Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Is it possible to fish down BG population?

As many know I have an abundance of BG...Most say it is impossible to fish down the population... Plan on having a few friends over with their kids to try and put a dent in the BG.. What is the best way to go about it and what should my target fish be?..


So far I have been removing every female (probably 75) caught except this one.. She just looked like she had it going on..




Other things I have done are add the 40 LMB and feed 3 time a day... Goal for those that don't know are big BG..

Dang, she does have it going on.

OD, since I didn't take the opportunity ta crack on ya at Essups I will now. First of all, quit handling keepers with dry hands, in fact ya should,nt even have it in yer hand. I'm not bright enough to know anything about your pond and fish population. So, do ya have a good LMB to BG ratio? LMB probably can eliminate more BG than you and friends can. Once ya get the BG population down ya might wanna kiss up ta Cecil and get some of them inbread one eyebrowed, Bairdello, nuclear influenced genes into your pond.

Bob,

Would ya quit lecturing everybody!

A few points:

1.) That female has a good relative weight so I'm not sure your bluegill are at the point where they are so abundant they will suffer.

2.) If you must thin the herd keep harvesting specifically female bluegills. How big is the pond again?

The pond is just over half an acre with a basically no structure except the rip rap, a floating dock and geothermal tubes..

The previous owners had fish kill and to the best of my knowledge until I put the LMB in the pond it was very light on the predator side.. We caught no LMB and only one CC..

The CC wasn't caught until after I added the LMB... My LMB are doing well and some are pushing 12".. I have also hooked a couple of CC that are pushing 5+ lbs but lack of preparation didn't put them in the freezer...

Fished the pond last night after supper and took about 30 fish out myself.. Both males and females because I wanted enough for a meal this week sometime...

About half the females still had eggs and they all had some pretty good color to them...

Used wax worms and it barely had time to hit the water before it was getting hammered...Didn't bring the scale or tape but most were dinks at maybe 6 to 7 inch max, some wite abit smaller..

If water temps are above 70°F, they'll spawn right around the full moon.

It's the full moon (look outside) and BG are everywhere doing their thing.

I never remove the best conditioned fish -- others yes. No doubt you can fish down BG in a small pond. Result is more likely that small BG start spawning and the population gets smaller and more apt to stunt. There are a number of northern studies that prove this point.

The fish I removed were what I would consider my most popular size.. I have several larger but have release them when caught.. I can already tell the difference from feeding compared to what I was catching earlier..

I would say that I have fish from 1-2" to a few pushing 9" that I have caught... Most common size I am catching now are just about big enough to fillet and get something vs just removing to the garden for fertilizer..

Also trying to figure out what to do to catch the larger ones consistently... You would swear the little ones are starving because they hammer anything and everything before the larger one even get a chance..

Try a 2" crankbait.

That worked well enough to catch a 3 lb CC on my lunch!!!

Try a small spoon, Like a 1/12 oz Kastmaster, or Swedish Pimple. I also have pretty good luck on a micro crankbait, like a Yo Zuri Snap Bean, or a Bitsy Minnow.

And, try what I was using to catch em' at esshup's place....a balsa popper, intended for a flyrod, tipped with a micro plastic or waxworm for casting weight.

Stubby Steve's (you are feeding) , crickets , worms (wax or red).

I just looked at my back yard pond and sure enough the Rainbow Dace minnows are chasing each other all around and the gold fish are pretty frisky too. I guess I was unaware the full moon had that effect.

I do know that a full moon has a very detrimental effect on our swordfish fishing. Maybe they are to busy? ;-)

Rob

Plus its a Blue Moon - end of summer season.

Blue moon is okay, but I prefer Bud Light!!!

Youngest caught a couple of nice females tonight that I cut up.. Both still full of eggs...

Been running the well a couple of hours a day to maintain water level... Water color has changed quite a bit from green to a brownish green... FA has also started showing up along edges pretty bad...

This whole pond thing is causing me to drink!!!

... Water color has changed quite a bit from green to a brownish green ...

The normal aging of a plankton bloom. More brown means more zooplankton and less green phytoplankton.

How long does a normal bloom last?

It depends on many factors like water flow , soil and water nutrients , fish feeding pressure , temps , sunlight , plants and more. One bloom can last all summer if kept fertile.

Well, I have no water flow... Just a well to maintain water level... Obviously have a nutrient overload..

It is definiatly been a learning experience with this thing being right in my back yard.. The water color changes weekly and sometimes daily... I have had visibility of up to 36+ inches to 12 inches after rain or heavy winds.. Most of the time it is running around 18 inches...

Have tried to add some plants and lilies but the turtles seem to like them a little more than I would like to..

This whole bloom thing has honestly been the biggest thing that has driven me crazy.. Think to myself every time the visibility get low all my fish are going to die..