Maybe Sprkplug can measure the mouth gape of a 10.75" long HBG so we can compare the mouth size of a large HBG and the LMB that I caught and noted mouth size above. Sprkplug is about the only one I know that has 10.75" HBG.
aka Pond Doctor & Dr. Perca Read Pond Boss Magazine - America's Journal of Pond Management
I'd also be interested in the gape of a Green sunfish.
Before or after I smash them with my foot and throw them back in the pond for CC food?
Seriously, I caught about a 6" one last evening just before dark and about a dozen 1.5-3" in a minnow trap (along with some bullheads ). Several 4" ones by hook and line. The next time I catch some will measure the mouth gape for you.
A 4" GSF is more like a 3" BG as far as size, but the mouth looks as big as a 7-8" BG.
I don't like to see them get up to 6". Means they have already eaten way too many of my BG fry. I catch lots of GSF in the minnow trap when I set it but no BG fry. Keep hoping to finally catch some BG fry.
"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"
If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1) And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1) Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT? PB answer: It depends.
I harvested my first bunch of FHM recruits out of my forage pond the other day. They were only about half grown, but the pond was so thick with them thought it would not hurt to take some biomass out. Got probably five pounds in three different trappings. Turned them loose in the old pond where the GSF are. Yesterday I was watching a shallow area that had recently been dug on the water entrance area of the pond for a filter/wetland area. Some of the small minnows were in there. 2-3" GSF were stalking the smaller minnows up into the shallow water, following their every move.
The GSF probably enjoyed my 5# of half grown minnows. I know they like the pelleted feed. A small GSF can take a whole pellet at once where a BG of similar size can't.
Pictures of three fish below. At first I thought the first two I caught were likely GSF, but the mouth did not look big enough. Caught the third one and it looked more hybrid but with the same mouth gape. So I finally decided they were all hybrids. Likely ones I caught out of my main pond and transfered to the old pond where I have native GSF. I really have trouble identifying hybrids until I catch a full GSF, then the GSF is obvious. I've only caught a few larger GSF out of this pond (6") but tons and tons of 4" ones.
Fish one 7" with 7/8" mouth gape Picture 1 Fish two 7" with 7/8" mouth gape pictures 2 and 3 Fish three 7 1/4" with 7/8" mouth gape. picture 4
All three fish together picture 5
Sorry about the dirt on the fish in the 5th picture, but the subjects were not being cooperative for the group photo. They all went back into the pond.
"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"
If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1) And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1) Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT? PB answer: It depends.
Excerpt from Robert Crais' "The Monkey's Raincoat:" "She took another microscopic bite of her sandwich, then pushed it away. Maybe she absorbed nutrients from her surroundings."
I kind of wondered if the third fish might have had some RES in it. It had different coloration on the body and bright white around the fins and belly rather than yellowish like the other two. I know coloration is not a reliable indicator, but the third fish just seemed to have pattern more like RES. GSF have light orange margins around the ear tab, but I thought this fish was darker. Pics do not show what I'm talking about very well.
Mouth gape on the 10.75" HBG measured a disappointing 1" both horizontally and vertically. I was pretty surprised by that, especially since the fish displayed predominantly GSF body dynamics.
"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"
If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1) And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1) Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT? PB answer: It depends.
Growing and catching a 10.75" HBG is a real accomplishment. Great job Sprkplug. The mouth gage for Sprkplug's 10.75" HBG of 1" and the mouth gape of my 8.25" HBG above of 1.25"(32mm) are noticeably different. I measured my fish twice. This difference in mouth size must be due to HBG of different parental crosses of BG male X female GSF vs BG female X GSF male?. I would suspect a somewhat different body composition when the sex of the parent fishes are reversed. FYI - Mouth gape of a 8.25" green sunfish is 1.3" (34mm). By my measurement the mouth gape of a 8.25" LMB is 1.3" (33-34mm). Anyone else have any 8"-8.5" bass to measure the width of the open mouth?.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 08/17/1404:12 PM.
aka Pond Doctor & Dr. Perca Read Pond Boss Magazine - America's Journal of Pond Management
Excerpt from Robert Crais' "The Monkey's Raincoat:" "She took another microscopic bite of her sandwich, then pushed it away. Maybe she absorbed nutrients from her surroundings."
Fed a few pellets to the small GSF in close to the bank today. Fed a hand full then as I got a group gathered around, just threw out a floating pellet one at a time so I could observe. GSF are aaaaaagressive. I was amazed at 3" fish taking full pellets (the pellets I was feeding were game chow with multiple size pellets). No way would one of my BG (of the same length)in the big pond do that. The little BG would peck at it, but the GSF just swallow it whole. Sometimes 4 and five fish at once going after a single pellet, most in the 3-4" range (I have removed a lot of the 4" by trapping). Just need to be able to make the things grow bigger. They are one heck of a fish. Just don't get big enough. Have to settle for HBG.
Looks like a chart update is in order. Weather is cooling now. My pond was high 60s top and low 60s at 13-14'.. prolly not much of a thermocline, but if there were big fish, good fishing weather. Get out and catch a few and measure gapes.
I'm heading down to the pond for the weekend (20 grit sanding on 1100 sq ft of 50 yo oak floors). Dump lotta data in the thread and I'll post a new chart early next week.
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). Several 4" ones by hook and line. The next time I catch some will measure the mouth gape for you. 
I know they like the pelleted feed. A small GSF can take a whole pellet at once where a BG of similar size can't.
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Mmmmmmmm beer!
