Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Help! Overpopulated Blue gill

Okay I am hoping someone can help me. I dug a pond 8 years ago and its in the shape of an L and is only about 75' wide which is about 1/3 acre big. I have a beach area on one side and in the middle its probably 14 - 16 foot deep because we needed the dirt. I put in probably 250 blue gills 50 LMB and 50 Stripers and now after 8 years all we catch is small blue gills constantly right when you put your hook in. I was thinking about buying a 100' x 10' seine and pulling a lot of blue gill out and throwing back the bass. Do you think this would work since the middle of the pond is so deep they my just swim under the seine in that section of the pond? I was thinking about throwing a bunch of pellets in the beach are right before i start seining it and drag whatever i get into the beach area. Thoughts?

Do you want to manage your pond for large bass or large bluegill?

I just want an even amount. We do like to fish but also do a lot of swimming. No one can catch anything bigger than 3 inches it seems. 3 years ago we use to catch really nice size blue gill and bass. but now we can never catch a bass probably because they have plenty to eat from all the small blue gill. Thats why i am thinking about buying a large seine and getting out a lot of blue gill. maybe take the big ones out and clean and the little ones for tree ferelizer. Thoughts?

I'd worry that if you're not catching ANY LMB or HSB that the problem may be a lack of predation on the BG.....in that situation, no matter how much BG removal you do, unless you fix the underlying imbalance, you'll never get back in balance. BG can breed faster than you can remove them-and they'll get smart pretty quickly, too.

Could you add a few of HSB (they won't reproduce). They should put a dent in the 3" BG population...

I was thinking about seining it and also putting more bass in at the same time. Should I put in Hybrid bass or just LMB? And how many more like 50?

Kwa, I would do your seine survey before adding or removing any fish. You will make better decisions going forward the more you know about the current population dynamics in your pond. From mid July on it is pretty common that catching your top predators gets tough, there is simply a lot of food in the water from all of the spawning that occured in May and June. It could be that your predators and larger gills have also become hook smart too depending on the how much fishing pressure your pond has seen.

So do you think the seine will work with having the middle 14-16 feet deep? Beach area is only like 6 foot at the deepest and thats when it drops off pretty fast to 14 or 16 feel deep.

Agree with Shorty-I think you need for info before making any changes.

It sounds as though much of your pond is too deep, and probably too steep sided, for a seine to do much good, unless you draw it down somewhat. Sometimes that helps and sometimes it just creates a muddy mess.

Can you give a little more history on the fishing in your pond? Was it any better/more varied earlier this year or last fall, do you allow removal of any fish, any possibility of a fish kill over the winter or during the drought last summer...any other factors that might be in play??

I agree with Shorty here. Your pond is not that big and you say you already put 50 LMB in there. Wow that seems like a lot of LMB for a 1/3 acre pond. I can't believe they can't keep up? Bass are eating machines. I bet you have some LARGE bass in there. Shorty is right though. I have a hard time cathing my larger BG this time of year. They will feed and then go right back to hiding and lay low.

Try this once it works! DD1 told me one time to catch a few smaller BG and then fish with them. Just be ready!!

I did this last weekend and I missed 3 large bass that exploded on my BG and caught 2! I put a bobber up the line about 15 inches and hook the BG in the tail behind the dorsal fin and cast him out there and let him start to struggle. You will find out real quick what kind of bass you have in there. I couldn't believe how good that worked and talk about fun having that bass come up and blow up on that BG is soooooo fun.

Here is what I did. I got a 5 gallon bucket filled it up half way with water in my boat. Went out with a small rod and reel and caught about 6 or 7 BG about 2 to 3 inches. I then took a larger rod and reel with a bigger hook and bobber and went bass fishing. All I am saying is just be ready cause when they hit that BG they HAMMER it! A LMB can't resist an easy meal you will catch a couple I bet! Specailly if you have 50 in there!

Oh on a side not if you do stock more to help with your BG issue I would stock LMB as they can eat BG much easier than HSB. Specially 3 or 4 inch BG.

RC

Assess the pond first with the seine and catch data (pics help).

Do you see different year classes (sizes) of LMB ? If not then stunted BG could be keeping the LMB from recruiting to adulthood. As a result as your fist stocked LMB reach life expectancy and die you can end up with no LMB. Not saying that is what happened but only pointing out a possible event that seining and catch data should answer.

One person did catch a striper this year. But its like you can just see lots of blue gill along the shore and people that have fished at my pond all tell me I have to many blue gill in it. We have yet to catch a blue gill this year worth keeping. Once you put your hook in the water you will have 3 inch BG's fighting over it.

