Great site... glad I came across it. My son and I fished a neighborhood retention pond last Sunday for a couple of hours. Pond might be 2 acres in size. We caught bluegill after bluegill and everyone 8"-9". We have been back a couple of more times and have probably caught 100 of these big blue gill over the course of a week. I find it very odd that NOT ONE SINGLE blue gill was under 8". I'm baffled that we have never caught a small bluegill and am concerned that their offspring is non-existant? Other fish caught we 3 10" crappie and some largemouth bass (8"-12"). Had one larger bass that took out drag and got off (guessing a 3-4 lb).
Curious to hear any thoughts on the bluegill all being slabs and what we should/should not be doing on this pond. I love the big gill and crappie, but don't want to fish it out.
Do you have any pics of these fish? Is there a chance they could be hybrid bluegill, which have very limited reproduction?
"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"
If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1) And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1) Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT? PB answer: It depends.
Yep, Northern Bluegill.. nice ones, too. How old is this pond? Like Omaha, I'm curious as to the amount of vegetation present. Sometimes, these retention ponds act as neighborhood catch basins, and are are weed heavy due to fertilizer runoff from lawns.
On the other hand, they are often the first BOW to be treated for excessive weed growth, due to asthetic concerns. If there is no vegetation present, and a healthy population of Bass, that might be a factor in why you didn't catch smaller Bluegill.
"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"
If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1) And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1) Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT? PB answer: It depends.
Overcrowded largemouth bass and crappie lend to growing giant bluegills. Limited survival of young fish of any species leads to giant, similar-sized bluegills like these. Probably took three to four years for it to happen this way.
Teach a man to grow fish... He can teach to catch fish...
LMB look the way they should. Body shape and head are good. Just small in quantity. Only caught 6 and they ranged from 8"-12". Put a small boat on this water yesterday and took my underwater camera. 10 feet deep over 80% of water. Bottom is clay, sand, mud combination. Very little vegetation on flat bottom. All vegetation is 15 feet from shore on the drop offs. Saw bluegills in deep water but nothing else. Strange BOW. 8"-9" bluegill in abundance, 10"-11" crappie sporadic, and small LMB sporadic too.
Clear water (vis 6-10ft) results in very low productivity, resulting in low fish biomass per acre, resulting in a lower allowable harvest rate per year to maintain a similar balance of species and size structure. Harvast rate per acre will depend on water clarity and productivity. A good angler haphazardly harvesting fish in a relatively small body of water (BOW), especially clear water, can easily put a good fishery out of balance.
Usually the often stated safe harvest rate per acre is 25%-35% of the existing fish biomass present (usu for each species). Determining the biomass (standing crop) is often the difficult part of the equation. In my experience one can very easily over estimate the existing fish biomass of a pond. In some fisheries with special goals all fish of one species are harvested to achieve a better balance.
One has to also consider the availability or presence of younger individuals (recruitment) to fill the 'gap' or take the place of harvested fish. Lack of smaller BG as noted above suggests the fish harvest should be done slowly (during the course of the year) and/or gradually if ones goal is to maintain the current 'balance'.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 11/06/1102:10 PM.
aka Pond Doctor & Dr. Perca Read Pond Boss Magazine - America's Journal of Pond Management
Bill, this is very interesting. I've had my mind on "other things pond".I've noticed in times past, when encountering high clarity water, one would suppose you'd see all kinds of fish, without the aid of goggles. But so many times, no fish were able to be seen. Forgive me for thinking aloud here.Probably the reason is because the numbers of fish were very low, due to no plankton, causing the majority of hatchlings to starve. And the ones that do survive the early days are soon easily eaten by the predators, thus little to no recruitement?
I wonder if I might have a bit of this problem. I made a secchi disk out of a worm container lid. It's aproximately 3 1/2 inches in diam.and white. I stuck it on the tip of a fishing pole, and am able to see it at 5' fairly easily.
I dont mean to hijack this thread, but the water clarity has me wondering.
Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will sit in a boat and drink beer.
Im thinking of dropping some structure (christmas trees piles) in 2-3 places on this pond. Too much open space in the 10ft area? I'd like to provide some hiding places. Anything negative on this tactic?
The more artificial structure the better in a clear water pond. Under water structure does grow some fish food items (periphyton & associated invertebrates)thus not only providing cover but also some added productivity. Artificial structure does not provide as good of habitat as submerged weed beds but artificial sructure is better than nothing. PBoss member photos have shown that Christmas trees have ony a few years life span as good habitat before decompostion gradually converts the tree to a basic trunk and largest branches. See how Christmas tree branches break down over time in the Ewest's Archive on Structure Link below.
J.Bryan's thoughts about clear water and fish biomass are essentially correct. Clear water is not very productive water thus resulting in lower naturally produced fish biomass. More Plankton does result in more pounds of fish per acre. The biggest benefit to the fish to boost biomass in clear water is pellet feeding.
When evaluating water clarity and fish biomass it is important to know if the reduced water clarity is due to primarily phyto and zooplankton or detritus and suspended silt/clay. Low visibility due to silt/soil particles is unproductive and hampers plankton growth due to shading effecs and thus limits fish biomass. Cloudy water is not always productive water.
I apologize in advance if i offend you or if this isn't the case, but do you have permission to fish this pond and keep Everything you catch? Does the owner know you are keeping That Many fish? The reason im asking is because i had a big problem with people poaching my fish before i lived where my new pond is, and it was enough for me to want to do bodily harm on someone, all the money and time i spent for my family and people were stealing them from us. Hope that's not your situation, but for that good of bluegill fishery seems to me that someone is trying to at least manage it a little.
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