I'm sooooo glad I found this forum! Thank you in advance for your advice!
About 17 years ago we put in a 1/2 acre pond at our place where we camp. It's a 4 1/2 acre cluster of scrub woods that we own - in the country. Our own private camping place. The pond is kidney shaped with the center and one end 16 feet deep and the other end sloping from 0 to 6 feet. There is a quick sloping dropoff to the 16 foot area. Our intention was to use the pond for swimming and fishing.
When we stocked the pond we only put in "hybrid" blue gill. The people we bought the fish from told us they would not reproduce much and would be great for our small pond. They either didn't know what they were doing, or sold us the wrong fish. We put in 100 2-3 inch fish. Within a couple of years it was obvious that they were reproducing like crazy.
For the last 5-7 years the blue gill have become so agressive that we have to feed the fish before we can swim. They bite us constantly - especially the 3-5 inchers. They think any spot on our bodies is food - like moles, freckles, scars, etc. We feed them floating fish food we buy at the farm co-op, bread, oatmeal, - anything they will eat.
I'll admit, we haven't done a good job of harvesting the fish. We don't fish often enough. Three years ago a friend put 3 very big large mouth bass in the pond to help us. We found one of them floating dead the next week, with a hole all the way through the middle of it. We think a herron or another bird of that type might have killed it but couldn't carry it away. We have never seen the other two again. We don't know if they are there or not.
I have more time this summer to work on the population in this pond. I can fish them, net them, etc. I would like some advice on this and also on how to dispose of the fish that are too small to eat.
I know the fish are healthy, I caught 25 yesterday - mostly 3-4 inches but a couple 5 inchers. They all are strong and beautiful. I have 3 aquariums at home so I know what to look for in visible parasites, skin and fin condition, etc. These fish were perfect.
Sorry for the long post, I just wanted to give as much info as I thought was necessary.
