Should I be removing bluegill from the pond or should I let nature run its course?
What are your goals for the fishery? Since you have crappie and bullheads, I would protect all bass and encourage them to be mostly 8"-13" long that eat lots of 2"-3.5" fish. You want lots of smaller bass to be eating lots of small bullhead and crappie if you desire larger harvestable panfish. You could harvest a couple or a few bigger (14"-16") bass each year after the 1st bass spawn (offspring) has grown to 6"-9". By this time the larger bass of 15"-16" will be usually eating larger fish in the 4.5"-5.5" range. You normally want 5" panfish around to fill the gap of harvested 8"-9" panfish. Note: a few HSB will eat numerous small crappie when these small crappie hang out in open water as 1"-2" crappie.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 01/15/1804:58 PM.
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