Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Corrective stocking Adding BG to pond with hybrid BG

Our homeowner's assn. has a 3/4 acre pond that was stocked before I moved into the neighborhood. There are a lot of CCs, fewer LMB, BG and 5-6 grass carp.

The LMB are stunted and the BG are huge. But there are few BG in the pond. I finally got a chance to chat with the pond maintenance guy and he told me the bluegill are hybrid. He also said that they intially added some sort of shiner but I don't see any in the pond.

I plan to add some structure to help increase bluegill population and I'm feeding them. Should I add some non-hybrid BG, too? I think there's not enough forage for the bass and CC.

Tim

Are you unhappy with a quality sunfish pond? Growing quality LMB in a smaller pond is an extremely difficult undertaking...

Good question. I'm not necessarily trying to grow huge LMB. I'm more concerned because I see so few HBG that eventually there they will disappear.

In my opinion, managing for big BG and big LMB in a 3/4 acre pond is an uphill battle. It can be hard enough just trying to keep a smaller BOW in some semblence of balance, without one species overrunning the other.

HBG will never provide the forage that the Bass need in order to get any size to them. I don't think adding structure will have that much impact if the pond is left in it's current configuration, species wise. HBG will disappear over time, especially in a pond with numerous stunted Bass, provided that no additional HBG are added.

If permissable, I would work on removing the CC, now that you're feeding the BG. You described numerous stunted Bass....great for a pond dedicated to growing big BG, not so good if larger Bass is the goal. Which direction are you leaning?

The CC are definitely the dominate fish in the pond. Not my preference but because the pond belongs to the homeowners assn. I can;t change it.

I'm not sure what the CCs are eating but they're pretty big. I'm not after trophy bass but think the bass could be larger with more forage but I'm not sure the best way to add forage. Maybe it's time to add more HBG tothe pond. While there aren't a huge number now, they're big.

Hybrid bluegill won't adequately reproduce to support the bass...or the catfish. If you want to stock more hybrid bluegill, the result will be to recruit into the existing population...that is, adding more will give you more hybrid bluegill to compete, grow and for anglers to catch.
If you want to increase forage fish production, stock adult bluegills. Adding structure for adult bluegills and making sure they have spawning habitat will do two things. It will increase the odds of producing more forage fish, based on how many predators you've got. It will also, over time, have young bluegills to replace the aging hybrid bluegills. Attrition drops the hybrid bluegill numbers over time, thus the need to restock those. Bluegill, on the other hand, are prolific enough to support their own population, within reason of the predator base which eats them.
Channel catfish are active predators, so they'll eat a fair number of your young of the year bluegills, as will the bass.
Considering you are in Dayton, Ohio, I would expect one or two bluegill spawns each year. One if they fish are in moderate to good condition, two if they are in good to excellent condition.
Feeding a good feed with go a long way in helping with body condition.

Thanks Bob! I've been feeding them GFC but plan to order AquaMax in the future, based on your recommendation. I'll look into stocking some adult blurgill.

By the way, this forum is incredible!