Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Sunfish-Including Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass Are these BG?

Posting a photo hope it works - Have a new, old pond, with a lot of these swimming around, question is what are they? They're very aggressive and will go after worms, crank baits. Have not caught any much bigger than these. The pond is about 3/4 acre the kids like catching them, but they're too small to bother trying to eat. ][/url]

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I'm really bad at the "name this fish" game but they look like BG to me. What other kinds of fish do you have?

I'm not to good at this game either, but I'd bet a quarter or two that they are bg. Cmm

We've had our new place about 9 months and started catching these right off the bat. I thought they were BG, but they don't seem to get much bigger. We have LMB, the larger ones seem to be in the 12" range. I stocked some CC about 25 of them in April, those are getting pretty fat. Also put in about 50 HBG off the fish truck that came to town, (i couldn't resist). The HBG that I put in were much darker in color. I've since caught some and they have definitely gained weight, but catching them is few and far between. I also put in 8lbs of Tilapia hoping to control algae.

I dont feed other than on the weekends that we come to the property. The catfish get most of it.
My goal...
I would like to get bigger BG for the dinner table, an occasional LMB and catfish. And Easy fishing for the kids. If these are BG how can I tell if they're stunted? If I'm not catching any much bigger, should I start taking them out and stock more HBG?

Look like BG to me. Blind in one eye? You should be able to get fillets off fish that size. What sizes are you catching? (lots of smaller bluegills also?) I'm thinking you're heavy on fish and light on forage/feed.

If you want bigger bluegills, you need to decrease their numbers, or increase the feed....or both. For my money, feeding gives you a lot of bang for your buck. The CC are probably hogging the feed, and that's counterproductive to your goal. You may want to remove the CC as soon as they reach table size, and I wouldn't stock any more fish until you have a better idea of what's in the pond now.

Any chance of investing in a quality feeder?

I am not a pro but I will offer up my thoughts until someone that knows what they are talking about shows up.

Lots of 6 inch skinny BG and only 12 inch LMB suggests to me that the previous owner MAYBE stocked fingerling LMB a couple years ago to get the BG under control. The LMB will be reaching a size soon that will be able to take out a lot of the BG you are catching now and increase the size of the survivors as the competition for available food drops. I suspect the reason you rarely catch your HBG is there are only 50 in a .75 acre puddle so they are scattered out pretty well. Again, I am not a pro. Just my 2 cents!

Good luck! Hope you keep posting to let us know the outcome as you figure things out.

Bill D.

Sorry, Looks like a pro showed up while I was typing.

Those look like typical Bluegills that are in a "wild" environment, i.e. no supplemental feeding going on. Since you are only feeding on the weekends, the BG probably haven't learned to eat the pellets. Plus if you are feeding catfish food, guess who it was designed for?

They aren't stunted, their eyes don't look too large for their body. Since you aren't catching any larger, I'm assuming that the pond is fairly new. Once the LMB get larger, they will start eating more Bluegills, freeing up more food for the remaining BG to grow larger.

You say you only come to the property on weekends. Any chance that others visit the pond during the week? Those bluegill don't appear stunted, but they don't display the growth traits we all like to see, either. How long have those fish been in the pond?

Now I'm the one typing too slow...

Just gotta uses all 8 fingers and one thumb sparkie!

When I do feed, I've been using Purina Game Fish, at first I did notice the BG taking the pellets but then spitting them out. Now its more like 50/50 if they spit it out? Then again the cats are right there to gobble everything up as fast as they can. The pond is 40 yrs old, the previous owner would only come to the property a couple times a year so the pond has not been managed at all. Although the pond is man made, its as close to a natural BOW as you can get, fills w/ rain n run off, has about 30% vegetation, 5-8ft deep in various locations. No aeration, but the water seems relatively clean, no smells, or overbearing algae. Visibility about 12-16".

I can see that more feeding needs to occur for bigger BG, but just wondering why the HBG seem to be growing at a faster rate than the BG if they are both exposed to the same occasional feeding? There is a lot of forage/fingerling, minnows. So I dont think there is a lack of food? Do BG eat BG fingerling?

If the BG pictured are not stunted, should they grow with more feedings? Should I start taking out anything I catch that size?

The larger gape of the HBG might be allowing them to utilize forage that is too large for your BG. Also, HBG will grow quickly for the first couple of years. The fish in the photo you posted appear to me to be older specimens, whose growth has slowed... The HBG are still young and growing quickly.

Also, these look like girl blue gill. No attempt at helmet head but still mature beautiful fish

Thank you all for your thoughts. I don't know when these BG were stocked, but it wouldnt surprise me if it was many years ago. They've been maintaining themselves for years so I guess nature has determined that for survival this is optimal size needed.

I plan on setting up a feeder and see if I can get them bigger. I do wonder if genetics will be in play now though. Is it possible that even if I feed, the fingerling will still not get much bigger because they've already been preprogramed to only get to 6 inches or so?

Would I be better off fishing as many out as I can and stock more of the HBG? Or should I bring in some BG or HBG from a reputable fish farm to try to improve the bloodline? Will HBG breed with BG?

HBG (GSF X BG) can backcross with its parentals (BG or GSF) but limited in success. The pic fish are BG or at least a very high % BG genetics. If you elect to add more BG add adults after making space for them (harvest same amount lbs/fish as you add). Given your location you should check on CNBG as a possible choice.

Another tip: Start feeding your BG Optimal Bluegill pellets and leave the GFC on the shelf. Esshup can help you source.