I actually fished for a decent amount today just to get an overview of my bluegills.
Most all of my stocked gills (whether male or female) are 8+" and fat. A few of the 30 or so I caught were 10 or better. All of the fish look good, and there are fish from 3" to the largest that are all in good shape.
My bass are 8-10" and looking in good shape, but not sure if I'll get a spawn out of those this season. I've not observed any spawning, but my pond is a little dingy (18" or so vis) to see much.
My redear are starting to spawn and the original stockers are 7-8". Not as good of shape as the bluegill, but the bluegill are fat. The fish are thick, but not really oval shaped. A pic would be nice I know, but best I can describe is from the side they kinda look like a thick stocky bass (though obviously not as thick).
Catfish are around 10" and starting to make an appearance at feedings. Not really big enoug to harvest.
Baitfish are plentiful, both the GSH and my FHM, even the gold colored ones.
My thoughts for this year are to remove every catfish I catch and get them out (I guess "ideally" I'd like to have 50 or so at most by the end of the year).
But my question is about my bluegill. Should I catch and harvest all the "medium" sized bluegill that I can? Like say all the fish I know are not first gen fish and that are too large for my bass right now? That is my inclination, but I didn't know if it was really necessary. The bluegill did have several spawns last year with no predators in the pond, but I did stock a relatively small # for a fed 2 acre pond (500 total).
Thanks in advance.
While not the longest or biggest bodied I got here's one that is probably in the top 15% or so in my ponds original stockers.
