Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Bruce Condello: great article on bluegills!

Just got my Pond Boss mag and want to say the article Bruce wrote was excellent. Unfortunately it had me yearning for more!

Bruce, I do have one question. Although it is the general consensus that males grow the largest, didn't you say your females were actually the biggest fish for you?

I will be planting only males in a pond, but can't help thinking if I segregate females in another pond or cages I could get big females too. As a taxidermist the really big bluegills I get it seem to be females, but in all honesty they are taken in during a time of year when it is hard to tell for sure.

Cecil - Bruce is in TX fishing for stripped bass, he will be back Monday.

cecil,
I sent you an e-mail earlier this week, but I am having recieving\sending problems with my e mail.
I am going to send you it again to your jjbaird
address, hope that is ok
thanks,
trout bum

Trout Bum,

It was sitting in my Spam Arrest. I retrieved it and replied.

Thanks, Cecil for the kind words.

After evaluating at least a dozen ponds with trophy-sized bluegills I've concluded that the males will grow a little larger than the females in most cases. The one exception being that gravid, pre-spawn females may weight a little more albeit shorter than the males in those same ponds.

I think that in smaller ponds with decent populations of mature bluegill that a person can make a significant impact on top-end growth by targeting and removing females only, the reason being that this may slightly reduce the number of young-of-the-year available each spring to compete with the adult fish. This way you can impact the overall number of adults (which I guarantee you can do) without risking overharvest since you would be unlikely to remove more than half of all adults by removing only females. Sometime maybe we can get into identification or sexing of fish.

I have no problem with the culling of females as it makes lots of sense. Just wondered if males are really bigger and you've answered my question. I wasn't trying to contradict your management method.

I do remember harvesting some females that had bellies like tennis balls and that would obviously contribute significantly to their weights.

Bruce,

Welcome back and I echo the compliments on your article and the picture is priceless...

but I'd like to ask a question....that I haven't asked in half a century....how do you tell the boys from the girls....BG that is?

Thanks, Meadowlark!!

The males breast or belly area has subtle variations on the bronze/red color and the female has variations in the gold/yellow range. The males "ear tab" or flap is longer anterior/posterior or front to back than the female's is. In other words, the front to back length is about the same as top to bottom. The females ear tab is more of a slit or crescent without a lot of front to back length. Wish I could draw a picture here.

The male also has a more pronounced hump right in front of the spiny dorsal fin, especially dominant males.

Keep in mind that some male bluegill will intentionally mimic female patterns but females will not mimic male patterns. The two male variations are "cuckholder" and "sneaker". The former will hang around the nest trying to look like a female, then dart in at the prime moment and distribute sperm. The latter remains small and without much color and literally hides in the bushes for a chance to charge in for one good spurt. Strange happenings......

Man...and I thought rocket science was tough.

Thanks.

Beware of Bruce: After meeting him, I got so excited about changing some of my pond management strategies that I went and spent 400$ on various supplies the next day. The guy definitely has enthusiasm. I can't wait to learn more about Wiper/Bluegill management from him.

On a side note: I just got my pond boss mag today and couldn't help but notice the nice teeth on the girl on the cover. She must have a good dentist.