Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations First trip

Finally.... I managed to get on the pond to fish!!

I've done little to the pond itself. Last year added some fatheads, shiners and perch minnows and a few smaller walleyes as predators. I knew there were fish but no idea as to size and numbers. Ice fished it a year ago, and caught nothing. Have been slightly reluctant to try again, on the chance that I would strike out again. Lot's of hopes, but prepared myself for little.

Saw lots of small sunfish, 2-4". Oodles of fry from this year’s spawn within the weeds. So many, I didn't think the fish would take any baits, but they did. Caught quite a few fish, of all sizes in a 90 minute fishing outing. Did I say lots of little sunfish? Caught, and seen throughout the pond.
All fish look very healthy, good body proportion regardless of body length.

I was pleasantly surprised.

Congrats; looking good.

Nice!

Very impressed with everything except ya tryin ta make the WE regurgitate.

Glad it was a succesful outing. Nice fish

Ha, it looks worse than it was. He's swimming fine, growing bigger. Interesting on the WE, it was the victim of a pretty recent strafing attack. On its side behind the dorsal fin, you can kind of see it in the photo if you zoom in.

In fishing the pond from a boat, it made me reconsider the weed situation I have. I was contemplating moving the weed line back in some areas by chemical or harvesting. After being out there, I realized it may be a nice barrier to keep people from walking down to fish. It is nearly impossible to fish due to the THICK submerged vegetation for 10-15 yards. A boat is required to get to the fish.

Awesome, North40! Body conditions indeed look good! I especially like the fish species diversity you have!

Fished the lake again. Can I assume these fish posted are a GSF / BG mix?

Also, a couple of the larger BG's I caught, made a clicking/snapping sound with their mouth. I've never seen nor heard this before, is it common with larger BG?? Or do I have piranha?

Looks like a couple HBG to me. Nice ones too!

I don't see any obvious GSF in either.

Mouths are awfully small to have much if any GSF in them. The 10 inch one looks pretty much like a BG to me. Could they be a cross with another sunfish in the pond? (RES for example).

Just not a very big mouth. Nice fish, by the way.

Looked at the fish several times. The dark coloration kind of throws me because not used to seeing BG so dark, although if I keep mine in a black bucket of water for a while they will get pretty dark.

Telltale signs of GSF influence are (not in any particular order)

Unusually large mouth that resembles a bass mouth more than a BG
More fusiform shape with a body longer rather than taller than a BG
White tipping of the fin tips (sometimes redish)
translucent reddish/pinkish border around the opercular tab
(as opposed to a RES which has a solid orange or red color and more on the end of the tab instead of wrapping around it)
blueish green bars around the mouth and below the eyes
the same color as the bars as flecks in the body
probably some others I missed

I see little to none of this in the larger fish and only the least amount of some coloration around the mouth and a slightly more fusiform shape.

So I personally see little GSF influence in the two fish.

But I am a novice and very prone to being wrong............so just a non-expert opinion, for what it is worth.

Okay, here's what I'm seeing:

First photo....see the blue striations below the eye? That looks like a GSF feature to me. Bluegills do not have this feature.

Second photo: See the hint of red border on the bottom of the opercular? Bluegills have an all black tab.

General characteristics are the most telling for me, from years spent handling these fish. Their overall shape, coloration, markings,(lack of vertical stripes) and last but not least, the bulging eyes.

The only thing missing is the coloration on the fins, otherwise they appear solid HBG to me.

Thanks guys. If you go to the very first post, the photo titled "10 inch", that I'm sure is pure BG and I get a lot of those.

So when someone states HBG, does that mean it's crossed with something and we just don't know what? I did simply assume green, because I don't know what else there would be except the possibility of a PS. But I wouldn't think a PS hybrid would get that big, Am I wrong?

The ones I caught are big and very aggressive. I found them as they were hitting a three inch plastic swimming lure, as I was fishing for pike or anything else (scouting). I switched to a flu-flu as the lure was too big for their mouth and I was wondering what kept hitting it.

To my eyes, your most recent photos are BG x GSF hybrids. I agree on the "10 inch" photo showing a bluegill.

HBG could mean a lot of combinations, but most often it is used to describe a BG x GSF.

Any answers on his question about the clicking noise??? I have never heard a bg "click" would love to hear a response to that. Nice fish!

Cmm

I've had BG "snap" at me as in moving their mouth really quick as they jerk their body, like they were distressed and not happy with their situation. That will make a kind of snapping or clicking sound. Have seen/heard that a number of times.

Some fish in the ocean will do that same type motion under water when a fish gets too close to them or they are defending their territory. Kind of a defensive snap, without even touching the other fish but acting like they are going to bite them.

Kind of like a dog snarling without biting. A type of warning.

Don't know if that is what you heard, but that is what I have seen/heard with BG while holding them.

sprkplug has seen a lot more fish that I probably ever will and is especially familiar with hybrids so I suspect he if right.

PS get pretty decent size. I always thought according to descriptions that they did not get very big either. Then I saw a number of them while snorkeling in a fresh water pond on Cape Cod. It is always a bit of a trick estimating fish length under water because of the magnification factor (approximately 25%), but the ones I saw on nests looked a good solid 7-8".

GSF don't get very big either, but the hybrids with BG can get close to the ultimate size of the BG. So a hybrid is not automatically limited size wise to the smallest fish of the cross.

Yes, that's exactly the "snap" I heard over and over. I'd never seen or heard that prior. quite interesting.... I should have taken a video. Next time.

I tell you what, for 11 acres of water, it's been more exciting fishing there for two outings than I've had for years and I fish quite a bit. The pond is AWESOME.

FWIW from what I've read, BGPS (BGxPS) are similar to HBG (GSFxBG) in that they typically grow faster than either parent but ultimately do not reach the size of a large BG

North, here's a HBG I caught this evening. BG x GSF. Notice the body shape, overall coloration, lack of stripes, bulging eyes, Opercular shape with slight red along underside, (barely visible in photo) blue markings on cheeks, and no orange or white fin coloration.

I'd say that looks very much like what I caught. Thanks.

Also, thus far I'd say I catch 25 BG to every HBG. But the HBG, have all been big so far.

Great to hear. I've never been much for fishing, hardly ever fishing public waters except for a few times in my younger years. Still don't fish public waters, but fish our pond quite a bit.

I, like you, am enjoying the pond fishing!