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#412455 05/23/15 02:25 PM
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So far today we've caught a LOT of 3-5 in blue gill out of the pond. On average, what are the size increases for HBG, other panfish, and LMB? I'm trying to figure out what I should be doing with those small ones were catching. Should I be culling them out or putting them into another area and try and beef them up some. Still no LMB today. Anyway, thanks for the help. Right now, I'm planning on keeping the nice green sunfish and blue gill plus the HBG if they look the part. LOL. I know rookie. LOL

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Are you feeding the fish? If so, what food, frequency and amount?


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3/4 to 1 1/4 ac pond LMB, SMB, PS, BG, RES, CC, YP, Bardello BG, (RBT & Blue Tilapia - seasonal).
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No feeding right now. Just what they are getting from the pond nutrients

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When you mention "keeping", does that equate to having them for dinner, or keeping them in the pond? If your goal is 1 lb bluegills, either the HBG or the BG can achieve that pretty easily. I'm not sure what you mean by typical size increases, however?

If by keeping, you mean fileting, then you might want to rethink the strategy of keeping the largest bluegills. You want the big guys to remain, to encourage the smaller guys to continue growing and delay maturity...which should mean bigger fish. Also, the biggest size class of BG are often the ones genetically predisposed for larger growth... you want those genetics. However, the HBG need not remain in the pond solely on the basis of good genetics, since they should not be managed as a self-sustaining species. At least that's what conventional wisdom currently tells us. wink If you're not after absolute max growth, trophy fish, then I would harvest the HBG when they reach a pound.

An abundance of 3-5" size class bluegills is common for the ponds in my area. It could mean a shortage of appropriately sized predators for those fish, and/or too much cover, allowing the smaller bluegills to escape predation. If it were me, and I truly had too many fish of that size, I might give some thought to removing them via angling, trapping, or possibly seining.

The GSF....I would keep the largest ones for the table, and cull the others. just my opinion.

FEED THOSE FISH.....no bigger bang for your buck.

Also, you might want to consolidate some of your posts under one thread. Several of your recent posts are dealing with essentially the same subject, and it would be helpful to have all of the info in one place, rather than having to search back through several threads to piece it all together. No problem, just makes it easier for everyone to try and help.


"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.
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Great advice. Thanks a ton. I'm not sure how to consolidate them into 1 thread. As for "keeping". I was talking about keeping them in the pond for genetics. I've landed some nice green sunfish along with nice HBG over the past couple of weeks. As for "trophy class" of HBG or green sunfish. What is max growth? Like I said, I'm new to this, and just want to get the max out of my pond before enlarging it and after. We're having a blast catching and recording the sizes of our fish out of our pond. We've released everything that we've caught the last couple of days. I'd like to start removing some, but not quite sure of the size I should be removing. Also, what should I look for in the genetics to keep in the pond. We've caught some nice size GSF and HBG. Should I keep the BG or should I just be keeping the GSF and HBG and not keep the BG? As you can tell, I've got a lot of questions involving this, LOL. From what I've gathered involving reading so far that if I catch any 14 in LMB that I should remove those from the pond, so I can allow the smaller LMB to grow and also the panfish to grow. That's about all I've gathered so far. I'm still confused about what I should keep involving the BG/HBG/GSF. Again thanks for the help.

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Max attainable size? Lets' check the MO records.

BG.....3lbs. Don't count on that, exceptional fish.
GSF....2lbs, 2oz. Wouldn't hold my breath there, either.
HBG.... The list simply says, "sunfish, hybrid". Lots of room for interpretation there. Anyway, 2lbs, 3ozs.

This numbers are in line with states all over, and reinforce the fact that BG have the largest size potential. If you want to up the fun factor regarding recording the sizes of fish you're catching, print out a relative weight chart for the species you catch, and use it to help determine where your fish are at, growth and size wise. This will be a big help in determining what size classes of fish you should begin to cull, as well as helping you identify those desirable qualities you want to remain.

If you're not after trophy HBG, then I would keep them for the table once they reach a size you prefer. I would also keep the GSF.

RW charts here:
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=160456#Post160456


"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.
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Awesome. Thanks for the chart. I'll be putting that into effect ASAP. I'm just trying to get a game plan in action for this pond. My kids are having a blast recording and learning about the fish that we are catching. That chart will just help even more. Now got to pick up an inexpensive scale and we'll be ready to rock. Its going to be pretty intesting to see what happens here throughout the summer.

