As mentioned mixed sex bluegill will easily create several thousand small BG each year in most ponds. This will quickly lead to overpopulation, over eating the foods available and slow growth and even stunting. To minimize this it takes significant predation of fry and young ones, or manual strong population reduction.
Easiest way to get male only BG is to go somewhere and catch your own BG. I prefer to catch and use pellet fed or trained BG. To know you are getting good or rapid growing BG individuals should be around 7.5 to 8" long before you can reliably and accurately determine male from female. Smaller easily recognizable males are generally slower growers, often stunted as noted in Part2 of the articles below. Identifying male BG is not all that difficult once you learn the key features to look for in each population. There has been quite a bit of info posted here about features of male and female BG. Do your homework and ask questions if necessary. In some bodies of water the males and females will look slightly different than the stand adult BG. You may need some advice initially with specific photographs depending on your situation. Do a Google search for Pond Boss male female bluegill or similar words. We can provide identifications of BG you are not sure about if you take a picture and post it here. Best rule is when in doubt throw it out.
Here are a couple links to get you started.
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=21481http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=319582http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=113763Bluegill options in small ponds
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=189988If you are serious about using just male bluegill you should consider reading these three articles in back issues of PBoss magazine.
BEHEMOTH BLUEGILLS IN SMALL PONDS. In Part I, Cody, Condello and Baird provide the necessary details of how to accurately sex bluegills as the first step to produce trophies in small waters. Mar-Apr 2006.
GROWING BEHEMOTH MALE BLUEGILLS; Part II. Cody, Condello and Baird present info about size, growth, stocking densities, and choosing proper male bluegills. May-Jun 2006.
THE ART OF MANAGING BEHEMOTH MALE BLUEGILLS.Part3. Cody, Condello and Baird conclude their three part article about raising trophy male bluegills. Discussed are best size of ponds, natural foods, supplemental feeding, angling implications, females only, and creative ways to use male bluegills. A standard weight table for bluegill is included. Jul-Aug 2006.
