Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Green Sunfish (GSF) size to keep

I'm no expert but I don't think that you will end up without any GSF, they are a very hardy fish. But your LMB are a fair size and will get bigger, therefore they will be able to eat larger and larger fish.

DIED is the only person that I am aware of that is actively managing a pond for record GSF. He introduced BG in January 2007 and one thing is certain, the BG definately out spawn the GSF by a fairly large margin. His pond is a dang sunfish factory. We are gonna cull out some BG this summer to help better balance his pond (my LMB will love him for that). DIED and others can probably better answer this question that me.

Is this an ongoing contest? Or is there a cutoff date? 'Cause guys all I'm saying is that I've got 3/4 lb sunfish now....give em 2 more years... who's to say?.... but then again, maybe they've already maxed out

thanks Jeff....also if your pond is in N.CA and you are in S. CA....you must keep the roads hot!

The world record WM was caught 165 miles from my place. It was caught in a river, not a pond. I'll bet it didn't have the supply of minnows that Mr H's WM have. Oh yeah, if they get tired of eating FH there is a good supply of crawdads in the pond too.

the GSF stock that i used was already predisposed to large sizes. they came from a bass heavy pond w/ decent weed cover allowing continued but limited GSF recruitment. the predation has been so heavy for so long though that all you see or can catch are gargantuan sized examples for the species. all other "eatable" sizes are decimated.


cougar, my guess is you will end up w/ a similar scenario to where my fish came from plus the added presence of BG. where smaller year classes of GSF are wiped out by predation, GSF will have limited recruitment because of both masssive BG spawning and bass predation, but you will retain a few rare individuals which may be able to pull off limited spawning (i.e. you'll have rare GSF treats).


GW regardless of forage availibility, you might find genetic barriers w/ yer WM and will have to cull and select to develop yer own GW strain in order to ultimately reach larger (record) sizes.

LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA...

I CANT HEAR YOU

LA LA LA LA LA LA....

What's happening with the little guys above the beer drinkers?

"World's Most One-Sided Fist Fights, Emoticon Edition"

hey, GW started it.....

And my 3 lb WM will finish it. (insert fiendish laugh)

I sure do. It's right at 500 miles from my driveway to the gate on my property. So 1,000 miles round trip. We leave So Cal at 3:00 in the AM to avoid LA traffic. I do all the driving. A couple of trips ago my wife fell asleep during the drive. When she woke up she said "I just had a nice nap." I stretched and yawned and "So did I." She is more careful about falling asleep now.

DIED and GW, play nicely!!!

Remember we are allies in this war against sunfish oppression, not enemies.

What is the best way to wound a GSF or HBG (and still have them be lively eneough for bass to want to feed on them) ? I'm trying to get rid of the HBG in my pond. Eventualy the BG will out spawn the HBG but I am impatient and I want the HBG gone now. If I can fatten the Bass up while removeing the HBG even better.

try this.

take the HBG in a bucket of water to a place on the pond you know bass hang out. take a pair of scissors, cut ONE gill plate, preferably a smaller one, release fish in water, the fish will bleed out slowly, leave a blood trail and stay alive for ~5 minutes.

cool I'll give it a try. I think i'm just going to do it to the ones under 4 inches.

Thanks
DIED