You know, Cecil got #105-305, and I kept #'s 1-104. This was out of around 6,000 sorted through. After Cecil got his fish I took the ones that I kept and put them in a lined pond and started up the automatic feeder. I've had two interesting observations, one expected, and one highly unexpected.
First observation: My bluegill are feeding very agressively. When the feeder goes off in the morning and in the evening the bluegill go nuts and eat every speck they can get ahold of.
Second observation (big surprise!): The fish are extremely spooky! I can't get a look at them because if I am in the near vicinity they will scatter and go completely off the feed. Why in the world would fish that I hand fed for six months in a 150 gallon tank be this way? Don't get me wrong--I'm glad they're spooky. I don't want them following around every tall object that happens by the pond (see notes on Great Blue Heron). Finally I got so frustrated that they wouldn't let me watch them, that I took an almost microscopic fly on my flyrod, and pinched down the barb and caught one. He fought like a freakin' maniac. 6 5/8 inches and fat as all get out.
Unfortunately I don't think I'm going to get that 8 inch threshold in 12 months. Maybe I've got a few 7's--I don't know.
I'm going to cut and paste this post to the "questions about raising bluegills" thread for future reference.
Holding a redear sunfish is like running with scissors.
