Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations too early for hybrid stocking/feeding?

Hello all,
I've been digging through the archives for weeks looking for answers to the overwhelming amount of questions I have on hybrid bluegill. I've recently joined the bigbluegill forum, and now I think it's time to humbly appeal to someone vastly more experienced than myself. So here goes, I'll start with the basics. The pond is a former swimming only body of water, approx 3/4 acre, 12' deep at most, shallow pea gravel beach on one side, 5' wide concrete deck on one side, (where diving boards were located). It was never stocked with fish, although after 40 years of campers and fisherman, some native bluegill found their way in. About 10 years ago, I introduced LMB to control the rampant amount of small, aggressive, piranha-like biting bluegills. Now I hardly ever see any bluegills, and the bass cruise the shallows in packs, about 10" long average, although some are larger. Okay, now for the questions. I would like to grow out some hybrid bluegill, and use the bass as a tool to control any reproduction from the gills'. I'm thinking I want the LMB lean, mean and half starved. (No offense to LMB fisherman!), and maybe I should fish out any bass larger than 12"? I have constructed a floating cage that is 4' dia. x 4' below the surface. I was going to wait about six more weeks to get the gills', but I can get some this Saturday, the 28th. My plan was to obtain 3-5" fish and grow them out to a more bass-surviving size in the cage, while getting them used to taking the aquamax 500. However, this pond was iced solid just two weeks ago. Will the hybrids feed in water this cold? If not, will they survive in the cage without supplemental feeding? How many should I put in the cage at one time? Should I remove all larger bass while maintaining a population of LMB under 12"? I'm going for a feeder type livestock operation, strictly put and take. I'm not after bass, they're just a management tool. Sorry for the long post, If anyone could shed any light on this situation I would certainly appreciate it.

The 28th of February? Personally I would wait at least another month -- maybe two. I don't feed any bluegills in water under 50 F. Feeding them in too cold of water can cause problems even if they will feed a little. Their instincts make them feed but they have trouble digesting the feed. And add to that there is no growth in too cold of water so feeding them is a waste of time and resource.

I'd be afraid of fungus by handling bluegills in water under 50 F. too.

Who the heck is selling hybrids this early up here?

Hi cecil,
Thanks for your input, I appreciate the opinions of those more knowledgeable than myself! I was apprehensive about trying to feed this cold and you've reinforced my fears! I should just be patient and wait for the warm up. Any idea how many hybrids in the 3-5" range would be acceptable in the size cage I mentioned?

BTW- it was Andry's out of Birdseye who was advertising for this Saturday.

4 X 4 X 4? 3 to 5 inches?

Up to 4 to 5 hundred according to this publication:

http://aquanic.org/publicat/usda_rac/tr/ncrac/tb110.pdf

Welcome to the forum sprkplug! Your plan is very doable... I would work on catching out some of the larger bass if any are over say about 16". I would also look to catch out any of the native BG in your pond to reduce competition with the HBG. If you are completely set on growing large HBG, you are doing it the right way. You want so many smaller hungry bass that they completely eat all the young spawning by the hybrids. I would definitely wait until at least early to mid April before I stocked them though. Any early and it would be a waste... Best of luck!

With a pond full of hungry bass, you'll need to grow those hybrids for a long time before release. A 12 inch bass can make short work of a 4 inch bluegill. A 15 inch bass will take out a 5 inch sunfish. If you do go with hybrids, you won't get enough spawning to worry about or feed the bass. They will certainly spawn some but it will be pretty limited.

I actually dont see much of a problem stocking the hybrid bluegill in your cage on saturday if they come at a good price. Just be careful handling and acclimating them.

or maybe just try 150-200 to get started? You can gain years of knowledge and experimenting from this forum, but you can also get out and experiment and report back with results and updates....maybe just try 50 of them to get started and gain some experience with raising fish in cages before you go out and plop 500 of them in there for the first time and something goes wrong.

Your project sounds like alot of fun! Just dont feed the HBG artificial food until the water temps start hovering in the mid 50's, but you can always chop up some redworms, waxworms, and other stuff if you want to have a bit of fun!

Thanks guys, for all your good advice. Looks like I need to do some thinking between now and Saturday! My initial plan for stocking this early is to be able to grow out two separate "batches" of fish before the summer heat gets here. I had planned to start with 200 in the cage, grow them out to say 5-6", release into the pond, then start with another 200. Can anyone tell me how fast a caged HBG will grow from 3" to 5-6" on a diet of aquamax 500? Anyway, looks like I need to put on my bass angler's hat and try to transplant the bigger LMB's into another pond. I'll keep you all informed what I decide, and I'm sure I'll have more questions! Thanks again!!

Even with his pond freezing back over next week?! Have you seen the temps this weekend into next week? From my experience the problem isn't his handling, it's the handling of the fish before he got them which consisted of seining and sorting in cold water. When I get fish in this cold of water other than yellow perch, if I can't get them feeding quickly I have all kinds of fungus problems. I know one fish farmer that calls bluegills "goldylocks fish." He won't handle them in too cold or two warm of water.

If someone is willing and able to conduct a fish experiment, I'm all for it!

sprkplug, I wouldn't count on your hybrid bluegill growing much at all until May (unless your southern indiana, then maybe a couple weeks earlier)

Well, just wanted to let you all know I decided against getting my fish this early. I was sorely tempted to try it, but in the end it seems the one point everyone agreed on became the deciding factor. If the hybrids won't grow much during cold weather, then getting them in the pond in Feb. is a moot point. I wanted to get a jump start on the growing season so I could grow out two different "batches" of fish. I'll just have to hope they grow fast enough to accomplish it anyway. So it's back to waiting (impatiently!), and Bass fishing to reduce the number of larger predators. (ugh, I don't even own any Bass tackle anymore!, just have to double check the drag on my ultralight!) Thanks for all your help!!!!

Sprkplug I'd be happy to help you fish out some of those bass...might even loan you some bass tackle while I'm there

I think you could very reasonably expect 6"+ HBG by August if you start with 3" fish in April. My non caged HBG went from 4" to 9" from Spring to late summer. Why not grow the whole lot at 1 time? or one batch this year and another batch next year?

sprkplug, we all know how it is to be impatient... how about a 100g rubbermaid in your garage? throw a heater in it and - tada - it's spring!