Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Bluegill breeding article

Eddie :

We have sand , gravel ,clay, dirt and silt mud bottoms in different parts of our ponds. Sand is in flat areas with some clay and rock and gravel . The clay is also on points out into the ponds and on some excavated areas (flats) in about 3-6 ft. of water. Both have some gravel and rock. The dirt and silt mud are in coves and ditches where there is no water flow to wash it out.

When we renovated the ponds a few years ago during a fall draw down we made a number of new beds / colonies. We did this where 2-6 ft of water will be when full. We took a shovel and went to hard clay areas and made a series of pie plate sized indentions by compaction with the shovel and foot and filled them with small to mid sized gravel. We would place about 25 in a location and go to the next area. We also went to clay banks and spread gravel about 6in. deep across an area descending down the bank fron 2-5 ft deep. Each area was about 20 x 20. Then we went to areas where there were existing BG beds and added small gravel to each bed (about a shovel full per bed). We then made some LMB beds in similar locations using gravel and spawning benches and specific board enclosures with gravel for site fishing.

All of these locations have been used by BG/RES and LMB. They seem to like the gravel best but also use plain clay points with gravel( the ones where we added gravel to existing beds). The only places where there is no spawning observed is the silty areas. We even have a few LMB that spawn on top of eroded tree stumps where the stump top is 2ft+- under water.

Avoid areas where silt will wash in. Use gravel in several different locations at several depths where they will get sunlight. I would not make the 20 x 20 gravel squares again as I think it wasted to much gravel in one spot. I would locate some beds on the north end of the pond esp.if it is wind protected and some on the south end in deeper water and on clay points or hard areas. We did not use fabric or tarps and the gravel has not sunk where placed in compacted clay beds or on clay points. Don't place beds in places where heavy weed growth may shade out the beds but weeds adjacent to beding areas are good. Here is a link - look at the bottom of page for info.

http://www.sdafs.org/reservoir/manuals/habitat/Main.htm

BM :

I saw your question and have been thinking about it. I have not seen any written material on that point. There are some studies on manipulating temp. and light etc. to effect the spawn in RAS or lab settings and they worked. I don't know on trying it with your pond. I would be concerned that I did not understand all the possible biologic responces it would cause. You know don't fool with mother nature as there is to much I don't know about the causes and effects. While you could draw down the water and cool it down you would have a hard time changing the photo period (light period). If you could change both for the right length of time then you could effect the BG spawn but it might shut down other natural processes like the plankton bloom and all the critters that go up the food chain. It could also kill the existing first yoy spawn or expose them to extreme predation. To complicated for me to even make a WAG on results. ewest

I can't add to the discussion on BG spawn but conserning ground nesting birds such as phesant, if for some reason the hens nest is destroyed or the clucth doesn't hatch she will nest again. All her eggs were fertilized in the initial breeding. This explains why one will see different sizes of young quail, phesants or turkeys in the fall.

Dude....yeah......I remember now....Rolling Spawn! Yeah dude...didn't they like, uh, open for Humble Pie in like '73? Killer light show, man!!

Sunil, just lay off the gas!

Eddie, most of the folks I know in East Texas, including myself, would rather not promote more LMB spawning, but less. Depends on your pond objectives, but LMB do not seem to have any difficulty at all in overpopulating small ponds without gravel in this part of the world. As for BG, I don't know if the addition of gravel is cost effective or not. I do know they will spawn prolifically without gravel in our sandy areas of ponds, but would they spawn more and more often with gravel to justify the cost? I don't know.

I will offer, not to the surprise of regular Forum members , that if you want lots more BG in your LMB pond, stock Tilapia in the spring. The Tilapia take the pressure off BG predation and BG numbers will rise. I've seen it happen two years running in 4 separate ponds.