I've noticed some big swarms of bluegill fry in my pond this week.

Curious how late season spawned bluegill fry will survive as the water cools and vegetation dies off. Would think they would have a tough time.

It depends ! Up north cold and lack of food will cause most to starve. South the predators are still active and most BG get eaten. A very small % of BG yoy survive but it can still be a lot in #s.

Update: we had a pretty mild winter and it seems that a lot of BG fry survived. They seem to be growing a bit over last few weeks.

I, too, have more 1/2" to 1" young (HBG) present in my pond this spring. I experienced much less ice over this year with much thinner ice compared to last year. And, I had an ubundant amount of bullfrog tadpoles overwinter in my pond too. I would have thought that the presence of many (maybe 40) mostly 2-3 pound HSB and no appreciable cover for the smaller fish that they would have been winter snacks.

Fry are very small and often not worth the energy used to catch them for mid-sized predators (2 lb LMB and HSB). As the fry turn into small fish (1 inch +) the predators will do their work.