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As Spark mentioned, if you can swing some kind of funds to feeding the fish, I would do it. The way you say your kids are enjoying helping, feeding is fun to do. Most adults enjoy it! Bag of feed costs $40 plus/minus. You could feed by hand, nice chore for the kids. Feeders can get pricey, but as long as you can feed the same time each day by hand, that can get you by for now.

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Question? I have a BG and LMB pond with some RES. The 1.2 acre pond is mature and is recovering from a partial fish kill a few years ago. I have not seen any CC in a while, and never saw small ones since the initial stocking a decade ago. I feed a small amount and can see nice fat BG and some 1-3 lb bass that look good as well. The LMB have not taken any of the small amount of the food that I feed by hand, but have shown up a couple times to terrorize the BG. My neighbor fishes the pond and I have told him he can keep 50 to 60 of the larger BG that he catches. He stopped by and pulled out 25 nice ones a couple days ago. I trust him completely as he is a long time friend. My question is whether the 50 to 60 BG being taken per year is consistent with ending up with some nice LMB in a few years. I see more than that within minutes of throwing in a few handfulls of feed, but only maybe 10% are really keepers. The rest are younger, but look fat.

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I know the recommendation is to feed in the same spot and at the same time each day. I sure don't get it done, but the fish seem to be doing pretty well anyway. Maybe they would do lots better if I did, who knows.

Like right now I would go out and feed the fish, but it is raining. So it will happen later. But my fish have become "UTV" trained. I drive around our 3 acre pond and hand feed around the perimeter. Any time I drive around, feeding or not, I can see a flotilla of wakes caused by BG heading towards the sound of my Polaris Ranger. They know the sound of potential feed when they hear it. In fact, they likely have me trained. Because when I see all those hungry fish, I'm likely to head back to the shed and feed them again. grin

I know from commercially raising turkeys, hogs and cattle that regular feeding is far superior to sporadic feeding and animals on full feed or near full feed can be caused a lot of problems if their feed goes missing and they get "off feed" for a while (then gorge themselves when the feed shows up). And maybe that is the case for fish fed to satiation. But my fish get maybe only a third or less of what they could eat if on full feed. So its more like supplemental feed. (Feed about 3# of feed per acre per day)

So I question how important it is to feed at the same times as long as the fish know the feed is there when it is placed in the pond and as long as they are being fed amounts below satiation.

Just my observation and it could very well be an incorrect observation.

Last edited by snrub; 05/24/15 11:04 AM.

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Originally Posted By: Jacklegg
Awesome. Thanks for the chart. I'll be putting that into effect ASAP. I'm just trying to get a game plan in action for this pond. My kids are having a blast recording and learning about the fish that we are catching. That chart will just help even more. Now got to pick up an inexpensive scale and we'll be ready to rock. Its going to be pretty intesting to see what happens here throughout the summer.


I take a bag of floating feed down to my younger grandkids for them to feed the fish in their pond occasionally. It is strictly recreational feeding because their parents likely will not buy feed to feed the fish. They really enjoy watching the fish hit the feed. I bet your kids would too. Floating catfish food (not the best fish food in the world but for recreational feeding it will work) is around 20 bucks for a 50# bag and will last quite a while if feeding a soup can full at a time. Can get it at about any farm store or feed store.

If you are going to feed to actually make the fish grow better it is likely better to get some better quality higher protein feed and feed more regularly though.

Last edited by snrub; 05/24/15 11:13 AM.

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Originally Posted By: RAH
Question? I have a BG and LMB pond with some RES. The 1.2 acre pond is mature and is recovering from a partial fish kill a few years ago. I have not seen any CC in a while, and never saw small ones since the initial stocking a decade ago. I feed a small amount and can see nice fat BG and some 1-3 lb bass that look good as well. The LMB have not taken any of the small amount of the food that I feed by hand, but have shown up a couple times to terrorize the BG. My neighbor fishes the pond and I have told him he can keep 50 to 60 of the larger BG that he catches. He stopped by and pulled out 25 nice ones a couple days ago. I trust him completely as he is a long time friend. My question is whether the 50 to 60 BG being taken per year is consistent with ending up with some nice LMB in a few years. I see more than that within minutes of throwing in a few handfulls of feed, but only maybe 10% are really keepers. The rest are younger, but look fat.


I don't think the number is excessive, but I'm always leery of harvesting the largest BG in the BOW. Of course, I'm stuck in the growing big BG landscape, so I tend to paint things accordingly. What size LMB would you like to see? How is the structure arrangement? Lots of ambush spots? Do you think there are too many smaller LMB present?


"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.
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I think the LMB population is small right now. I have a lot of plants, and especially water lilies. I would love to have 10 lb LMB.

Last edited by RAH; 05/24/15 08:03 PM.

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