The LMB and BG with help from RBT should , over time, take care of the unwanted sunfish. That is with your help by harvest/removal. I would spend the time and effort looking for adult BG and RES and larger LMB (8 - 10 in would be great). 50 - 25 now and 25 in spring - or all 50 now would be good. You could use a cage to grow out fish but you need BG that will spawn this spring and produce lots of babies. Another idea is to seine out as many of the sunfish as possible. Check to see what all your fish source options are as that will be your biggest problem.
I do have the possiblity to catch nicer size fish out of a lake nearby. However, questions that arise from that are:
1) Are the RES of a 6-8" able to make the move succesfully?
2) The largest BG I have caught there are 7-8". They are the nicest size BG around in any BOW near me. Is this a bad idea because they may not be a good strain of BG for stocking? Would they eventually have offspring that can get bigger?
3) What is the reason I want to make sure the good BG spawn this spring?
4) Everyones defination must vary on this, but what is adult BG size? Common sense tells me adult is when they are large enough to spawn, but isn't BG able to start doing this at a small size.
I apologize for what is simple questions. I have been following PondBoss for aprox 3 years now and have read alot. I was planning on spending my whole winter reading more and formulizing a stocking plan. I just feel now I have to act quickly.
