I will probably be building a 2 acre pond this summer, and my land has a couple of really old small ponds which cattle used. I am wondering if it would make sense to try to raise my own bluegill to stock in the new pond this fall.

The larger of the two old ponds is about 1/3 acre and perhaps only 3-4 feet deep max. Quite a bit of the pond is very shallow. It gets mostly covered by lotus in the summer. I have tossed in leftover minnows from fishing in the past, and some recently fishing proves it has green sunfish in it.

I am thinking:
1) drain the pond and kill off all the fish. probably kill at least half of the lotus too
2) I have a track hoe coming to dig test holes for the new pond, I would have him dig out a trench/build a peninsula jutting out into the old pond for trapping fish.
3) after it starts filling back up, bucket stock it with 20-30? large adult bluegill from ponds I have access to.

Would it be in reason to expect to be able to seine out 1000 young bluegill this fall? The pond does not have large watershed - there is a risk of it taking too long to re-fill to stock the breeder BG.

After raising BG, I would start over again and raise FHM for annual occasionally feeding fish in the new pond.

pic of the pond as of this weekend:

Here's the smaller pond. Its really silted in bad, with the max depth maybe 1-2 feet. I don't think there is any fish in it as I have not seen any and it might have gone dry in the drought of 2012. I could have the track hoe dip out a bit of it, but it would be a long trip to the back of the farm to get there. Perhaps it could be a FHM pond?

If you kill off the pond and it refills in time for the adult BG stocking, IMO you will have no problem having well over 1000 small BG available. With all the vegetation I see in the pics, I would worry that trying to seine will be a tough road unless you remove almost all of it, not just some, during your drain down/renovation..

One concern. Stocking anything without a predator can cause over population and resulting O2 problems. I've learned that the hard way.

Thanks Gents!

Bill - any thoughts on what digging the track hoe could do to facilitate seining or trapping bluegill? Perhaps and "L" shape to run the fish into then seine?

Dave - are you thinking the bluegill could overpopulate the pond in 6 months to the point of a DO issue? I can't justify an aeration system - this is only a short term project to stock a larger pond to be built.

Another question; using a siphon to drain the pond, I understand the ball valve at the outlet behind the dam, and the cleanout on top of the dam to fill the pipe with water. What are people using to hold the water in the pond side of the dam? A one way valve seems reasonable, but I wonder if it hurts the flow rate, or is prone to clogging. I'll have a homemade screen over the inlet.

1/3 acre might not be a problem if you manage it by periodic seining. I have a 1/4 acre pond that I once ignored for a couple of years. I did get an O2 crash in it. Now I lightly seine it every spring.

You don't need a cap over the inlet pipe, or a one way valve. The siphon will start ok if the outlet side is nearly twice as long as the inlet side or longer, and lower than the pond level. The water running out the outlet when you open the valve will create suction and draw water up and out of the pond.

Thanks John!

After a trip to HD for pipe and supplies, I set up a 2" siphon and managed lower the water level by 13" in 44 hours. Only 2" pipe since cost escalated rapidly the larger you go. I'm a 1.5 hour drive away so it can just run till she sucks air. If you look close you can see the white PVC going into the pond.

As John noted, I did not need to worry about having a one-way valve on the inlet. I had plenty of down-slope pipe to pull all the air on out.

Here's a picture of the inlet I rigged up. Sanded a radius on the pipe for smooth flow, covered with a wire mesh and a top plate to keep the air from getting sucked down a vortex.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/EyBy04p.jpg?1[/img]

doh! not sure why its not displaying the photo...

Made a trip to the farm and the siphon had done its job. However there was a bit more water than I wanted - should have had another 10' going into the pond. But I was there and so I built a trail of pallets to get to the water and flung 50 lbs of hydrated lime into it. Was a bit disappointed I didn't see dead fish floating with an hour. So may need to re-do the liming.

How long does getting the pH to 11 take to kill fish? Or what can I expect to see? gasping fish withing xx hours? There were plenty of GBH tracks in the mud so I expect they will eat the dead fish and I wont see anything on the next trip up.

After killing the WCP, GSF, and GSH in the pond I was bit concerned it would take a long time to re-fill since is has a very small watershed. Well a 6" rain over a weekend took care of that!

Yesterday I caught and "bucket stocked" 15 male and 17 female adult bluegill from my in-laws lake. We'll see if they can do what bluegill do and give me a thousand or so little ones this fall:

Keep us posted on how this goes. My bet is lots more than 1000 baby bg. Good luck.

I put 18 adult BG in my pond and by Sept I had easy 600, or so. who knows how many where in open water that I didnt see!

