I am pleased with my CNBG growth rates in my grow out pond. The image below shows size differences over the course of 1 month and 5 days. At this rate they will need to be moved to their permanent home sooner than I thought.

fat little tummies on them too!

They grow fast when they are that size.

Good to know guys. I need some more 3 to 4" size from the first spawn after winter. That 3 to 4" size seems to be in lower numbers than I would like them to be just after winter months. Figure they are feed on through the winter months which puts fewer in the pond right after winter. By using a cast net away from my feeders I find about 20% of my bg catch is in the 3" in size in Early March.

A 3 inch CNBG in early March was likely a late hatched (sept) from last year.

I'm going to try to keep this thread updated with monthly pics to track the growth trends. I need to start putting a tape measure in the picture for reference and throwing them on digital scale for weight. Now that the fish are actively taking feed, I can confirm that the fish in the picture above is about average or slightly above average.

My plan was monthly updates but I netted a few fish today and am astonished at the growth that has occurred in the 15 days since the last photo opp.

I decided to throw the cast net yesterday and get a bit more scientific with my growth rate monitoring. I was able to catch 12 fish and made an attempt to measure length and weight. out of the group I had 2 fish that were definitely RES, 2 that I still could not accurately determine, and the rest confidently CNBG. Using one of the relative weight spreadsheets I found on this site, I plugged the numbers in and found that while the CNBG were running 110% to 120% relative weight, the RES were showing about 70% relative weight. The 2 unknown fish were also low relative weight and shorter which makes me suspect they are also RES. Is it normal for RES to start off slower that CNBG? One slight issue is that my scale only measures in 1/10 oz resolution so some of the data may be off. I should have switched it to grams before I started.

You can see the data here:
Relative Weight Spreadsheet

I was finally able to catch a few CNBG from the new pond. These fish have been in my ponds for right at 4 months now. I caught 3 fish and they all measured 5 inches give or take. The pond is absolutely crawling with fathead minnows and they get 2 servings per day of Optimal Panfish. I think I have a shot at hitting the 8 inch goal by winter.

Very nice.

Were any of them weighed for relative weights?

Not yet. I honestly hadn't had any luck catching them since I stocked them so I wasn't prepared to measure/weigh. Hoping to get the girls to catch a few now that they are biting better and I'll get weights then.

Beautiful colors on that CNBG.

Those are going to be some really beautiful fish in a couple more years.

Here's some pics from August and September. Its wild to see the difference since March of this year! Still very pleased! I tried to get some weights but it was so hot it caused my scale to overheat and not work properly. Maybe some other time.

August 26th 2018


Sept 26th 2018

Excellent!

Very nice work. I like the variation in your fish.

I've seen evidence of at least 2 or 3 panfish spawns in this pond over the summer so I thought it was time to take inventory of my recruitment. A few nights ago I went out with the cast net after dark to see what was happening. It didn't take long to discover that I need a predator fish ASAP. Here's what I was catching with almost every toss of the net:


Unfortunately the fall fish truck didn't have any largemouth available, but I was able to find some F1 bass at a fish farm about an hour north of me. I stocked 30 of the little guys this week. In the meantime, I'm probably going to run the seine through this weekend and see if I can't find some buyers for the larger CNBG fingerlings. I doubt these bass are going to grow quickly enough to stay on top of the larger age class and I really only want my original 100 CNBG and 25 RES from this spring surviving. I was impressed with these bass. Very healthy and lively:

Oh, and I happened on a few RES while cast netting. They look like they are doing well also. This fish is right at 6" long:

Very nice. Your plan is coming together!! Congrats!!

Yes it is! I'm very interested to see how this first winter season affects the pond. I've been very pleased with almost every aspect thus far.

Spring update. Caught this chunk lastnight. Possibly a RES/BG cross? I have not been able to catch any of the bass on hook yet but finally got one with the cast net. Fairly pleased with the winter growth on these guys.

That BG/RES (?) is very nice. Thanks for the updates.

Newest catches. The bluegill were stocked in spring 2018. I measured my hand afterwards and this fish is approx. 8 inches long. The bass fingerlings were stocked in Oct 2018 as 2-3 inch fingerlings. Finally catching a few on artificial baits!

See images above for stocking size references.

Looks like some successful growth in a year...congrats!

They both look very healthy. Great job!!

Thanks! I have been impressed the persistence of the fathead and gambusia minnows after 1 year. There are still clouds of baitfish everywhere. I think their success is due to getting the water/soil correct early on and, probably more important was the light stocking density of BG. Something else that I discovered is that bermudagrass actively grows 2 or 3 feet out into the water and becomes great breeding areas for both minnow breeds. The horses and goats keep all other shoreline plants mowed down, so the bermudagrass cover is all they have.

Even though the forage is fine now, I am confident my BG population is too high already. The bass should start to make a dent in BG fry but I am afraid last years young are already too large. Hoping to siene some of the pond in a few weeks but would like to find someone local that needs them.

Tell us about your BG and RES.

Not sure if those are crosses or local adaptation.

They should not be crosses born in your pond due to age and size. Some hatcheries put BG and RES in same pond in % to grow out and sell.

The fishery I purchased from sells a "70/30" mix of bluegill and redear. I asked the guy why and he said they are in the same pond. So I think that would be the most likely source. I did stock about 30 bream from a local pond back in fall 2017. After some research I realized what I had were probably hybrid bluegill offspring. The green sunfish traits were strong. So I drained the pond and attempted a kill with hydrated lime. I saw evidence of success but cannot be completely sure the kill was 100%. As such, there is a small chance this fish came from the original stocking of questionable origin.

Jason, I'm no expert on CNBG by ANY means but the bodies of those fish indicate a strong trophy potential to me.. More than just "healthy".
I can only hope my BG/RES Crosses and RES look half as good as yours..

Thanks Snipe! My goal is a 2 pounder but I have a tendency to be overly ambitious with my new hobbies. I feel like they have had ideal conditions for the first year of their lives, but I think this summer could be a turning point if I am not careful.

Caught one of the bass this morning. I envisioned them being stunted and hard up for food by now but the pond is still overrun with baitfish. I need to seine and get a sense of how many of the 30 stocked bass survived the winter.

I think he means by % not by cross. Pond contains 70% BG and 30% RES not RES X BG crosses. This is a typical hatchery method to avoid sorting and iding fish.

That is correct. They were sold a pure strains of each species. I am not sure the odds/likelihood of hybridizing in an environment like that.

In a hatchery pond with 70/30 BG/RES and limited duration the chances of crossing is small. Different hatchery's do things differently. Most I am aware of don't keep the parent fish in the pond for many generations. Some hatch there fish and move the babies to the growout pond. Others take a clean pond and add adult BG and RES in numbers to attempt to get the wanted %. I am sure there are other methods used as well.

Hey guys, sorry for the lack of updates but I have been busy with a brand new baby girl as well as a new lawn project. I went down to the pond to take an inventory with the castnet lastnight. I am concerned that my LMB might have gotten picked off by Blue Heron as they have been a real problem the last few months. I welcome them eating young BG but several times a week I see them up on shore struggling with larger fish. I manage to catch the occasional bass but they always look healthier than I want them to be at this point. I said all that to say the young BG are getting out of hand. Every castnet throw yields 5 or more young BG. Overall the pond health seems good....still tons of minnows...but the balance has to shift at some point right? On a bright note, I happened on a Bruiser CNBG while castnetting. He is about 9" long but I didn't get a weight. Also including a pic of the most recent LMB I caught.

Just realized I already posted that bass pic. Hope you enjoy it a second time. 😂

Hi, hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the spring season. It looks like I am long overdue for an update. This year the pond has become a very enjoyable fishing hole. Last year was challenging from a fishing standpoint, but this year we are catching fish nonstop. I had been worried that some of my original CNBG stock was eaten by the local Heron but we are finally catching some of the big guys. I definitely think some of the 35 bass I stocked have gotten picked off. The ones I have caught are way to chunky to have much competition for food. There has been spawning activity with the bass so I am excited to see if I get any recruitment.

Beautiful fish! Most of us would love to have your "problem" of fat bass with too much forage!

Make your goal to grow a 2 lb bluegill.....thats my secret to bass success. haha Speaking of bass and the Heron problem. Check out what I just discovered. I was perplexed at the cause of death until I spotted the hole in its head. grrrrrr