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Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 40
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OP
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 40 |
1/3 acre pond, 10ft avg depth. Currently stocked with non-hybrid bluegills.
300 Bluegills stocked as 1-2 inch fingerlings last year. Plan is to introduce LMB fingerlings this year. Gills are now 3-6 inches in length on average and very healthy.
My problem....bluegills are very aggressive and constantly peck at anyone swimming anywhere in the pond. My wife and daughters want my babies gone :-(
I am assuming this is an over-population and lack of predator (not afraid of anything) issue.
Looking for advice.
Maybe time to introduce some 8-10in LMB?? Also planning to remove as many BG females as possible.
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Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 28,610 Likes: 867
Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
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Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 28,610 Likes: 867 |
BG are known to peck. RES aren't known to peck. I don't know what you can do to minimize the problem shy of removing the BG.
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Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 40
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OP
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 40 |
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Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 40
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OP
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 40 |
Red Eared Sunfish...got it. Thx.
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Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 25
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Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 25 |
Start pecking back. Just make sure the oil is good and hot.
Trickery and BS, Beats Youth and Inexperience
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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 2,315
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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 2,315 |
Do you currently feed the BG?
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Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 5,712 Likes: 3
Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
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Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 5,712 Likes: 3 |
I don't know what causes fish to do this. It seems to only happen in a small percentage of ponds and lakes. In over sixty years of swimming in a lot of lakes, ponds, rivers, and creeks, I only remember it happening a few times, and it was mostly from yellow perch, not sunfish. But, then there are fish pedicures.
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Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 725
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Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 725 |
I was in my pond tonight moving some pots and just checking things out and I bet I got bit/pecked 100 times by the little ones... One of them can out of no where and hit me so hard in the chest it about knocked the wind out of me!!!
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 20,043 Likes: 1
Hall of Fame Lunker
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Hall of Fame Lunker
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 20,043 Likes: 1 |
1/3 acre pond, 10ft avg depth. Currently stocked with non-hybrid bluegills300 Bluegills stocked as 1-2 inch fingerlings last year. Plan is to introduce LMB fingerlings this year. Gills are now 3-6 inches in length on average and very healthy.
My problem....bluegills are very aggressive and constantly peck at anyone swimming anywhere in the pond. My wife and daughters want my babies gone :-(
I am assuming this is an over-population and lack of predator (not afraid of anything) issue.
Looking for advice.
Maybe time to introduce some 8-10in LMB?? Also planning to remove as many BG females as possible. They're hungry! And this is enhanced with the warmer water temps and their increased metabolism and the fact that you are probably not feeding them. They are going after the hairs on your body that undulate in the water similar to zooplankton. Once you get your predator fish in their you'll see a marked decrease in this problem or none at all. I'd still wait until the fall to add your predator fish. On a funny note my dad's nipples are brown and similar in size to a 5D06 pellet. Back when I had too many small gills in the pond he got nailed really hard in one nipple while we were swimming. Said it hurt bad enough he had to check and see if it was bleeding. We all laughed and laughed about it.
Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 07/18/13 09:42 PM.
If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.
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Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 4,797 Likes: 14
Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
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Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 4,797 Likes: 14 |
A couple weekends ago I was swimming with friends and their kids. We discovered numerous, countless, freshwater clams about 3 inches below the sandy bottom. We had fun digging them up and collecting them for a while when one of the kids opened one. A bluegill immediately found the guts and she thought that was the coolest thing, so everyone started popping them open and watching the bluegill circle all around us. Eventually, these fish were basically sitting in our laps eating the innards of these clams. We got a kick out of it.
*Disclaimer: Story gets gross here. I had a pretty significant scab over my knee from a baseball injury at the time. I wasn’t even going to swim, but was coaxed into it. Being in the water as long as we were, the scab softened up. I wasn’t even paying attention to it at the time, just having fun with the kids having the fish eat out of our hands, but felt a peck at my knee. I looked and the soft scab was just floating, only connected to my knee by a thread. Right then, the bluegill noticed as well, and it was like a school of piranha. I barely blinked and they had it pulled off and were carrying it away, fighting over it.
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 3,544
Hall of Fame Lunker
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Hall of Fame Lunker
Joined: Sep 2009
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I'd have too say my BG have all but stopped with my feeding increase and introduction of HSB one of the two has greatly decreased their need to eat me alive..
I believe in catch and release. I catch then release to the grease.. BG. CSBG. LMB. HSB. RES.
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Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 40
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OP
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 40 |
Yup.....feeding them. Maybe I should feed them more?? They are at a very healthy weight. I may go back to feeding 2x per day.
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Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 40
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OP
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 40 |
1/3 acre pond, 10ft avg depth. Currently stocked with non-hybrid bluegills300 Bluegills stocked as 1-2 inch fingerlings last year. Plan is to introduce LMB fingerlings this year. Gills are now 3-6 inches in length on average and very healthy.
My problem....bluegills are very aggressive and constantly peck at anyone swimming anywhere in the pond. My wife and daughters want my babies gone :-(
I am assuming this is an over-population and lack of predator (not afraid of anything) issue.
Looking for advice.
Maybe time to introduce some 8-10in LMB?? Also planning to remove as many BG females as possible. I'd still wait until the fall to add your predator fish. Curious as to why?
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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 2,315
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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 2,315 |
Yup.....feeding them. Maybe I should feed them more?? They are at a very healthy weight. I may go back to feeding 2x per day.
You should feed them enough so it's all gone in 10 to 15 minutes. If they finish it sooner, you could give them more. Another possibility is to feed them different times of the day too. Depends on how much you want to fork out in dollars. Thinning them would help in not having so many mouths to feed. Which leads to adding a predator. Any particular goals for you pond as to what its best end use is?
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