Pond Boss Forums PHOTO GALLERY Image Gallery A little BG action

From my 5 ac pond

Or at least I think its a BG!

I'm no pro but that looks like it has a lot of red eared sunfish in it!! The pros will let you know. Prob some type of hybrid. Whatever it is ...a very nice fish!!

What is the stocking history of the pond ?

No idea on the stocking history. Bought the place in 2012 and pond was maybe 5 years old then. I've caught these BG lookers, LMB and white crappie. The bass are mostly 1-1.5 lb and 10-14" long. Crappie are 8-12" long and maybe 1 lb. The BG lookers are mostly that size down to maybe 5" long. My guess is there is not enough forage for the LMB and Crappie. I have been keeping all the crappie trying to slow them down.

The colored margin on the opercular tab suggests hybrid to me, but I'm no lepomis expert - it's a beautiful fish regardless!

I don't think that is a pure BG or RES. Likely a hybrid.

I can say for certain it is not a pure bluegill it looks to be a redear if you see the little color at the back of the opercular tab i cant see very clear but it seems to have the redish hue of a redear. And if you have only redear stocked in the pond that would explain the smaller size of the bass that you have caught because redear spawn less often than bluegills so there is less forage for the crappie and bass so they will be stunted. Secondly of it was a hybrid hope for your sake it was a natural hybrid of a bluegill and redear instead of the pond being only stocked with hybrids because of an even slower reproduction rate due to the fact that almost all hybrids are males around 95%. The 2 pics are of the bluegill and bass in my little "lake" due to its depth at one area. But notice on the bluegill the complete black of the opercular tab which sorry the way i took the pic you can barely see but if you look closely beside my thumb you can see the back edge of it and the blue hue on the opecular flap that is what a true bluegill looks like and of course it will vaey slightly from one body of water to another due to environmental factors but a pure bluegill will always have an opercular flap that is black all the way to the edge and some shade of blue on the opecular flap. And one last thing if it is a hybrid it could pull traits from either parent species so for a 100% positive answer you could have somone who knows thier sunfish see a few in person for a proper identification or more detailed pictures especially in the areas od the opercular flap and tab and the soft dorsal area becaise those are really the 2 easiest areas to tell the difference between a bg a res or a hybrid. Beautiful fish though and if your more intrested in larger bass for the fun fight they give i would do as you had mentioned and thin out the crappie population because white crappie which i beleive is what you said are voracious fingerling eating monsters lol, myself i prefer the taste of gils and crappie so thats mainly what i harvest and durring the summer months when its nice and i crave fish i probably take 10 or so bg between 7 and 8 inches in a day to eat and maybe 3 or 4 crappies at 9 10 inches plus as well. but with 240 acres i can take what i want and it doesnt hurt the overall size structure or population if i thrown the 9 plus inch bluegills back for the smaller ones to delay maturity until they are larger. Sorry for the long reply...

Looks like a BGRES to me. Love those hybs.