In just 4 and a half months my bream have gone from 1.5 inches to about 7 to 8.5 inches ( not all of them but a lot of them) and they are FAT and girthy. Healthy looking.
I feed twice a day when I can......but sometimes only once a day until they cant eat any more. I'm going through a 40 pound bag of fingerling food about every 7 days. The fish love it and I cant argue with the results.
Just amazing. In only 4.5 months my pond has Bream in it like this. And they are just beautiful.
I caught 6 like this when I threw the cast net out. I wanted to see the progress. They didn't stay out of water very long at all and this is a crappy cell phone pic.
Looks great! Still spawning down there? (Saw the tail)
"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"
If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1) And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1) Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT? PB answer: It depends.
Excerpt from Robert Crais' "The Monkey's Raincoat:" "She took another microscopic bite of her sandwich, then pushed it away. Maybe she absorbed nutrients from her surroundings."
As Sunil says "the power of pellet feeding" when done correctly has been proven many times by Pond Boss Forum members. Jasons shows what pellet feeding can do to produce great growth of newly stocked bluegill in a new pond habitat. Note his feeding frequency. Growth from 1.5" fingerlings to very nice 7"-8" fish in just 4 1/2 months is possible even in northern ponds over the course of one summer. Lack of competition from other over abundant recruitment bluegill also helps in allowing the newly stocked BG to daily get plenty of pellets for rapid growth. Getting good growth early in the fish's life and keeping the BG from becoming too abundant are important for producing the trophy size bluegill.
Jason - Thanks for the great update. Keep us advised as to how well these BG are growing next year.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 10/06/1409:00 AM.
aka Pond Doctor & Dr. Perca Read Pond Boss Magazine - America's Journal of Pond Management
A bag of feed every week. In 4.5 months (19+ weeks), that's 760 lbs of feed, and fingerling would be around $1/lb. As many things in life, if you want it bad enough and willing to pay for it, great things are possible.
Assume a 1.5" BG weighs nil, it would be <.01 lb. A 7.5" BG would be ~.34lb per Wr eqn. If you go by the rule of thumb that 4 lbs of feed = 1 lb weight gain, then each fish ate ~1.35 lbs of something. Since you stocked 2000 CNBG, that's 2700 lbs. since you hadn't stocked predators, let's say they all lived. So you paid for ~30% of their growth. Pellets are indeed great, but those fish found a lot on their own also.
Good observation, although weight gain from high protein pellets is often reported to be around 2 lbs of pellets or slightly less to one pound of fish weight gain, not a 4:1 feed conversion ratio. New fish in a new pond can find a lot of available natural foods due to the low completion and lack of previous recruitment. This gives a big advantage to those first newly stocked fish which is why fish in new ponds seem to grow better than later generations - lack of competition. Reproducing fish at near carrying capacity or more put a lot of predation pressure on the existing natural food resource and the entire ecosystem as a whole.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 10/06/1410:21 AM.
aka Pond Doctor & Dr. Perca Read Pond Boss Magazine - America's Journal of Pond Management
Because fish growth often is limited by food availability, supplemental feeding is a logical tool to improve the condition of fish in small impoundments as the energy cost for bluegill to feed on pellets is small relative to the high caloric intake, which can be 4-5 times greater than those fed natural foods (Schalles and Wissing 1976).
Substantial increases in the standing stock of bluegill in ponds that receive pellet feed have been recorded (Schmittou 1969) and, in lakes, pellet feeding has been found to increase the number of large bluegills (Nail and Powell 1975).
These results indicate that total fish production and production of bluegill were each increased approximately 75 to 80% by supplemental feeding in 19 months after stocking (Schmittou 1967)
The growth on my BG have seemed to slowed or stalled out. Caught three 8" and several smaller yesterday (stocked Mar 2013). It seems like the larger fish have moved out in deeper water to my structure. I see few large fish taking feed around the banks but lots of 5" instead. I question if the larger fish are still taking pellets.
Caught the bigger BG around the structure instead of near the bank.
I love good discussion with real facts and citations. Lets me play with numbers!
So let's look at this another way that I think meshes with the additional input above. Those 2000 CNBG weigh 680 lbs now. Where did it come from? We use 760 lbs of feed and a 2:1 conversion. That accounts for 380 lbs of fish. That leaves 300 lbs from "other" and if it's less efficient, let's go back to 4:1 until we see otherwise, that means another 1200 of self-foraged / not fed intake.
Now we paid for 56% of the weight added to the fish, while it is 38% of the weight consumed. That sounds more in line with Ewest's quotes.
If we pursue Bill's hint that conversion might be better, let's arbitrarily consider 1.7:1. In that case, you get 66% of the fish weight from pellets, and pellets are 45% of weight eaten.
when we assume pellets and other both convert at 4:1, they had to eat 2720 lbs. But at 1.7:1 pellet and 4:1 other, they only had to eat 1692 lbs. That's a lot less chomping, beside the fact that pellets are usually regular, dense and don't swim away.
A bag of feed every week. In 4.5 months (19+ weeks), that's 760 lbs of feed, and fingerling would be around $1/lb. As many things in life, if you want it bad enough and willing to pay for it, great things are possible.
