Identifying hybrid blue gill - 07/24/05 05:07 AM
Can anyone give me a sure fire way to tell a hybrid BG from a regular one? My pond was stocked 3 years ago with the hybrids. I thought it was a good idea at the time and still am happy with it but I'm wary of some of the warnings you all have discussed about them all reverting back to sunfish and bluegill and overpopulating. The majority of my BG in the pond are 7 to 9 inches long. Just started to catch some 3 to 4 inchers. I figure these have got to be offspring even though the hybrid population is supposed to be mostly male and of the 150 fish I've taken out and eaten I have yet to find a female. The confusing thing is that the little ones look exactly like the big ones. They have very dark black with brightly colored blue spots and stripes and orange bellies. The lower fins, pectoral and anal (correct terms?) have bright white on the edges. None of them look like a regular bluegill or sunfish to me. Can the offspring be hybrid? I know that theoretically some offspring should revert back. If I could tell what the small one are I'd cull out the ones that revert.