Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Blue Gill harvest

If LMB need blue gill to survice and get fat why would you ever want to harvest any blue gill?

BURRRRRRRRP!

Ok, an answer for big bass fans - you have to provide appropriately sized forage for bass to eat and grow with efficiency. A 18" LMB can eat 3" BG, but he's going to spend much more effort to catch 15 or 20 of them to get the same amount of meat as it takes to catch one 6" BG. So one reason for possibly harvesting BG (like with a slot limit) is to shape your BG population to the size(s) your bass population needs the most.

As Theo provides it is all about balance. Both in the BG and LMB populations. To achieve your goals you manipulate/manage both , to get the desired results. The down side to your exact question is if you remove no BG and the LMB population can not eat enough to control them they will overpopulate and may cause a stunted BG population (many 2-4 in.BG). This can be as serious as a stunted LMB population and can actually cause such a result. It can also cause poor LMB recruitment as the hoard of 3in. BG eat all the LMB eggs and fry.

This series of posts reminds me of a guy I ran into in Massachusetts. After he noticed I was fishing for bluegills which he considered trash fish he said, "You can take every last one of them out of this lake. They are garbage as far as I am concerned. I like to fish for the bass."

I should have asked him what his bass were supposed to eat but I didn't. Sometimes ignorance is best left alone.

Mike, this was not directed to you as you were advocating just the opposite, but these posts reminded me of the conversation I had with this guy.