Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Feeders/Sweeney, Native Outdoors

I thought you weren't fishing your pond for 2 wks. Has it been 2 weeks already. :p

Here's one that's in focus.

Bruce, nice looking BG. What was the length on it? It's hard to believe anyone is catching fish after we have had the weather we have had.

That bluegill was 9 1/8 inch long. I tried hand feeding my fish but the water is still way too cold.

Bruce,

That's the one that's 17 ounces? Is that a female or a male that has not taken on secondary sexual characteristics yet?

THIS is the kind of fish that I'm really excited about.

This is a 15 ounce male that has yet to show the classic signs of sexual maturity. This fish has almost limitless potential for top-end size. This fish is also from the first year of the breeding program. It was spawned in 2002 so it is only age-3. Who knows how big it could get? I'm just fired up that he doesn't look like he wants to waste a bunch of energy building a nest just yet.

Leave it to you to notice that it wasn't a sexually mature male, but rest assured, it IS a male.

Damn nice 'Gill, Bruce! I thought that looked like a male (from the opercule shape) per your PB article. I intend to use the descriptions in it to sex BG.

You Cornhuskers are tough - 28 degrees, and you're going sleeveless.

You got that right! A Sooner would have been wearing a parka.

Bruce, this is the least aggressive my fish have fed in at least two weeks. They went from hitting it fairly aggressively 2 wks ago to slurping it like a carp around Thurs. and tonight I only saw 1 fish feed. Mine fed better right at ice out than they have for the last week. This weather has been brutal. It will probably be really diffucult to get them feeding in your pond where they don't have much competition and have a full belly already from midges.

Sooner? I had on a parka today and it hit 50 degrees.

Actually I've always been better at noticing sexually mature specimens of the female gender Homo sapien species, but with bluegills I'm still learning. Wish me well as I am going to start culling males out of a floating cage soon to put into a male only pond. If I have any doubts about any of them being males they are not going into the pond. It's been cold here too and I won't move them until water temps go back into the 60's. Turns out my supplier wants to wait until pond waters warm up too as the gills I'm getting from him are in 65 degree water in an RAS.

Bruce:

What is the smallest size at which you think BG can be correctly sexed (using the "I'm not putting them in unless I'm 100% sure" approach Cecil has)?

While working "Bob-Warr" fence this weekend I finally figured out how to put in a second pond without screwing up any good pastures (I can actually improve a hayfield in the process!) and have had visons of stocking/restocking strategies dancing in my head ever since. Using a small second pond to feed Male-Only Bluegill (selected from the main pond) to a large (table) size would be one cheap application. (You know how important it is to save a couple hundred $ in fish stocking costs after blowing a few thousand on the pond!)

Theo,

You copy citter! :p

I would say that after LOTS of experience with sex ID on bluegill I've achieved the following levels of absolute certainty:

<6 in. 20%
6-7 in. 60%
7-8 in. 80%
8+ in. 95%

If I'm uncertain of a fish, I just don't put it in the pond.

Theo, I'm going bluegill fishing tomorrow. What do you think of me taking some pictures and posting them to discuss some of the variations of male vs. female and some of the possible screwups? It wouldn't be that difficult to show males, females, immature males and "cuckholder" males which are males masquerading as females.

Bruce:

That sounds great!

I have found that how rapidly or at what size bgills develop external sexual characters is dependent on the environmental conditions (growth rates) and population structure of the resident bgills. Thus the size/length at which you can accurately recognize the males is often variable from pond to pond. I can usually but not always recognize male and females at 6", occasionally at 5" and almost always at 7".

BRUCE - If you create this sex recognition of bgill factoid / essay please put it under a different and an appropritate topic heading. Although I prefer you save it for a magazine article in PBoss where you can do it more justice. Maybe you, Cecil and I can all be co-authors.

BILL--Could we co-author an article that includes a little bit about recognition factors for sex ID of yellow perch, largemouth bass as well?

The PB article sounds like a great way to do it justice. Maybe a new forum topic showing some basics, then a PB article getting into much more detail?

Bruce - let's check it out with the third author.

Also very true about pond's population dynamic having an influence on BG ID. Ponds with stunted populations can have older, very mature male bluegill that are only 7 inches that are pretty easy to tell.

Another point--It's generally easier to look at a bluegill and say "That's definitely a male", than it is to say "That's definitely a female".

In reference to my earlier comments about Sweeney timers. When Sweeney found out about the timer problem they were extremely helpful about servicing their product. I was really happy with the follow up calls they made and the short turnaround time. The timer was fixed under their warranty plan. I am under the impression that they are making a push to promote their product with all of the competition out there.

So far my Native Outdoor feeders are functioning well. The original charge on the battery is still holding after one month. I anticipate that some time soon I will have to recharge.

My Stren feeder is powerful and working without a hitch. It too has been in service for one month. I'll be interested to see if I will experience problems with the motor as a couple of others have stated.

Now that I have three brands running maybe I can make an intelligent comment at the end of the season about relative quality and value.

Bruce, I installed a Native Feeder a few weeks ago for portable use at our “grow-out” pond and it worked well until the raccoons destroyed the rubber impeller – I believe ML experienced this problem as well.

The manufacturer/rep delivered replacement impellers since we are in the same area, and after much consternation figured out how to make the repair.

The feeder originally was attached to a T-post – I found a 7ft “shepherd hook” commonly used for hanging plants and bird feeders, tied it to the T-post and raised the feeder a couple of feet higher off the ground. So far the critters haven’t found a way to reach it, but as smart as they are- probably will.

It has served its purpose well, and now transferring “grown-out” HSB to main pond where I have two very dependable Stren feeders.

I consider the low cost Native Feeders expendable unless they use a higher quality material for their impellers.

George Glazener
N.E. Texas ¼ acre and 2 acre ponds

George,

Yep, been there and done that...and included that warning to Bruce and others about this particular feeder.

You may not want to do this, but a solution I have found that works 100% is to set a couple of traps in the water attached to the steel post. You will catch one or maybe two coons and after that, you will be home free. Just make sure that the trapped coons can not reach the feeder from where they are trapped or they will compeletely destroy it...been there and done that too.

oh, and rememember that the traps are there when you go to refill the feeder...ouch!

ML, I am occasionally called upon to trap raccoons and other varmints in the horse barn for my wife (that, killing spiders, and opening pickle jars are all she really needs me for). I use a live-catch trap because new barn cats have to learn not to get trapped by being caught once.

The first time I targetted raccoon, I neglected to clear the area around the trap and was rewarded by finding not just a raccoon but also my wife's new cooler (light horse blanket, kind of a heavy felt) in the trap the next morning. The trapped raccoon had occupied his time and frustration by shredding about half of it and pulling the rest inside the trap with him (through the 1/2" wire mesh!). I got the varmint but suffered an overall points loss with the Mrs. That was maybe 12 years ago, and we still find pieces of that cooler when we move large items around in the barn.

So definitely, do not leave anything within reach of a trapped raccon that you don't want trashed.

Theo,

You can imagine what they would do to a plastic feeder...I called Mark(the Native Feeder person and a great guy) one day a couple of years ago to tell him about how his feeder had been ripped to shreads by a raccoon. He was somewhat incredulous and shocked to hear of the total destruction wrought upon his prized product.

A trapped coon is something to be respected. No doubt.