The other stiper was floating in my pond this spring.

@ ewest, we haven't caught any LMB in probably 3 or 4 years. We catch a few stripers a year but we throw them back due to too many blue gill. Need to keep every predator i can.

kwa,

have you ever seen any LMB dead or floating in your pond? If you live there next to it I would think out of 50 LMB you would see something dead if they all have died off, just like you found the HSB.

Eric of course had a good point. Even I can't say the last time I seen any smaller 5 or 6 inch bass in my pond. Since I put BG in there they are killing off the LMB population before they get started I think. Couple that with any that do make it 4 or 5 inches and they get ate by a larger LMB and there you go. No smaller bass... Thanks for that tip Eric I was wondering why I have not seem any smaller bass in my pond latley. I bet they can't make it past 1 inch before they get ate!

RC

I dug the pond 8 years ago and put all the same size in at the same time. at year 3 the LMB were around 8 inches and we always threw them back in. I only have taken a few stripers out. The rest were blue gill because that the fish i like to eat. But at the end of year 6 and all of 7 and all of this year (8) i haven't been able to catch really any blue gill worth cleaning.

Oh and RC51 I have never seen a dead LMB. I was just wondering if it was worth spending $700 or so on a seine to check what I have in the pond if some people say i may not have a problem. But again i will have the seine for the furture. I just really wanna know if you guys think it would work seeing how the middle of the pond is deep (14-16')

There's a saying among diehard BG anglers....."Maybe you can't fish down the quantity, but you sure can fish down the quality"..

A 1/3 acre pond isn't all that large when BG are harvested regularly. Especially if the largest specimens, particularly males, are always kept for the table. Returning the largest males to the water is a pretty good plan, as it's one way to help ensure fish reach an acceptable size before maturing. Once a BG becomes sexually mature, it's growth slows WAY down...Having the larger males in place will help prevent this.

Also, what kind of structure, or cover is in this pond, and how much aquatic vegetation is present?

I also think seining is a good idea, but with the kind of depths you're talking about, I'm not sure you would be able to do much good.

Sprkplug.... I only have 1 old xmas tree in the pond. I also have an aregation pump. I always notice green alge on the rocks that are in the water if that helps any.

No other vegetation other than the algae? Do you treat the pond to prevent growth, (since it's a swimming pond also), or has it never grown there? What type of water clarity do you have?

Just wondering how fertile the water is, and if there are weeds present to provide cover for yoy fish.

No weeds in pond. I spray any algae if there happens to be some forming. I use what a local place gave me and it starts with a K... I consider the water clear/clean. I can see my feet when they are 3 foot down in the beach area. I also put blue pond dye in the pond whenever needed.

I'm curious what others will say, but I'll throw my thoughts out there. Bear in mind, this is just my opinion, so take it for what it's worth...

You've got a smaller pond, and you strive for balance with your bass and Bluegill, with an emphasis on BG for the table. A further wrinkle, is the need to swim in the pond, meaning you desire clear/clean water.

That can sometimes be a pretty tall order. I would guess that the natural forage in your pond is pretty sparse, and coupled with the lack of vegetation, and harvest of the larger BG, has resulted in a situation mentioned by Ewest. Heavy predation of LMB fry is/has occurred, and the BG have become stunted due to overharvest. I think you're missing some size classes of LMB, and your BG are running rampant, and reproducing at a small size. I still think you need to establish just what you have in the pond, before deciding on a corrective procedure. I'm just not sure how much use the 10' seine will be in your case.

Hopefully, someone will point out where I've gone wrong, and we'll both learn a thing or two....

Ok so that tells me this. Some may have died and sank to the bottom, but I bet you have a few in there yet. Catch a couple of 3 inch BG and go fishing with them and see what happens and let us know. The first time I did this it took about 5 to 10 minutes and it was fish on! If you do catch any LMB you need to weigh them and measure them to see what your R.W. is of that fish. That will help you determine if you need more bass or less bass in your pond. For example. If your bass you catch are 130 percent R.W. then you need more bass to eat them BG. If you catch a couple of bass and they are in the 80 to 90 percent range then you shouldn't need anymore bass. Although you said you haven't caught any in 3 or 4 years. I would try it and see what happens. Just make sure you take your measuring tape with you and a scale!

RC

Thanks everyone. I will try and do what RC51 says first and try and get a LMB weighed and measured. Thanks

kwa,


If you can try to catch at least 2 or 3 bass. One fish is hard to really get any reading off of. Then report back as to what you got!

Good Luck