Your largemouth won't eat all the bluegill if you stock the correct amounts, bluegill spawn throughout the spring and summer and provide lots of young-of-year for the bass to eat. If you want big bass you need to limit the number of bass you stock initially and go high on the bluegill stockings. If the bass are overcrowded you end up with some huge bluegills that the bass cannot eat and many stunted 8-10" bass. Those stunted bass eat all the newly hatched bluegill before they have a chance to grow and become a worthwhile meal.
Bottom line: Focus on your forage base first and get it established before adding predators. Patience now means a healthy and balanced pond for years to come. Trying to establish a forage base with predators present is VERY difficult and expensive. Instead of stocking 1000 2-3" bluegill which is affordable but won't make a dent in an 8 acre lake with bass, you have to stock 3000+ 5-8" bluegill that will survive predation but break your wallet. The cost is dramatically more expensive. If you stock your forage and wait several months before stocking predators you can buy less and smaller forage fish but get the same result as stocking three times that amount of full grown forage along with the bass at the same time.
Last edited by RockvilleMDAngler; 12/11/12 03:11 PM.