A little late to ask, but did you analyze each bucket-stocked gill to make sure it wasn't a covert GSF waiting to "breed-out?"

I only ask because my family pond in southeast Missouri was bucket stocked a good while back and we fight the good fight of GSF control on a yearly basis. No one knew we stocked a hybrid or two until GSF started being caught.

Absolutely. I spent some effort at eradicating the GSF from this pond and sure didn't want to restock them or a hybrid. The "bucket stock" bluegill came from a 3 acre family pond about an hour north that was never stocked with hybrids nor have I ever caught a GSF from. All 55 stocked fish were 8+ inch adults. Over half were male from what I could tell. The American Lotus is up and its time to start spraying some of it.

That said, GSF can find their way into about any pond, so I would not be surprised if they eventually get back into this pond. I will not blame my stocking.

Just ordered 8" PCV pipe for the spillway of a new pond last night, so the wheels are in motion for construction in August.

Update:

Its been two months since adult bluegill were place in the pond. I have not be able to spot any nests or little fish yet, but the pond is mostly covered with lotus. I had sprayed a little as a test but decided I did not want a herbicide to effect the bluegill spawn as it is priority.

I am doing similar although starting late as filling a couple ponds now. My ponds are either 0.25 acre or 0.10 acre. Broodstock density also lower with on average only to pairs per pond. By late October I expect at least a couple thousand bluegill pushing 2" per pond. Stocking this late increases odds only one cohort produced per pond thus reducing size variation at harvest. Need only one spawn per pond to make that happen.

Here's a recent pic of the bluegill pond, with the clearing started in the background for my new pond.

After seeing your pic, why not take a garden rake and push some of your cover back and look under it? I bet you'll see them. What does the bottom look like in that pond? Mine is gravely so its pretty easy to see the places where they clean. Just a thought

Minnow trap would also work, especially a night set. In clearish water I put down a piece of white plastic to bottom and watch for fish to swim over it. When serious and looking for larvae it works to get in with goggles and move the white plastic in front of your face at arm's reach. Sometimes you have to look closer to bottom when water really clear.

@Redonthehead, where in Missouri are you located.

I live in Springfield, but land is up in Henry county. The white plastic background is a good idea, but doubt I'll try the goggles!

If I do get a good hatch, I'll have to build a number of cloverleaf minnow traps - a net is not gonna work in this jungle.

some little rock, but mostly mud bottom. I suspect it had cattle in it for 50+ years.

By now your first spawns should be pushing 1.5".

I am near Jefferson City (Lincoln University Aquaculture Facility).

To get the YOY bluegill to 2" by late October, what and how much are you feeding? What length are the Bluegills when you change feed size (and possibly feed recipe/ingredients)?

I'm assuming hatching around Aug. 1st, that's approximately 90 days of growth.

BioVita Starter until they are about 1.25", then go straight to 1.5 mm pellets. Feed applied with 12-h belt-feeder. It is much easier to do when late season plankton bloom is supported by a breakdown of flooded plants. You also have only one cohort going after that bloom. Under optimal conditions I can get them to 3" by 90 days post-hatch.

Thanks!!! Do you start with #0, then go to #1 and then to #2? If so, how long do you keep them at each food size? I have a clockwork belt feeder.

In a pond setting I would start with number one. That also works in a tank setting. Number 2 I would not even waste time with in a pond setting as natural forages should still be helping them along. The 1" fry will peck at the 1.5 mm just fine. Logic based in part on you will not be able to use all the smaller feed size before they grow beyond it.

Belt-feeder better than hand feeding to be sure. If possible make so feed falls down into partially shaded area with feed ring around it. The crumble will sink but the 1.5 will tend to float away from where the fish feed.

Thank you. Those things that you said are possible to do.

I know the game very well concerning feed availability and storage. If feed in good shape when purchased, excess can be stored over winter in freezer and still be good. When I make purchases of the starters, on bag of #1,two bags of #2 and five bags of 1.5. They eat less than a quarter of the #1, most of #2 and all of the 1.5 mm. Extra #1 and #2 used to make dough balls or even run through a meat grinder to make pellets big enough for adults.

I have a 10' dia, 3' deep Intex swimming pool that I have a couple thousand 1" bluegills in. I'm aerating the water (5 2"x12" air stones with a regen blower) and circulating water from the pond through the swimming pool and back out. I think I can get them to grow an inch or two before the middle of October.

I was hand feeding 2x day with Optimal #2 Starter Crumble but I'll set up the belt feeder.

You be able to get on the high side of that. I would belt-feed during most of the day then top off by hand-feeding in the evening.

Thanks!!

Any update on this?