So I think I know what the general consensus may be here, but I figured I would go ahead and ask.
I am planning to add some fish to my 5 acre shared lake right around Fathers Day this year. I have a few others on the lake willing to chip in to lower per person cost or get some extra fish.
The lake has quite a lot of short but stocky LMB (12"+ tend to look skinny), a few skinny black and white crappie, a few channel cats, and unknown quantity and quality bluegill.
Regarding the bluegill: I say unknown quality and quantity for a specific reason. When we fist moved here four years ago, bluegill were abundant, mean, and very nice size. Two years ago while we were out of town for a month, neighbors said that the lake apparently "turned over" and 3-400 bluegill were found floating. While I did not witness it, I can say that I don't think they have really recovered as I have not caught them as frequently as I used to. Of course, due to our three year old son, i don't fish as much as I once did either.
Since then we have put in an aeration system, I have added quite a bit of cover to the lake, and am trying to stock FHM from time to time at 1000/ surface acre.
I eventually would like to have an awesome bluegill lake with some nice crappie and a few high quality bass. I want to swing the pendulum from a lot of short bass to having more sizable bass and high quality and abundant bluegill.
So all that in mind, what would you be inclined to stock this year?
Sorry for the novella, but figured all the info was going to be important.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Ryan
