Hello forum. I have decided to manage my 2.5ac pond for trophy BG..I stocked 3000 FH minnows, 800 2-3 cnbg and 200 redear back in november. I stocked light for forage reasons and i hope to get a couple hundred condello BG when he has them. im located in deep south texas so i have a year round growing season, so i have been feeding all winter.. i have never seen a BG eat any of the feed (AM gamechow)but my gambusia and mexican tetras can eat 2-3 lbs in less than 5 min..in fact there were so many gambusia in the pond that i went ahead and stocked 150 4"-6" f1 hybrid bass and 75 adult CNBG on Fri. so now u know the history, is it a problem that the BG are not eating the feed? i assume they have so much natural forage there not interested in the feed? am i correct? i was told by the biologist that in my area i should have 2-3 lb bass in the first yr, so when should i start culling the 14+ bass. should i wait till they have spawned at least once, even if there already more than 14"? trophy Bluegill are my #1 priority. thanks for the help guys.
For trophy gills, you want an abundant, overpopulation of Bass. You WANT skinny stunted bass in a trophy bluegill pond to allow only the healthiest, strongest, fastest growing gills to survive. You won't want to remove smaller Bass, but you may want to remove the occasional bigger bass...You may even want to add an additional 100-150 LMB to your stocking plan now.
You might try changing feeding locations. Go hunt where the fish want to be instead of where you want them to be.
I caught 2 huge bluegills on a lizard with a 3/0 hook in my pond last weekend. When fishing they are constantly tugging on my lures. I feel like I have more of these giants than I used to. Do these guys feed on young bluegills and compete with the bass?
Sure, everything in the pond eats anything they can catch and will fit in their mouth.
99+% of the fish eggs, hatched, and grown gets eaten. It's natures way.
LWJ Make sure to read the latest issue of Pond Boss Magazine. Great story on this very topic of growing trophy bluegill.
I live in Southeast idaho and have some questions about bluegills. Will they survive the winters up here.
Welcome Brett to PB and that is a good question. . BG survive in eastern Canada - In Lake Opinicon, Ontario (44°16′N, 76°30′W) so that is a place to start the investigation. They also survive in South Dakota.
http://publish.uwo.ca/~bneff/papers.htm
23. Neff BD, LM Cargnelli, and IM Côté. 2004. Solitary nesting as an alternative breeding tactic in colonial nesting bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 56:381-387. [PDF]