Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Sunfish-Including Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass Seeing small 1" fish in shallows.......bluegill ?

My wife and I purchased a lot on a approx. 4 acre pond and was stocked with bluegill 2 years ago... I caught a few 5-6 inch bluegill last year, but noticed yesterday a small school of 3-4 inch gills and also small 1" fish in the shallows... No minnows have been stocked, could these be little fry from last year ? Not sure how fast bluegill should grow... I haven't fished it for bluegills....other than plunking around. I am not sure how big the fish were that were stocked , but I am sure they were small..I was told 2 different types of 500 each (1000 total). I did start a feeder last summer and noticed gills coming up and feeding until the catfish roll in. My question I guess is ...how fast do they grow ?

Troy, definitely could be bluegill and they have been known to spawn at only 1 year of age at 3 t 4 inches.

Unless anyone wants to correct me, for your latitude I would say typical growths for feed trained bluegill are:

Age 1 - 3 to 4 inches
Age 2 - 5 to 6 inches
Age 3 - 6 to 7 inches
Age 4 - 7 to 8 inches
Age 5 - 8 to 9 inches
Age 6 - 9 to 10 inches.

Keep in mind if these are the first fish in the pond you could actually get better growth than this.

Because BG often spawn several times a year it is common to see many different sizes out of the same year class. I have seen them from fry to 5 inches in the same year class the next Jan.

I think Cecil has the rest well answered. Cecil said " Keep in mind if these are the first fish in the pond you could actually get better growth than this." I will add that being the first fish in the pond the bigger BG will try to spawn ASAP at 3 to 4 inches.