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Joined: Apr 2018
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Just caught this BG by accident while trying to catch a shiner. Snagged it in the chest.

I'm trying to get better at sexing these fish to better manage my harvesting plan of removing all females and returning every Male over 5".

I am posting two pics. 1st is my fish. Second is a comparison chart I found on line. The chart shows males on the left, ladies on the right. Part of me says male, part say female. I'm going with female.

What y'all say?
[img]https://photos.app.goo.gl/fdb7gJubht4DWizz9[/img]

[img]https://photos.app.goo.gl/R382dQnAezzoh5Sd9[/img]

Last edited by Mike Whatley; 03/23/19 07:13 PM.

.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
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Mike - I think your pictured BG is a male and is currently lacking the intense spawning colors. Your pictured BG has a darkish gular(throat) area and an ear tab that resembles that of many male BG. Similar sized female BG from your pond should currently have a noticeably lighter gular area. Similar sized male BG in your pond should develop darker colors in about a month pre to post spawn. The gular area will darken and female gular area should be lighter hues and likely more toward yellow. BG body features can vary quite a bit in different areas of the country and depending on the genetic strain of BG. Note some of the variation in the comparison chart.

Your picture would be somewhat better for sex identification if it was taken more straight from the side of the fish to better show shape of the ear tab (opercular flap). The pictures in the comparison chart were taken by me for the article Growing Behemoth Bluegills In Small Ponds Parts 1,2,3 by Cody, Condello and Baird; Pond Boss Magazine 2006.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 03/23/19 08:13 PM.

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You see! My initial thought was Male, because of the color, but the narrowness of the ear tab made me second guess. Yall did fine work with that comparative article. I was using it, and will continue to, to help me in the future.

So from now till fall, I should expect females to be a lighter color, short rounded opercule, while males will be typically darker and more vibrant, the opercule will be longer, but not necessarily wider or squared off, like this one was...yes?


.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
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Come on CMM Ya'll post my pics. We would love to see pics of the ones your catching!! Sounds like yours are growing VERY well!!


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I'm in the process of moving my feeding times at the pond. It's easy to do with the TH feeders but I don't have a feeder that will throw the Aquamax lmb feed. So I hand feed the HSB and the Northern feed trained LMB. While I am going through this process I sat on the pier and watched the feeders go off. I saw TFS show up and was happy to see that. I made another year with my TFS survival. These TFS were in the 1 1/2" to 2" sized fish and there were two schools of 50 or so. I was also pleased to see some inch and a half to 3" cnbg along the shoreline near one of the feeders and the pier. And as I sat there I wondered when were these small cnbg spawned? Can't be that long ago if I am seeing 1 to 2" cnbg. I was also pleased to see all sizes of cnbg.


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Hey QA, I've been watching swarms of 1" BG all winter. They had to be a late hatch and the cooler temps just slowed down their growth. That's the only logic I can assign to it. I've got GSF on bed, but have yet to see any BG try to start, tho these bright days sure to bring them to the shallows.


.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
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Went fishing and caught 6 bg on Stubby Steve’s. First time this year


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.

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Had a pleasant surprise... my son in law did the google maps thing on the pond since they finally updated (from 2014!) and my pond isn’t 5 acres but 6.1! Nice

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I need to look at Google maps again! I still think my pond is bigger than .10!

I took some readings on the pond this morning. Surface temp is 70* and bottom temp at 10' is 64*. I'm happy to see that there's still a tight variance in temps. Ph measures 7.2, Alk 40ppm, and surprisingly, my hardness has increased to 40ppm as well. REALLY happy to see that!!

Gonna check the Ph again this evening to see how big the swing is.


.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
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Went fishing for BCP after hearing that they had moved up to shallow, they were in 3’ water and the males are black black. Ugh getting cold again so guess that will probably mess up the spawn

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This part of the country is subject to wild temperature swings in March and early April. Seems spawns get messed up more often than not, but they still manage to happen.

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John so far have had one spawn in 5 years..... not too good a track record....

