Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Stocking Copper nosed bluegill to established lake

I have a 45 year old, 6 acre lake in East Texas. The lake has plentiful bass, crappie and sunfish of all sizes. The largest bass caught so far is 11 lbs. The lake is spring fed and has water going over the spillway continously. I want to add copper nosed bluegill, but everything I have read states that it is much better to have "stunted" bass to keep the population in check. I know with big bass, a stocking would just be an expensive "treat" for the bigger fish. Can I stock larger coppernose and expect any degreee of success if I feed properly? By success I mean, large coppernose in a few years. All of the fish appear healthy and well fed and I see a lot of baitfish around the pond banks. Any advice would be welcome. Thank you in advance.

Welcome to the forum Gary...

If you have 11 pound bass in your pond and smaller, a percentage of CNBG you stock will most likely end up as expensive bass food. What percentage is hard to say. That will depend on just how many large bass you have, how large the CNBG are when stocked, the amount of cover your pond has, other present forage, etc...

CNBG are very similar to BG in most aspects. If your current BG are doing well in your pond, I see no reason why CNBG wouldn't either. It is not impossible to grow both quality sized BG and LMB, it is just more difficult, particularly in a smaller pond. You have a 6 acre BOW to work with, which will make it easier.

If you want to stock CNBG into your established lake, I see no reason not to. Consider harvesting some of the BG currently in your pond to make room for them and obtain the largest CNBG you can find. Remember, CNBG and BG are in fact the same species, just different subspecies. They will readily cross with each other and produce offspring with a mix of genetic traits from each parental subspecies.

Gary, in Texas we don't have to keep BG in check by having small bass. Our general problem is way too many small bass that over eat the BG supply. Unless your absolute and only goal is big bluegill, it is best to reduce the numbers of small or stunted bass.

You have a flow through body of water. How is the fertility?

I will remove some of the smaller bass then as well as some of the BG. I have not kept anything in the two years that I have owned the pond. All catch and release. I have not run across any stunted fish. They all seem very healthy from very small to the big ones. As far as fertility.....Not sure how to tell. The water is deep green, with good visibility for the first couple of feet then it gets where you cannot see. There is good vegetation around the banks, lily pads and grass in the more shallow end (<8 feet). What is the best way to determine "fertility" besides the health of the fish and the bait? Thanks again. And one more thing please.....Suggestions on anyone handling larger CNBG in East Texas area, to purchase? (Nacogdoches, Tyler, Longview area)

Bob Waldrop of Tyler Fish Farms supplies "pure" florida CNBG but to the best of my knowledge does not grow them out to larger sizes.
Give Todd Overton a call at Overton Fisheries in Buffalo - he grows out "pure" Florida CNBG to large enough sizes to avoid predation in mature ponds.

Gary, proper fertility involves visibility, due to phytoplankton, of approx 18 to 24 inches.

You can build a sechi disk in less than 5 minutes. Google it if you don't know what it is.

Of course, some of us wade into the pond wearing sorta white sneakers.

Thanks for all your help. This starts me in the right direction. I know that I lose sight of my spinner bait at about 1 1/2 to 2 ft, so I am hoping that is because of phytoplankton! I will build a disk and check it out. Can't wait to start everything. Thanks again.