I just want to thank Pond Boss and Dave Willis for the recent article on Bluegill breeding site selection. I have two ponds, both muddy, and the bluegill reproduce just fine. But the article indicated that bluegill overwhelmingly prefer pea gravel in 3' of water with quick access to deep water. So I decided to help them out. In my newly enlarged 1A pond I now have large flats that should be around 3 ft deep, close to the original, deeper pond basin. I put three 12'x12' tarps down in three different places (to keep the pea gravel from sinking into the mud) and I am going to cover them about 4" deep in pea gravel. If you decide to do something like that, I recommend puncturing the tarp in several places to help the bubbles escape. It makes the process much easier. Now if I can just get more rain.
