1/3 acre pond, 10ft avg depth. Currently stocked with non-hybrid bluegills300 Bluegills stocked as 1-2 inch fingerlings last year. Plan is to introduce LMB fingerlings this year. Gills are now 3-6 inches in length on average and very healthy.
My problem....bluegills are very aggressive and constantly peck at anyone swimming anywhere in the pond. My wife and daughters want my babies gone :-(
I am assuming this is an over-population and lack of predator (not afraid of anything) issue.
Looking for advice.
Maybe time to introduce some 8-10in LMB??
Also planning to remove as many BG females as possible.
They're hungry! And this is enhanced with the warmer water temps and their increased metabolism and the fact that you are probably not feeding them. They are going after the hairs on your body that undulate in the water similar to zooplankton. Once you get your predator fish in their you'll see a marked decrease in this problem or none at all.
I'd still wait until the fall to add your predator fish.
On a funny note my dad's nipples are brown and similar in size to a 5D06 pellet. Back when I had too many small gills in the pond he got nailed really hard in one nipple while we were swimming. Said it hurt bad enough he had to check and see if it was bleeding. We all laughed and laughed about it.
