Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Why not more redear/shellcrackers?

I just saw a flyer for a fall fish sale and am considering buying some fish for our new pond. It's about 3 acres, 30ft. deep, stream fed in central Illinois.

My question is, why do they recommend stocking about 1000 hybrid bluegill per acre but only recommend 10 redear/acre. They say, "Stock 10 redear/acre for snail control". I had actually thought of stocking redear and not hybrid bluegill.

We will also be stocking channel cat, lg. mouth bass, and fatheads.

Thanks for any reply,
Kevin

Ok,after a little searching I guess I've answered my own question. They just don't get as big as bluegills I suppose.

This leads me to another question, Hybrid bluegills or not. What are the downsides to Hybrid bluegills?

Thanks,
Kevin

there may be a place for hybrid bluegill, but i wouldn't put them in my 3 acre fishery. i suggest sticking to the most often recommended (by the pros, not the fish salesmen) 800 common bluegill/coppernose, 200 redear and 50-100 bass per acre. add some channel cats and hybrid striper if you want some variety. jb

Kevin, you need to do more searching. The only thing I have heard positive about hybrid bluegill is that they work with just catfish. Reason being is that they don't reproduce much. The reason for bluegill is that tey do reproduce much. You need bluegill to support a bass population.
If you are not interested in growing large bass you could use hybrid bluegill and red ear or just redear. You said redear don't get as big. I think they get bigger. They just don't reproduce as much. You need straight bluegill to support a bass population.

Kevin, I concur with Brian. I've electrofished too many ponds where hybrid bluegills were substituted for pure breds, and a poorly growing bass population usually (if not always) existed. The hybrids can get big very quickly, and then the bass can't eat them. Now throw in very limited hybrid reproduction and you can see how the forage base in a pond with just hybrids, bass, and catfish can be inadequate. One more thing, if green sunfish or pure bred bluegill make it into a pond with hybrids, then you really have a mess (in my opinion). When hybrids back-cross (breed with) the green sunfish or bluegill, their offspring are basically junk fish that grow very poorly. I'm obviously not a big proponent of hybrid bluegill, but they do have their place. For instance, I stock them into little ponds for kid's fishing clinics. They do grow fast and they're quick to bite a hook. If having different management options for your pond in the future is important to you, then I would stay away from the hybrids.

In northcentral Missouri, we recommend stocking 500 bluegill/acre in a new pond as well as 100 catfish/acre and 100 bass/acre. The bluegill and catfish get stocked during the fall and the bass get stocked the following spring. You can substitute some redear for some of the bluegill....usually about 25% (125 redear/acre and 375 bluegill/acre equals 500 sunfish/acre). Redear are pretty cool fish and they occupy a slightly different niche than the bluegill. They are called shellcrackers for a reason, they will eat snails. Some folks stock them to aid in knocking back snail numbers which serve as intermediate hosts to a few of the fish parasites (black spot, yellow grub, etc).

Redears as fun to catch, but they are a bit more finicky than the bluegill. I fish a lake that has lots of 10" redear caught out of it every year, so they do grow to a good size.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck with your pond and have fun with it....that's what it's all about.

I remember reading on a previous post that hybrid bluegill will eventually revert back to green sunfish which is undesirable in a small pond since due to their larger mouth will compete somewhat with your preditor fish.
Ric