Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Progress Report on Bardello Bluegills

Wow, that's awesome, Cecil. I will be giving them a call tomorrow. I wonder if they ship the 6" PS? Probably not I would guess but you can bet I'll ask.

Man, 6 bucks for a 6" PS, if the demand was big enough it would be profitable, but NY state with all it's tests would make it prohibitive unless you were a big operation.
The guy I was getting my trout from is done, the state would not work with him on required tests even though his water comes from Artesian springs. That trout farm had been there since the early 1900's.
BIG GOVERNMENT IS THE PROBLEM !!!!!!!

Yeah, their prices are just short of outlandish. But I love the idea of having a pumpkinseed pond with a feeder cranking out pellets for them three times a day.

If the PS ate the pellets, it would be even better.

I did some research a few years ago on the health testing requirements of various states for an article I did for our state Aquaculture Newsletter. Funny thing was New York was really lax when it came to health testing a few years ago.Then when a couple of your lakes tested positive for VHS they turned 180 degrees and went off the deep end. Now they require every test in the book for all species --even species that are not known to be susceptable to a particular disease! It's just crazy to have to have a largemouth bass tested for a disease only trout can get and a trout for a disease only a largemouth bass can get!

And last I heard your state still will not allow the sale of largemouth bass for consumption even if they are raised privately in tanks!

Yes health testing is expensive and the government people that think nothing of making more and more testing required have never run their own business, let alone a fish farm. Even without the health testing that price is not that high if you consider the overhead as in utilities, buildings, labor, taxes etc. one must deal with when running a full-time hatchery or just about any business. When it becomes your living it's not as fun as tinkering like we do. I know a few full-time fish farmers and they all tell me it's not an easy living with lots of risk.

One fish farmer I know had to take another job just to stay in business. Granted he is in Michigan that has been hit very hard by the recession.

See my above post.

They are feed trained I was told.

The guy with the trout farm the state put out of business is a welder, he bought the trout farm about 15 years ago as an addition to his income. He told me he makes 10 to 12 grand on the trout he raised, the state required testing would have cost him 8 grand.
He didn't need to be a math major to figure it out.

Sad but true. Actually if APHIS would have had it's way it may have been triple that cost. They wanted us to not only test fish for VHS they wanted us to test them several times a year if the water source was an "Open source." They even wanted to have a vet come out AGAIN to observe every single load of fish that was leaving the farm even though they had been previously tested VHS free. One trout farmer I know estimated that his annual health costs would have been something like $30,000! Fortunately enough fish farmers spoke up and contacted their congressmen and it's been put on hold.

Does Bruce ship any of his bluegill? I would love to get a few!

Find one of his posts and click the PM option and PM him.. Or maybe even title a post, "Hey Bruce how do I get some of your bluegills!" That should get his attention.

There may be complications as he is selling his property and moving to a new one. Hope you can get some. They are awesome.

If by some chance Bruce can't help you they may be other avenues such as those that have them in their ponds.

Perhaps Bruce should have an inventory liquidation sale. (lame pun intended).