing your pic I notice that your fish appear to have very little slope from dorsal fin to mouth (you know BG have those big curvy helmets that Theo admires so much), whereas mine appear to have some degree of curvature in between yours and BG....see couple of pics (fish in 9-11" class)









edited post to restore fish pics above and add a couple recent (5/07) ones:






Maybe its just the way its being held? or maybe my genetics actually mingled with BG sometime long ago? I am remiss for not getting those gape measurements for you Bill.....

edited post..i forgot to add that since most folks manage to rid ponds of GSF, you and I jeff might be the first here to attempt directed mgmt for GSF. this fall I want to add some RES (I am still debating about pure BG), and am very curious if GSF could serve well as the top predator in a lepomis only pond (small pond in my case (~1 acre). I am also still debating whether or not to add a small number of either LMB or spotted next spring.

Also, Bill Cody.....if you see this...(or anybody else)...Jeff's GSF displays a couple of the small growths (warts?) on the pec fin that I asked you about a while back..I had those on the GSF that inhabited my pond years ago (prior to renovation)...what are those?

Jeff,

Looking at my minimum size listed for green sunfish for the private pond record fish website Here:

http://www.ligtel.com/~jjbaird/pprf/pprf.htm

I think 10 inches and 1.0 lbs. may be too large. If I drop the size minimum to 9.5 inches for catch and release are you interested in submitting it? No prizes but your fish and you will be on the website next to infamous Dr. Condello eh?

The wife has promised me she will have time to put Bruce and his fish on the website this weekend.

oh sure cecil, now you're courtin jeff

most of the fish books i have seen report upper limits on GSF as 8-inches, as such, your limits appear high cecil, although, i made your limits w/ some of the ranchpond fish, but they werent my fish, and i'm sure the rancher doesnt want his name on the internet....so i was waiting to catch my own...looks like we are on jeff...good luck.

"not so fast, Pilgrims" as JW would say. Don't start dusting off a spot on the mantel for your CB1 GSF trophy just yet. Down in GA I have a few honkers (big ones) in my BG only pond that might have to be delt with.............. rme

"I'm too broke to pay attention"

May the best man win. This is what I hoped for when I started the site. A friendly revelry (sp?) or bragging board.

Don't hold back though Jeff. You can still get your pic posted until someone betters it.

Small spots of Jeff's GFS appear from a distance to be parasitic and probably grubs. I notice what looks like one or two spots also on the body.

GSF at the the sizes you guys are displaying have a predatory behavior. I once had 8.5"-9.0+ GSF in a cage that were eating smaller GSF that were around 3" long.

I think I see the difference you mention, DIED. It's kind of like your GSF almost have helmets - maybe they're wearing moleskins?

If they were straight BG, I'd say yours are a little higher RW than Jeff's - don't know if this would translate over to GSF or not.

You both have huge GSF, for sure.

Those are some truly superior fish.

Wow, thanks for all the interest and encouragement. I have decided to try and manage the GSF population but being a bean counter and not a fishologist (highly technical scientific term) I'm not quite sure how to go about it. Looks like D.I.E.D. and I will be the GSF mad scientists.

My bass are getting fatter, I caught one last week that was 13 inches and 14 ounces, not great but getting better. Like D.I.E.D. I am considering adding either Blue Gill or Red Ear Sunfish as it appears (based upon the relative weight of my LMB) that I need more forage fish. My pond is 3 acres and contains LMB (largest caught is the 13 incher above), GSF and at least one catfish (unknown species, I just saw it swimming). It is located in Northern California near D.I.E.D. Any suggestions from the experts?

D.I.E.D. I have been trying to contact both the Fisheries in Elk Grove and Placerville to no avail. I want to add either BG or RES (I'll wait for the professional recommendation on this site first) but I think that I need more forage fish. I'll be back up there in Sept, we should get together! Any luck with talking to fish suppliers up there? Interesting observation about the difference in shapes. My GSF are more bass shaped that BG shaped, they are more elongated I guess you could say.

Cecil, I am quite honored to be considered for your site. I have sent you the requisite info.

Rmedgar, Bring it on!!! Just kidding, actually the GSF above it not the biggest I have caught on my pond. I caught a bigger one while kayak fishing but did't measure or weigh it. You can bet I'll measure all of them now! What is the biggest one you have caught so far, I'm curious how big they will get.

Jeff, Haven't measured any yet but I think they are about 9".
As Imentioned earlier, they are in my "BG only" pond and were stocked with the BG about 2 years ago. I feed randomly and they are easy to catch and very aggressive. I'll take my camera when I go to the farm tomorrow. Hope I haven't "bitten off more than I can chew" with you CA guys. If I catch anything worth bragging about, I'll take a picture and post later next week.
Randy

From FishBase

GSF max length 31.0 cm TL (male/unsexed; Ref. 5723); max. published weight: 960 g (Ref. 4699); max. reported age: 5 years

gosh darn it ewest.....ok, for those of us metric challenged....and please correct me if i'm wrong......that would be a max length of 1.017064 feet or 12.2", and a max weight of 2.11644 lbs

Don't forget about the max. reported age of 2,628,000 minutes.......

D.I.E.D. said in his post above about the forehead of Jeff's GSF- ""Maybe its just the way its being held? or maybe my genetics actually mingled with BG sometime long ago?"".

When you look carefully at Jeff's GSF photo, you will notice that the fish is canted away from the camera. You cannot see where the anal fin attaches to the body. Thus it is a DIED suspected the view is not a clear or full side view as those pictured by DIED. If Jeff gets a straight or full side view of his larger GSF I am pretty sure his larger GSF will also display the "helmet" or enlarged nape-forehead.

Additionally I think that Jeff's large GSF is a female and the ones in DIED's photos are males. The females may not have as pronounced of a helmet and the males.