Daryl Bauer, who is a biologist for the Nebraska Game and Parks commission has told me that for a project, they looked at all of the various state records of bluegill, green sunfish, and bluegill/green sunfish hybrids, and they were absolutely convinced that the hybrid (GS X BG) has less ultimate growth potential than the purebred bluegill,
all other things being equal, such as food availability, water quality etc.
Intuitively (which means nothing from a scientific standpoint, of course), it doesn't make sense for me that you could take one fish that grows to 1.5 pounds, and another that grows to 3 pounds, and produce a fish that grows to be 4 pounds.
I've always told clients that when it comes to BG X GS, big mouth = more prey options = faster initial growth.
Furthermore, there have been countless instances that I've heard of folks who bought GS X BG hybrids and were told by the supplier that they will automatically get to be 2 pounds, yet I've caught and handled literally thousands, if not tens of thousands of these hybrids and never seen a true two-pounder. I've seen tons of fish in the 1-1.5 pound range. I once handled a hybrid that weighed 1-12, but that wouldn't rank in the top 100 bluegills that I've weighed.
It's an interesting mental exercise. I've admittedly not seen that one "all-defining" study that stacks BG against BG X GS. It would be extremely interesting, and it could be one of many times that I've had to eat my words.
I've been wrong before, and I'm likely to be wrong again.