Last edited by Pat Williamson; 03/30/19 03:09 PM.
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CNBG have finally moved in shallow water the last couple of days, but I expect them to back off during the next few cold snap days. Female LMB are absolutely bursting with eggs & look very healthy.

Last fall our biggest LMB was 3.9 lb. So far this year we've caught numerous 4 to 5 lb fish, good growth. Almost all 14 plus inch LMB are very heavy for their length & look healthy.

Since Oct 2018 I've harvested 171 LMB < 14 inches. Still have at least 80 more to go.

Put in 3 CNBG to forage pond, need 3 or 4 more to ensure both sexes are there. Plan on adding TFS, TP to main BOW in a couple of weeks.

Last edited by anthropic; 03/31/19 12:04 AM.

7ac 2015 CNBG RES FHM 2016 TP FLMB 2017 NLMB GSH L 2018 TP & 70 HSB PK 2019 TP RBT 2020 TFS TP 25 HSB 250 F1,L,RBT -206 2021 TFS TP GSH L,-312 2022 GSH TP CR TFS RBT -234, 2023 BG TP TFS NLMB, -160




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Looks like you’re moving in the right direction.

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We had 60's to low 70s for 5 days, and then it was 25 this morning with heavy frost, as fruit trees are blooming. Supposed to be same low tonight, but I won't be surprised if it's even colder.

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Crazy weather this year for sure

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Originally Posted By: Pat Williamson
Looks like you’re moving in the right direction.


Thanks. Been a long haul after stumbling start, but we're slowly getting there.


7ac 2015 CNBG RES FHM 2016 TP FLMB 2017 NLMB GSH L 2018 TP & 70 HSB PK 2019 TP RBT 2020 TFS TP 25 HSB 250 F1,L,RBT -206 2021 TFS TP GSH L,-312 2022 GSH TP CR TFS RBT -234, 2023 BG TP TFS NLMB, -160




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Originally Posted By: Pat Williamson
Went fishing for BCP after hearing that they had moved up to shallow, they were in 3’ water and the males are black black. Ugh getting cold again so guess that will probably mess up the spawn

Pat, I've found when this happens, move out to the first visible drop, somewhere in the 9-12' range. They "want" to move shallow but when weather turns them out I've found BIG crappie many times set on that hip of the secondary drop.

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Got up to get a drink of water and the outside temp is 32..... the hickory and pecans have budded out..... they are hardly ever fooled....

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25.5 degrees here this morning. Another heavy frost.

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Seeing lots of greenery, flowers, algae, and hungry hogs at the property this past weekend.

Put out some Cutrine Plus and took some good walks in the woods.

And I guess we have a canadian geese nest too





















Fishing has never been about the fish....

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Yesterday, I found a goose nest. I have been running this pair off for 7 years now... I am tired, they can raise the damn goslings. Besides, I found a (deleted for the PG forum) otter. Then I found out the sight on my rifle has been bumped at some point. So, tonight, get the .22 sighted in again, and have a nice sit by the pond, looking for some really cute, really destructive water mammals.


CMM

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CMM, if it is legal where you are, egg addling is recommended. At least you won't get more goslings coming back next year.


7ac 2015 CNBG RES FHM 2016 TP FLMB 2017 NLMB GSH L 2018 TP & 70 HSB PK 2019 TP RBT 2020 TFS TP 25 HSB 250 F1,L,RBT -206 2021 TFS TP GSH L,-312 2022 GSH TP CR TFS RBT -234, 2023 BG TP TFS NLMB, -160




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After seeing all the threads on destructive critters at the ponds, I feel very lucky so far not to have to worry with anything more than the occasional Blue and Green Herons. There are Canada Geese in the area, but I never see them at my pond and I think I am too far from a constant running creek or stream to fret the otters too, much.

You watch, now that I have bragged on my luck, I'll be singing the blues with the best of them.


Fish on!,
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Ha Ha...CMM.

I saw the daddy Canadian Goose run off a large white heron yesterday...
basically followed the heron down the shoreline angry squawking.

Be careful with those otters....3 river otters basically devastated my fish population this winter.

Look what just arrived while I was out for lunch today...look out algae!



Fishing has never been about the fish....

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