Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Fishing 2015

The cheeks! I see it! subtle mottling, like 'hammered pewter' many thanks for cluing me in sprkplug. I'll keep practicing. Thanks to all who post their catches here as well.

I honestly can't say. My guess is female because the belly sure seemed like it was ready to blow.

I can't set my next goal to much higher because I just find it hard to believe it could happen. Of course, I will take it if it comes!!!!!!

Looks like a female RES to me.

See this from the archive and look under RES - lots of info.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92482#Post92482

Highflier it looks like your crappie are mighty nice. Congrats

Fly fishing again Sunday for gills. Someone crashed the scene and scared my gills away. He didn't get away with it.

He looks a bit thin, snake.

I agree, still pretty thick on top but the belly was a bit then. Thinking due to being post spawn and water the past few weeks getting very low visibility with rain storms.

Post spawn?

I would think it`s post spawn Dave, TN usually goes from early April- till late May. I noticed it looked to have dark patches on the lower anal fin and tail fin. I just assumed it was a female that had nested on a rough surface/male bass fin nipping/tail dragging/ water temp swing capillaries in the fins burst healing up. Please correct me if I`m misinformed.

Ok so it's not from my pond but it's the second largest pike I've ever caught so I had to share. Caught this big boy on a 3 inch rapala on a local lake. 38" didn't get a weight and it's back swimming in the lake!

I'll bet THAT was a surprise!!

I am not doubting Theo nor your ID of that fish as a BRES - I'm not a lepomis expert like they are - but it fails to demonstrate the obvious characteristics of BRES from my fishery or the BRES I can recall seeing from your fishery also, Tony. Obviously I've not seen all your fish, however.

I see your point on the mottled pattern on the gill cover - but honestly I would have missed it and released as a nice pure BG without a second thought. When it comes to lepomis hybrids it appears there's a great deal of variability regarding the characteristics they possess - the BRES in my fisheries all exhibit some trace of color on the margin of the opercular tab - at least that's what I've been looking for - maybe I'm missing some much more subtle BRES specimens?

I'd have to guess that is not a F1 BRES - rather a BRES x BG F2 or BRES x BG x BG F3 - but I could be entirely wrong. What do lepomis experts think? I'm sure seeing majority BG genetics being expressed in this fish.

I agree that the fish doesn't display like my BRES do. I also think there's every possibility that a BRES might've backcrossed with a parent to create this particular specimen. Still, I just don't see pure BG there. I think a lot of it has to do with knowing your water, and your fish. YOUR fish. In my opinion, there can be a heck of a lot of variance in how lepomids display, and I just can't wrap my mind around a set of concrete, never-fail visual markers that always ring true where identification is concerned.

For the longest time I was convinced that scale-tipping was indicative of a male BG. We still use that here on the forum all the time. But I have removed too many eggs from fish that featured scale tipping to rely on it as a foolproof means of sexing fish. Do I think it is most likely scale-tipping is found on males? Yes. But I also feel we need further clarification on the matter. Our knowledge base is continually expanding, and from time to time we should revisit the tried and true, apply that new knowledge, and make adjustments to our theories accordingly.

When I look at Theo's fish, I see something else in the mix. Predominantly BG, but something else also. But that's based on seeing thousands of lepomid photos from all across the country, not so much on what Theo has in his pond...and in my opinion, that's what matters most....knowledge of one's fish, and one's water.

I'm about as far removed from expert as it's possible to get. Still trying to learn all I can from everyone I can. I feel like I'm gaining knowledge, but not as quickly as I would like.

Matter-of-fact, when it comes to CNBG's, I have a LOT to learn....those things throw me for a curve!

There's just not many better looking fish than a nice healthy BG:

Nice copper!

Took my boy fishing Saturday they were biting! He had a blast caught several 9 to 10.5 inch CNBG. He has a small 4 foot rod so it was like a whale on the other end of the rod!! I caught a few bass they one in the pic is the biggest so far sense I have had my pond. Right at 4 pounds. The BG Brett is holding (1 pound exactly) is the second biggest caught in my pond to date! He was proud of that!!

RC

Nice Fish RC! Hopefully someday my bass will get that big !

Thanks it was more fun watching my boy catch them BG then anything! If he isn't hooked on fishing after Saturday then I don't know what's gonna do it.

RC

Sorry about the poor quality pictures but the kids were excited, and I was trying to get a cell phone picture.

We had been researching a place for our family to vacation and found a place about 60 miles north of Grand Rapids on a 250 acre (smallish) lake called Diamond Lake. It is shallow, heavy peat bottom, weedy, and only one small area where it reaches 25 feet. In the facebook pictures from the resort there was a picture of a large RES that was caught. I was curious when I got here if there would be any we could catch. Today the kids caught about 6-8 very nice RES. They have a darker coloration due to brown bottom, brown weeds where they seemed to stay. You can see the dark colored bottom in the picture. It was only about 6 feet of water, lots of weeds, hard to think they were in there and I saw no spawning beds around even in the sandy shallows. We caught several typical bluegill also with more typical coloration.

I don't know if the bottom shots will show up and I think of the 4-5 we caught most seemed to be male. Very pretty dark red spots on ear tabs and urogenital pore quite small.

Since this is a shallow lake, 60 miles north of Grand Rapids, and very likely to struggle with winter kill it is encouraging to know that the RES population survives. I don't see this lake on the list of DNR lakes that they stocked them in but somehow they go there and are making it.

They bit on a worm under a bobber and you had to have the worm right in the middle of the weeds. Any further out in the open and they wouldn't budge to go get it.

Those might be pumpkinseeds, the northern version of a RES.

Agree on P-seeds.

The "RES" are actually Pumpkinseeds.

Even with the very bright red streak on the ear tab?

....edit...

Looking at other pictures, sure enough the pumpkinseeds have the bright ear tab as well. Well, we learn each day. I guess pumpkinseeds do well in northern ponds and maybe they are a species that I can experiment with in my pond.

CC,

FWIW I have PS and BG in my pond. I am hoping to get some BGPS, Pumkingills. The PS will never get huge but they sure are pretty and they have the same diet as a RES. The BGPS get bigger than PS and are still dang pretty.

Bilk D, thanks for turning my flub up into a teachable moment for me!

2 follow up questions.. 1. Do RES cross with PS? If they did they would be a beautiful fish. 2. I was attempting to use the size of the urogenital pore on the fish I had to make a stab at the sex. Is this something that will work out for PS like it seems to be working for the RES?