Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait Bluegill Beds

Lots here on the subject - see this thread

https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=199269&page=1

BG are colony spawners so don't do long skinny beds - 10 x 10 would be better and put them where the BG spawn (not where silt is likely).

Look at these pics for some ideas. Dont need solid gravel but some in each bed. Replicate the pics.














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Another study addresses substrate composition importance. In Role of Male Parental Care in Survival of Larval Bluegills by Mark B. Bain and Louis A. Helfrich in Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 112: 47-52, 1983 the authors noted optimum Bluegill nest materials were exposed coarse gravel ( 8-32 mm diameter) and pebbles (32-64 mm) in nest substrate and that Bluegill removed particles smaller than 2 mm. Particles larger than 8 mm provided suitable interstitial space to accommodate bluegill larvae. Survival of larvae was directly correlated with the proportion of coarse substrate in the nest.