Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations taking bream out

how many bream should you take out of a 3 year old 5 acre pond in 1 year.we are trying to raise large bass and i know the bream are good bait for the bass but i do have family members who like to bream fish.so far this year they have removed 88 bream,i know this is not many but i keep my foot on there head the hole time there fishing.family members say i should remove the foot just a little.i was thinking maybe letting them take about 100 bream per acre,is this good are bad?i also do not let them take the largest bream to eat,i'm letting them take nice size bream just not the largest.is the good are bad?? thanks

wanted to bring this back up to see if somebody could help us on this.thanks

I think you are doing right in not letting them take out the biggest bluegill. There is probably some balance point at which they could take out certain numbers, but I have no clue what that is.

http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/cae/research/currentproj.html

Harvest numbers are tricky business. There are rules of thumb a person can go by and I would say that the 75-100/per acre is in the ballpark for rule of thumb. However, the job of the pond manager is to evaluate his pond and constantly make adjustments in order to maintain a proper balance.
I sympathize with you about pressure. This is another tough part about being a pond manager. All your friends and family think they know more than you.
I tell them like my dad use to tell me. "Yes, you get a vote in the matter but your vote just doesn't count"

i have been taking the medium size bream out of our lake to eat and throwing the largest one's back.i took 125 bream per acre out of my 4 1/2 acre pond last year.seems to be doing fine with these numbers.maybe some guys with more exp. will write and help out

Man things are diff in suburban Atlanta. I can not get folks to take fish out. Anyway my advice is to take as few as you can tolerate if big bass is your goal. Every bluegill is potnetial food or her offspring is food for your bass. Try to convince them to take small 10-14 inch bass instead. THey make great fillets and will help your big bass goal instead of hurintg it.