Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Corrective stocking Redear Sunfish with Hybrid Bluegill

I just recieved the new pond boss magazine and it had an article about overpopulated bass. They did not mention hybrid bluegill in the article and I was wondering; would redear sunfish be a great diversity,forage species for bass?Will they reproduce with the hybrids and mess up the pond?

While the Redear (RES) would bring diversity to the pond, they don't have the fecundity that BG have. They don't make as good of a forage species for LMB as BG. RES go well with SMB in ponds, as long as the pond location isn't too far north.

What is a good forage species? I have read that bluegill will reproduce with hybrids and will cause hybrids to dissapear?

BG of known good genetic quality will out grow HBG after about year #2 if grown under the same conditions.

What do you want the forage species to feed? (i.e. BG would be a poor forage species for YP but a very good one for LMB)

To add to my previous post, if you were looking for a forage species for LMB, FHM (for small LMB), BG, GSH, TS, and in certain BOW with large LMB, GS.

If the BOW has a population of stunted LMB, the only ways to turn it around are kill it and start over or harvest all the LMB that are under WR (or all LMB) that you can. LMB will eat themselves out of house and home, that's why it's important to harvest LMB from ponds. You'll never be able to catch them all.

BG + RES with FH and LMB are a common stocking method. RES can cross with GSF and BG - not sure about with HBG but my guess is yes it is possible but is not something I would worry about. Unlikely to cause a problem. If you mix in BG with HBG over time the BG will prevail. You will need more forage than just HBG and RES to go with LMB assuming normal #s.