At a small sportman's club lake (maybe 3 acres) near me, it has oodles of blue gills. In several hours of fishing over multiple days and one night using bluegill/bass/catfish appropriate lures/bait, a friend of mine and I caught hundreds of bluegill (many 9 - 11 inches), about two or three small (6 - 10")largemouth bass, and nothing else.

One theory is that there are some large bass or catfish predators in the lake that control the smaller bluegill. To support this theory, the person references the large bluegill with no apparent stunting and some big arches that have been seen on a fish finder.

Another theory is that maybe people have caught out the bass and bluegills are dominant. For this theory, it seems like I've read somewhere (I searched many of the threads here trying to find it) that it could be a sign of large bluegill dominating the lake and eating the fry so no competition develops.

The sportsman club is barely solvent so they can't afford to have it shocked and it is not conducive to seining or draining just to solve my curiousity.

What do you guys think the situation is as to balance of the fish population?

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