Assume a 1.5" BG weighs nil, it would be <.01 lb. A 7.5" BG would be ~.34lb per Wr eqn. If you go by the rule of thumb that 4 lbs of feed = 1 lb weight gain, then each fish ate ~1.35 lbs of something. Since you stocked 2000 CNBG, that's 2700 lbs. since you hadn't stocked predators, let's say they all lived. So you paid for ~30% of their growth. Pellets are indeed great, but those fish found a lot on their own also.
Yes this is true. I have native minnows by the thousands, upon thousands. When the coppernose bluegill were first stocked, I had these minnows existing , already. They of course have multiplied exponentially. A week after I put the bluegill in my pond , they could be observed attacking and feeding on the babies of the native minnows.
The pond also had an abundance of small bugs, which you are hard pressed to find anymore. Seems they wiped the little underwater bugs out. It also had an abundance of small tadpoles since I have a lot of bullfrogs around this pond. ( the kind that are very good eating) To top things off, I have crawfish naturally. At one point you could walk around the pond and see baby crawfish by the thousands leaving the bank for deeper water as they felt threatened .
Additionally, there are so many native minnows in this pond that it will be very hard for them to be wiped out quickly, if ever. Literally thousands upon thousands in good sized schools as you walk around the bank. These native minnows are live bearers, so when they drop a load of babies, they come out swimming and the newly hatched bluegill tear them up.
Add to this, I added 10 pounds or more of fathead minnows which have also spawned to create yet another forage base, and I have posted photos of a couple of the schools. There are many thousands upon thousands and large schools at times on top of the water and of course you can see them flashing sometimes as far as 3-4 feet down. When I feed, I also make it a point to feed the minnows as well.
My largemouth bass didn't go into the pond until September 10 of this year and I put 50. They were stocked in at roughly 8-10 inches long. I do not know if I have enough larger predator fish, but I'm thinking about adding about 10-20 more bass and also im definitely adding hybrid stripers, probably 60 or so.
There is no doubt in my mind that these fish grew like this due to the forage base, but I can also assure you that supplemental pellet feeding has a fairly large impact.
Pellet feeding not only helped growth, a great deal, but It also took predation pressures off the forage base to some degree, allowing for more minnows to survive and grow, and drop more babies.
Part of my goal in this was to brew up a large ......well, a very large forage base for both the bluegill and the bass. This would include thousands of baby native minnows along with thousands of baby fatheads, for the bluegill hatchlings to feed on. Supplement with pellet feeding and voila......what you see above can happen and can happen very easily.
But you have to feed the minnows too. i am certainly of an opinion that begs the question, " Why feed larger predator fish and let your forage base in the chain starve? These are the fish that will produce babies for the smaller bream and smaller bass to feed on.
I do not know the consequences 2 years down the road on the path that I have taken, since I'm new at this. But at this point, the results look promising.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 10/06/1401:22 PM. Reason: added pond history threads
Excerpt from Robert Crais' "The Monkey's Raincoat:" "She took another microscopic bite of her sandwich, then pushed it away. Maybe she absorbed nutrients from her surroundings."
Be interesting to know the weights of those BG's. If you're interested in tracking your fish's growth, and seeing how they stack up in the grand scheme of things, might pay you to invest in a digital scale. That and a Wr chart is one way to help you gauge their performance.
Be careful how you handle them....a fish's slime coat is protective.
"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"
If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1) And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1) Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT? PB answer: It depends.
Here are some of my babies. I have a lot of these.
They are a beautiful strain too. This is more forage base for the bass. I have a fairly diverse forage base. The babies look great. All fat and healthy.
In the photo you can see a feed pellet , top the photo and a little to the right.
Some of those babies look like green sunfish or hybrid BG babies, the one on the far right looks to be pure BG.
I agree. Looks like a GSF influence in the mix.
"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"
If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1) And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1) Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT? PB answer: It depends.
Yep, GSF. Due to only spawning annually and their fusiform shape, the LMB will get a lot of them. Due to their fighting characteristic and their mutt status, I kinda like them. I'm pretty much alone there.
Jason, what kind of live bearing minnows do you have?
It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.
Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.
Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
Due to their fighting characteristic and their mutt status, I kinda like them. I'm pretty much alone there.
Some of it must be rubbing off Dave. I've been taking pictures and mouth gape measurements, not to mention considering putting one or two GSF females in my forage pond with my RES to get some hybrids.
Maybe your just a trendsetter starting a trend. Maybe some day there will be an entire section on Bigbluegill.com about GSF..................... then again........... maybe not.
I caught a GSF the other day that was getting the famous helmet head. Hadn't seen that before in anybody's posts. Wish I had a camera for a picture. It was a fun surprise.
At one time I ran out of GSF. The bass, along with their limited spawning, had eliminated them. I had one huge one left that came to pellets. When I fished, I jerked the bait away from him so he wouldn't get caught and injured.
Then, the creek overflowed into my forage pond with RES and BG. Now, I have plenty of them.
You dang sure know it when you catch them when BG fishing.
It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.
Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.
Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
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