Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Corrective stocking Bluegill overpopulation

It's been a while since I've been on so I'll repost the info about my pond: 1/3 surface acre ranging from 3 to 15 feet deep, dug 2 1/2 years ago.

I stocked 100 2-4" HBG 2 1/2 years ago, when the pond filled. Last fall I stocked 50 roughly 1 lb HSB to try to control the HBG population as all we were catching were 3-4" HBG. I feed twice daily (15 seconds from a TH feeder). All feed is consumed within 10 minutes. We now occasionally catch 8-10" HBG and 12-14" HSB but the majority of fish we catch are 3-6" HBG.

My guess is that the HBG have reverted to their original BG strain, are no longer hybrid, and are spawning.

What do you all think? Ideas on improving this pond?

Thanks in advance

I would catch from another pond (with permission) and stock 5-6 LMB from 8-12 inches.

John, shouldn't the HSB take care of it?

The HSB tend to inhabit open water, and don't have a big enough mouth gape to eat anything but smaller BG. LMB inhabit the same places as BG. Can you find a neighbor who has established LMB and catch 5-6 to bucket stock? That's what I did last summer when the BG and FHM population exploded in my first pond.

Added to what John said, the HSB are eating a lot of welfare pellets and not solely surviving on a diet of small fish. In my experience as the HBG generations age the numbers of females increase thus contributing to more small HBG type sunfish.

If you reduce the amount of pellets the growth will slow for all pellet eating fish. You are sort of caught in to feed or not to feed pellets. IMO which matches others add some 10"-13" LMB which will likely eat primarily fish. Numbers of LB to add will depend on how many small HBG you have, how fast you want to reduce their numbers, and how many small HBG you can yourself remove. When fishing with just a small hook worm and bobber, I can usually easily remove 20-30 BG per hour - one per every couple minutes. I can also catch quite a few small sunfish daily with larger sized fish traps. Smaller sunfish types can be significantly injured and/or fins trimmed and tossed back into the pond as easy prey for HSB and LMB. I have also used these small sunfish to feed HSB and LMB living in a cage.

Plan for each LMB to eat at least 100-200 small fish per year likely more - depending. Remember you will get another HBG spawn this year and each future year. When the LMB are reproducing, you can put a heavy focus on removing their numbers.

Please keep us updated to your progress so other can learn.

if I recall you wanted something different then a typical LMB pond?

if so, you could consider some other predators.

Single sex bass are a good option but they are very difficult to obtain. If you collect them during spawning season, this is about the best way to get them by yourself.

Even when experts try the all female LMB it usually goes wrong after a couple of years. Very hard to maintain. HSB love LMB pellets but they are too big for BG/HBG in general.

When a supplier sells all female LMB to customer does that mean he is then going to sell a disproportionate number of the smaller males to an unsuspecting customer?

Thanks for all the input, folks. Another question though. Nobody around here has a pond with LMB that I could bucket stock from. All the places I can buy LMB from around here claim they are pellet trained. With the feeder turned off I assume they'll feed on the BG. If I do that, will the HSB start eating the smallest BG?

Also, is there a different predator that I could use down here in southeastern S.C.? I really don't want to turn this into a LMB pond.

Blue catfish an option for you? Channel catfish also get big enough to eat those 4 inch BG.

It might be, Bill. I'll have to see if there are any suppliers near me. How many would you suggest for a 1/3 acre pond?

Channel cats are a put and take in my pond (roughly the same size as yours). I stock 12 to 15 and then harvest them when they reach 3 pounds or so. Then I restock. You might want to let yours get a little bigger to be more effective on the 3 to 5 inch BG.


I don't have access to Blues. I would love to try some hybrid blues (cross between Channel and Blue) as they are supposed to grow more quickly.

what about adding some small mouth bass? It's my understanding they work pretty good with HSB. And I know they will eat the smaller sized hbg.

Hi TGW1, thanks for the suggestion but I'm trying to avoid SMB and LMB. I'm thinking about trying Blue Catfish.

Larry, I will be stocking the HBG and HSB (along with RES) in a small pond this year and IF my pond develops like yours, I would consider being the predator myself using traps to reduce the HBG populations. I could easily trap fish and transplant them to the creek nearby so that I am not merely tossing them over the dam for the coons and possums.

My novice thoughts are that reducing the smaller sized HBG biomass would leave more food for the larger HBG (if we could choose, remove the females as a bias if larger fish are trapped). This would help keep the larger HBG out ahead of the HSB as far as size was concerned. Adding single sex LMB has also been advised if a source is available. If you could only de-feed train your HSB.

Of course, adding catfish would help if they were added at a size that would eat your medium to small HBG shortly after stocking. My concern would be using up available space and food that the HBG would need in the future. My goals are for larger HBG, not catfish or HSB.