Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Green Sunfish

i started out renovating this 1.62 acre pond.
i drained it completly down to the bottom even all the pot holes then applied prefin fish toxiant(reotone) to entire bottom(painfull process walking entire bottom inch by inch)hitting every wet spot and all the banks. the pond started filling 2 days later, so i soaked the new water with a heavy dose of the reotone just to make sure everything was dead, that was in nov 05. i just stocked 2000 bream,1500 fatheads in march 06.Call me crazy but ive been going around the banks with a flashlight in the evening when i get home from work checking on the progress of growth an distribution of the minows . toinght i noticed a 2 to 3inch fish. best i can tell it looks like a green sunfish having seen a few when i drained the pond. Im now for sure how many got back in there or how,Will the bass when they come (in may or june) control or eliminate them ? whats best option to take now? pond is located in central alabama

You're not crazy, you're just a pond neurotic like the rest of us.

Your story is one we've heard before. It seems like the green sunfish is the fish most likely to survive the nuclear holocaust. Two ponds that I've been asked to manage and supposedly had never been stocked were found to be loaded with green sunfish. Although every situation varies dependent on it's own unique circumstances, the two ponds I mentioned both ultimately were rid of their greenies by LMB predation. Both times the GS population dropped for two years, then disappeared the third year, and in each case there were a few GS X BG hybrids that showed up for another four or five years. If your pond is designed in a way that allows sight predators to thrive, then the GS are unlikely to ever be a big player in your pond. Ponds with poor clarity, super high levels of rooted vegetation, or heavy predator harvest seem to have more persistent GS populations in my experience.

I don't really see green sunfish as a great problem. They're not heavy spawners and are more cylindrical shaped that most other sunfish. That makes them a better fit for a predators mouth and gut. They don't get as large as a bluegill so they aren't much of a table fish. I used to toss them on the bank when I caught them but no longer do. To me, they are just another, albeit inefficient, forage fish. Although, I think they're a prettier fish than a bluegill I'm not going to stock them. I can't see them as giving value.

Are you sure what you got from the hatchery? It is not unheard of to get a GSF or 2 in some BG deliveries. Over time in a BG/LMB pond it should work out ok as per Bruce and Dave's comments. I hope you got a chance to look over the BG before they went in and there are only a few GSF. If they brought you HBG with a few GSF that is a different matter .

ewest is correct. Depending on the hatchery and its owners, a few green sunfish can be in with the bgill or redear sunfish. I have seen the rare GSF mixed in with bass fingerlings.

the state supplied the BG/RES but all of them were 3/4 inch long. this one was much bigger. I couldnt tell if i got a clean batch of BG/RES from the hatchery being they were so small.
i only noticed a few GSF 3-4inch long in the pond when i drained it but there was heavy predation from crappie an some large (19-24)LMB before. The state supplying 200- 2 inch LMB in may 06,but i got them to put off shippment till june 06.i was advised by a pond manger to only stock 125 for my pond.

i got my answers today. i went out this afternoon with a #10 hook an some worms a i caught a 3-4 green sunfish. it was a female GSF with a sack full of eggs. (was is the key word).
i only noticed like 4 poppin the surface so maybe i can get the rest of them.
maybe all rest are female ;] :rolleyes:

kemp31 - keep fishing, green sunfish are a little more agressive than the bgill and RES and the more that you can catch out now the better your situation will be. A strong bass population will keep the green sunfish under control. Also if you go to Wal-Mart and buy a couple wire minnow traps. Open the funnel throat a little larger to greenies will fit into the trap. Lightly paint then drab color and bait with bread, you should be able to catch a few more green sunfish. GSF readily go into fish traps.

For those with green sunfish (GSF) see this topic of how bass can get them under control:
http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=000102;p=1#000002

I have fished a private lake here in Lincoln that had an overabundance of GSfish and not enough LMB to wipe them out or keep them under control. In fact the GSfish were so abundant that they kept the LMB reproduction to almost nothing. The interesting thing is that I would consider most the LMB in this lake to all be "Magnums" where 17-18" LMB regularly wieghed 5 lbs or better and LMB's under 15" were seldom caught. Things have changed at this lake in the last four years with emergence of aquatic vegetation and the introduction of some adult BG which is a totally different story. Bottom line is that if there are enough GSfish present without any aquatic vegetation, their agressive nature could significantly limit LMB reproduction. The presence of aquatic vegetation for fry to hide in will change that though.

Each fishery situation is always a little unique, thus the widely variying situations.

Hey shorty, the largest bass i have seen in person was caught at a golf course pond.I cant tell you where but it was HIDDEN, hidden in a Valley arround Lincoln.

thks for all the help. will keep fishing an trapping for the greenies.

Hey John Wayne, my first job when I was 15 was dishwashing at a golf course, but it was HIDDEN, hidden in a Valley around Lincoln.