Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations an el dorado sunfish pond

i havent had time to even lurk here and keep up with all the good stuff being discussed. i barely had time to enjoy my wildflowers this april. i did manage to steal an hour last sunday evening and "sample" my fishies. i hope y'all enjoy the pics.

i stocked about two dozen of these bad boys in Feb 06 at ~6.5-inches.....this fella (same fish next two pics) was over 8", and i still have 10 fingers:






now lets look at some nice BG growth. in Feb. 06, i also stocked 1,000+ uniformly colored BG ranging from about 3-5.5". i am really really pleased with their maturation:







bubba's CA cousin??




some more nice colors i'll continue on a forthcoming post:

i stocked some arguably trophy sized GSF in July 06, and they spawned twice last year (maybe the second time over our mild winter) producing two classes of aggressive little ones:



i luv this pic:


sooo.....who wants to see mommy and daddy?

i wish i had time to let a few of you chime in on my last question, but beings how times not on my side.....i'll let these do the talking....











bill cody.....gape measurements on the 10-incher are 2" lateral by 1.5" vertical.

edit, forgot to mention the 9.5 and 10 incher respectively tipped the boga scale at a pound and a pound plus (not quite 1.25)

Hey, I thought this was a family friendly site.

What are the prictures of the Green Meanies doing here?

Great fish and great pics, D.I.E.D.

Dave - thanks a lot for the measurements.

Thanks for sharing DIED. Great pics. You will have BG and RES spawning this spring/summer from the looks of things.

Good job, DIED. You're gonna have some Bubba Jr's in there one day.

As usual, some whopper sized GSF. Hasn't anybody told you that they don't get very big?

thanks for the kind words gents (yolk...i apologize if i offended you with my topless sunfish cabaret......of course, the sub plot to this thread is bringing awareness to those who claim to hate them, when deep down i know there is a green sunfish lover in all of us).

i cant explain the feeling to fish for just an hour on my pond, and catch really beautiful examples of 3 sunfish species....i am tickled pink.

i am particularly proud of mommy and daddy..i stocked about 29 total last summer, and knew they spawned by late Fall 06. i was worried they didnt survive though...i didnt see any evidence of them all winter, and through early spring. they sure showed up with the warmer weather though and i couldnt be happier. i dont know how many are left. there was at least one floater last year (multiply by 5 rule?) but not only did some survive, i believe they've even fattened up (probably since the BG stocking). they were afterall raised on LMB fry in the ranch pond, and put into a relatively sterile pond with nothing but gams and bullfrog polywogs, but i figure if i kept them alive this long, and they're as mean and hardfighting as ever.....i'll now claim those pigs as mine

D I E D -- big green sunfish are really cool fish! Don't you think you could start an aquarium business with them??

Dave,

Great fish! I decided long ago that I wouldn't stock greenies. Why did you want to go and start trouble?

Great photos Dave. Man I can't believe how big each of the species have grown! All of them... Jeez the RES at 8", BG at 6" and the whopping GSF at 10" and over a pound!!! Congrats my friend. You are either gonna have to start culling like crazy or introduce a big predator or by the end of summer you be able to walk across the pond on the backs or your sunfish!

Submit the GSF to Cecil, that Bubba is HUGE!

Did you catch all of these via fly fishing?

Great job Dave. Give it a year and you'll be pulling out not only monster GSF but also big BG and RES as well. A top rate sunfish pond! That GSF must have been a pole bender, they fight like lunatics!

That green sunfish is a pig!! Those other fish are showing great growth rates, too.

Definitely turn in the GS to Cecil.

aquarium business....hmmm

c'mon bobad, you know you want em aggressive, hardfighting, fantastic for kids and adults alike. cant ask for more out of a pond fish.

cool huh jeff ....yup you need to come by on yer next visit. all caught with a cheap fly on my little old backpack rod. the two GSF pictured above darn near gave me a hernia, i had to really fight em for a bit, they took line out several times, got wrapped up in weeds, muscled me around, but i landed them gently, quickly got measurements and pics, and back in pond, no harm no foul....except for a little GSF slime on wifey's Nikon :rolleyes:

cecil cant accept my fish, cause my face is nowhere in there....its all a hoax......

so bruce, what are my fish smoking? i never thought the RES could grow 2-inches in 3 months......they were ~6.5 when i put them in, some may have been close to seven, but even an inch in this time?? i was really impressed.....with the BG too....that dark one pictured above (a male???) had to go from 5.5" to nearly 7.5" in the same time, i imagine he was one of the few bigger ones i stocked.

whereas last years two classes of GSF are now 2.5" and 5"?? I think the 5" makes sense, but the 2.5" suggests a late fall/winter spawn.

what's nice is all have fat bellies. i dread the summer drawdown this year......should be interesting one way or the other.

