Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain New pond middle TN: establishing food chain?

Bill:

I hand sorted HBG that were going into a pond and pulled 4 BG from the batch. I did the same with the RES that went into the pond and 3 years down the road the owner catches what looks to be pure Northern Bluegill from the pond that are over 8" long. If I let enough BG slip through the cracks to create a reproducing population in a pond then a person that doesn't see 10's of thousands of fish a year would have an even harder time.

These were 1"-2.5" sized RES and HBG. For me, a HBG is easy to tell from a BG, even at that size. A BG mixed in with RES at that size is WAY harder (for me) to tell for sure what is what.