Building my dam is putting a crunch on my cash budget. I would like some advice on stocking a 10 acre lake with adult bluegill by transporting them from nearby lakes. My stocking project won't start until June, mother nature permitting. I would like to build up a huge forage base before introducing bass/cats mid to late 2004. Can I get the pro's and cons on this idea ? Also, can anyone assist with pictures to distinguish between hybrid and native bluegill ?

Eastland,

Have you considered stocking small 1-2 inch bluegill? they are far less expensive than larger fish. based on your post you are willing to wait until 2004 until stocking bass. If you stock this year with small bluegill they will have more than enough time to grow to a size large enough for spawning by next June. If you want insurance you can feed the bluegill all summer. they will be ripe an ready for bass stocking next year.

Stocking adult bluegill this year will create a situation where they will begin spawning this year. Depending on the numbers of fish you stock you could have a severely crowded bluegill population by next summer. When fish become crowded they stop growing, get diseases and could possibly die.

on the other hand, you may not be able to catch enough large bluegill to transport to your lake. when stocking larger fish I like to stock 250 bluegill per acre. at that rate you would need 2500 fish for a 10 acre pond thats a ton of fishing with hook and line.

when stocking smaller (1-2 inch) bluegill I usually stock 400 per acre.

If your fertilizing you can double those numbers. To keep cost down dont fertilize the pond until you have stocked all your fish. Its OK to wait until your fish population is established before fertilizing but do not start fertilizing and then stop.

I have no pics of hybrid BG as I never stock them.

hope this helps

Eastland, I'd think twice about getting adult fish from area lakes. I read an article in the Fort Worth Star Telegram a couple of days ago about the golden algae infestation in Lake Granbury. For those who aren't familiar with it, Granbury is on the Brazos River and just downstream for Possum Kingdom Lake which is somewhat close to Eastland. Lake PK game fish, bass stripers, etc, were pretty well wiped out the last couple of years by golden algae.

The article says:
"Lake is currently experiencing a large fish kill caused by golden algae. More than 3 million fish have died during the past 2 months, mostly shad near dam. TPWD is asking all anglers to empty all live wells and bait buckets before leaving any Texas lake to help confine this and other problems. Fish affected are not biting. Fish are congregating deep and at places where a fresh water source flows into lake."

It says the same type of thing about Lake Whitney which is down the river from Granbury.

The point is that this stuff doesn't appear to die out over winter. It stays year to year and might destroy your pond for years to come. The biologists don't yet know how to fight it.

Dave,

good post, I should have mentioned disease issues from other impoundments. A few years back I did some fishing on Lake Fork, all the talk was about largemouth bass virus. How did that turn out?

Shan, We're not hearing much about LMBV these days but its early in the year. It got a lot of big fish at Fork and other lakes and showed up in one state hatchery. However, I read on the TPWD website that some 13+ lb bass were coming out of Fork for the Share A Lunker breeding program. It is my understanding that the State fish biologists are holding their breath for now.

eastland, just noticed your post from april. i too just had to purchase bluegill, not cheap for my 7 acre pond. and it will not be cheap for your 10 acre pond. my advice, i know how muuuuuchcchhhh money i spent on mine, now is not the time to slack on the quality of your fish. do it right the first time with the right fish, even if you have to wait a while to save up some money and get the approval from the lady in the house!!. otherwise it will cost you more in the long run. that's just my personal opinion. good luck, let us know how it turns out. mark

You also might want to consider stocking fathead minows. They'll only last a year or two after bass are stocked but until then they'll spawn like there's no tomorow and really help fatten up your new fingerling and sub-adult bass.

This could also be a good time to work up a population of secondary forage base species like crawdads or shiners.