I see a definite male bluegill above.

General rule...

Identify the fish you want to grow big, then assure that there are fewer fish than their particular food resource will support.

You currently have that situation. Managing ponds can be as simple as that. Good job. I just assumed you don't have a face.

Can you get Tom Cruise or Santa Claus to pose with the fish?

How about Brad Pitt?



Opps no fish, sorry Dave.

one leg....no face.....i think i'm getting erased.

nice try jeff......you might not know this but Tom and Santa visit me every christmas:



if i knew all that fanchy photo shop stuff, i'd post something funny here (well, funny to me anyway).

thanks bruce, those are words to live by. it sounds so simple, but maintaining that balance.....thats where the art is.

so what are the fastest growth rates in inches you've seen from yer BG and RES......say over a 6 month span?

i'm going to Tahoe this afternoon and for the rest of the weekend and will be battling to get an afternoon on the lake deep trolling (200'+) for macks.....however, the wife keeps reminding me "this is afterall mother's day weekend, could you please get fishing out of yer head for a couple days and spend quality time with your family??? yes dear...

talk to you guys next week sometime and Happy Mother's Day Weekend!

Dang, I had a feeling that you had connections but Santa and Tom Cruise, dude you are "made"!

The only thing that disturbs me about that photo is that I happen to know that you don't own a dog.

jeff.......that was (is) my brothers english sheep dog......

hey........hey........i got a real treat for you RES lovers......tonight i witnessed about half a dozen BIG guys and gals on a honeycomb of spawning beds made in the shallows......it was getting too dark for pics, but i hope to try and capture something tomorrow when the light is right....yippee skippee huh? the growth rate in my RES is alarming....some looked to be over 9-inches, males sporting the bright scarlet rimmed ear tab......AWESOME!!!

i had a driller (same guy i used 7 years ago) come in and we witched a spot above the pond....was getting good pulls on the rods and matches intellectually with the geology down there.....spot is picked just need to schedule.

later, when i went to feed, a few of the RES actually came up and took pellets.......i'm still picking my jaw off the ground. conrad (my wife's pet turtle) came in for some nibbles too.

hope to show pics.....keep y'all posted.

life is awlright........

i really hated to have to compress these from the original shots, but i think you can still see the important aspects........spawning behaviors, etc......the best viewing from shoreline is with polarized sunglasses.....WOW, too bad i cant convey that in these pics.....enjoy if you can........

RES on nest with BG watching from above:


RES guarding nest:


View nesting "honeycombs" each with RES (tough to see in this compressed pic):


RES stirring out algae:


RES on nest:


RES in nest:


same pic as above but close up:


RES quarrying/moving/shuffling small rocks:


i uploaded 8 more shots to follow.....

the remaining shots:

another shot at the "honeycomb" area:


Bright (male?) RES ear tab:


RES bobbing up and down quite violently either laying eggs or releasing milt:


RES guarding nest:


RES, BG, GSF all in one pic.....can you identify them?


BG and GSF:


BG and RES:


RES on nest:


so much for billable hours this afternoon.....but hey, it was more than worth it, hope y'all enjoyed.....

That's awesome! I completely enjoyed that. I thought the quality of the photos came out really nicely.

Great pics, D.I.E.D.

i am really jazzed at what's happening in the pond and that i can see some of it. i've seen ewest's RES spawning pics, but they didnt hit home til i saw mine doing the dance.

since running the aerator regularly (1130 pm to 0730 am) the water clarity has decreased significantly (good good good), has promoted a nice olive/emerald color..new plankton bloom (good good good), reduced aquatic weed growth (good good good), but may be aiding in additional evaporation (bad bad bad).

Since we are in a 95-100 degree stretch, and the pond is leaking about like a medium running garden hose, i am terribly worried about late summer conditions for the fish.

its a good foot lower than this time last year because of a long hot dry spring and the additional things mentioned above: