Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations monster bluegill

http://www.dansfishinhole.com/bluegill.htm

i want bluegill this big!


any one have clams in there pond?

Of course that's not a bluegill.

sorry redear sunfish

No biggie. It's still a big fish!

As a taxidermist if I had a dollar for every redear I get in that the customers call a bluegill I could retire!

All right -- I'll be the first to bite.

How can you tell that is a redear instead of a bluegill?

Cecil -- why do you do things like this, especially at this time of night?

It's crazy how fish, when they get near record size look totally different from a majority of the species.

just like humans on steroids

Because the article says it's a redear (shellcraker)and I've already seen the picture?



Not sure what you mean Ken?

5# 7 1/2 oz in 8 years? That seems like better growth than Bruces' BG's!

I just put Asiatic clams in the pond I am building forage in this past summer. Hoping they take hold along with the grass shrimp I stocked. Between those two food sources, I am hoping to grow some nice sized RES. Asiatic clams taking hold in the Sanatee Cooper are what those RES were feeding on that caused them to grow so large...

CJ do you have a link to a source for Asiatic clams? What info can you provide as to their characteristics?

Please provide the research showing they aren't an invasive foreign species. We know you wouldn't endanger any native species, like the poor old topwater minnow.

There I was -- ready for bed. And Cecil, very matter-of-factly states it is a redear sunfish. There was no way from the photo that I could tell that fish from a bluegill, except for the writeup. I kept wondering what those taxidermy eyes saw that I didn't.




Let's not put that picture in the Common Pond Fish Primer (sunfish edition) archive.

Morphology my man morphology !

Interestingly, that particular redear was caught along with several other redears that were nearly as big, during a single 12 month period!

Just like Mr. Lusk says....lots of food from day one!

looks sorta like Bubba to me. I'm thinking I see a little faded emerald on the jaw.

Actually Ken there are some things that made me take notice right away that it wasn't a bluegill, or a normal pure strain one. One is the scale sizes in proportion to the body. As a taxidermist I have noticed redears have larger scales in proportion to their bodies than bluegills. Next time I skin out a couple I will take a picture of both side by side to show you all. Or perhaps Eric can post a couple? Put two bluegills side by side of the same size and it will be obvious.

I also see a lighter margin on the ear lobe of this fish.

We need to get Bill on here to go over his fin morphology of RES.

Bill, WHO?

I thought this was a parachuting forum!

Back in the well, Paratrooper of the Puget.

Comments ?

IMO not perfect but helpful. Wake up Bill.

I'd still declare it to be a bluegill! But then, I guess some might view it as a perch.

Ric, here is a link to a previous thread on Asiatic clams we had on PB: http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthread...true#Post158907

I collected my clams from the wild as they are very common in my area. However, you can sometimes find them for sale at Pet Shops under the common name "golden clams". You can also often find them for sale on http://www.aquabid.com/ as golden of Asiatic clams. Under the right conditions they reproduce rather quickly so just a couple dozen may be all it takes to seed a pond.

But please read the previously posted link as there are precautions to take and they may not be for every person's pond.

Read my above mentioned link Theo... I have already touched the topic but I appreciate your concern for any affect a non native like the Asiatic clam may have on natives. However, the pond I placed the clams is in a watershed where Asiatic clams have been well established for many years. So there is no affect.

Much like how there would be no affect to stocking Gambusia in locations where they are already ubiquitous?