Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations GSF Elimination

I know I have asked a similar question before but just want to recheck. If I remove the bulk of cover ( weeds, grass, etc ) from a pond, will the bass control the GSF?

Probably so. But it depends on a lot of things like other sunfish species that you might want to keep. All small fish like bass and BG also need cover.

I like GSF and have been messing with them for a long time. It is my experience that, in the presence of bass and other sunfish, they get out spawned and go away. GSF, like RES, spawn once per year and BG multiple times.

I have 2 ponds. One is about 1.75 acres and the other is 1/4 to 1/3 acre. The small pond has no bass but is absolutely loaded with small BG and GSF. When I fish it, I catch about 75% small GSF. I seine it a couple of times per year and haul the fish to the bigger pond for forage and spawning. It is rare that I catch a GSF in the big pond.

Keep in mind that I'm further South than you and our BG spawn more often than yours. That might make a difference.

I've been transporting GSF from a few smaller ponds to my large one for years now....probably moved 1000 or so at this point.

I've never caught one out of it though. And I fish it with small jigs a LOT.

I'd say that GSF, especially transplants in my case, turn into fish food in short order if the predator population is high.

I don't have LMB because I'd rather have a good YP population but I do have SMB and HSB. They don't seem to control the GSF much at all. I bought a large fish trap, about 4 ft. long and probably 18" in diameter made like a minnow trap. Deployed it yesterday and an hour later had about 25 fish between 2 and 5 inches. Only four of them were small bluegill. The rest had HBG/GSF genetics. This morning I had about 75 more and only 14 were clearly pure bluegill. I'd like to get the pond primarily a BG/YP fishery and am removing anything with GHF genetics. I know I'll never get them all.

Thanks for the responses gentlemen. Another question for you all or maybe I should say observation. A couple years ago I threw a bunch of mature bluegill in this pond hoping that they would cross with the GSF and possibly start giving up some hybrids and start outcompeting them. Am I accurate in assuming this will happen? A week ago I caught around a hundred fish and 4 or 5 looked like hybrids. Is it very likely that this is working.