jawbone: Saw your post about bgill in Managing MI Ponds (MMP). I will elabortate on their comments regarding bgill as unsatisfactory in MI because of stunting. All fish will stunt when the food becomes limiting or in short supply. A fish will grow as long as it lives as long as food is in excess; when food is in short supply growth stops or slows down. Food becomes limiting usually because of overcrowding, "too many hogs at the trough" as Bob Lusk (aka Pond Boss King)says. MMP's main reason for not highly recommending the bgill is because they "breed profically, overpopulate .. and overgraze the food supply" thus stunting occurs. MMP does say that "intensive management is required to maintain good growth".
Jawbone, this is where you come into the picture; intensive management. It also relates back to MMP not advising fertilization or feeding pellets. Without fertilizing or feeding, food supply quickly becomes in short supply. To keep fish growing they need to have unlimited food so thay can eat whenever hungry. This means either provide plenty of food for bgill or drastically thin their numbers so fewer fish can have adequate food that is produced naturally within the pond system. Most pondowners find it easiest to just feed pellets to produce good growth; it works pretty good BUT it also causes extra plant/algae growth for you to deal with.
Most are willing put up with the weeds in exchange for great fish and fishing.
When Bob L gets back on the board you will find that a prolific forage fish is just what he wants and recommends to grow big bass which are ideal at eating bgills. So bgill are great at producing food for bass & catfish.
Contrary to what MMP hints as 6" as the max size of bgill after 4-6 yrs; if fed or their numbers are kept thinned you can easily grow big bgill in MI. Numerous lakes in MI produce large bgill 9-10". It can also be done in your pond; they just have to have ample food and their numbers controlled either with predation, trapping or fishing. Remove the small and intermediate sizes and allow the largest ones to keep growing.
When stocking bgill, largemouth is your best predator; they have a large mouth and large throat & big appetite to swallow bgill. If you don't have PBoss's Raising Trophy Bass by Bob Lusk get it; it will educate you on things that MMP doesn't provide. B. Cody
