Ok so a month ago or so I stocked my pond with 500BG, 100BG/RES hybrids, 100 RES, and 10 lbs of fhm. With my plan to be some additional bluegill possibly late summer and LMB and a few CC next spring summer.
So a buddy of mine went and fished a local pond that I fished with him 10 years ago or so last weekend and caught quite a few 11-12" BG pre spawn. So that got the gears grinding in my head, would there be any negative effect to catching 15-20 female and 10 or so male of these fish and releasing them in my lake before they spawn? They are not on bed yet and have been catching them out deep in 4-5 feet of water. The pond is only about 2 miles from my place as the crow fly's and I have a 150 gallon take I can put in the bed of my truck to make the haul with.
"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"
If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1) And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1) Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT? PB answer: It depends.
He said they caught about 30-40 last weekend. Now I was not there but my dad and him went one night this week, I couldn't make it because I had to water the grass around my pond, but my dad which doesn't blow things out of proportion much said that half the fish they caught were in that range and probably the nicest bluegill he has ever caught. Saying something for a 60 year old guy that has bluegill fished his entire life.
Any chance they might've been RES, or BG x RES hybrids? Not trying to cast doubt, it's just unusual to find a pond with a concentration of bluegills that size.
Would love to see a photo of brutes like that! Incredible fishery!
"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"
If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1) And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1) Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT? PB answer: It depends.
Any chance they might've been RES, or BG x RES hybrids? Not trying to cast doubt, it's just unusual to find a pond with a concentration of bluegills that size.
Would love to see a photo of brutes like that! Incredible fishery!
Well I educated my dad and buddy a little on the things to look for on BGxGSF hybrids and they didnt see any signs of that. But i didnt think about the BGxRES hybrid possibility but they were catching both males and females this size which leads me to think they are not hybrids but I am off to research the giveaways of that possibility some more now and what giveaway characteristics of those are now.
Oh yeah xfering other fish is one thing but I dont see any kind of risk xfering BG well they could have some kind of virus but just look them over good. 11 and 12 inch BG dude thats hugh! You must also consider they could be at the end of their lifespan at that size. So getting some of them genetics on your pond would be a good thing! I would do it while you can man!! And show us some pics if you can!
RC
The only difference between a rut and a Grave is the depth. So get up get out of that rut and get moving!! Time to work!!
Oh yeah xfering other fish is one thing but I dont see any kind of risk xfering BG well they could have some kind of virus but just look them over good. 11 and 12 inch BG dude thats hugh! You must also consider they could be at the end of their lifespan at that size. So getting some of them genetics on your pond would be a good thing! I would do it while you can man!! And show us some pics if you can!
RC
I remain skeptical until I have them in my hands, I have no doubts of them being nice but 11" or more is almost unbelievable to me.
Well I caught 1, 11 inch BG in my pond last year. They are few and far between in a normal pond. Unless you are 100 percent focusing on that only! You can catch a lot of 9 to 10 inch but after that 10 inch mark is where it gets hard! Here is one I caught last year! I couldn't believe it. Most RES/BG and such don't really get much over 12 inches I don't think. After 12 inches they just grow up and out!!
The only difference between a rut and a Grave is the depth. So get up get out of that rut and get moving!! Time to work!!
Providing that they are fish that you want in your pond, I would research "salt dip". It's a way to help eliminate external parasites on fish.
It will take some tanks or containers, but here's what I would do.
Take fish out of transport tank with a net and place in a 2nd tank or container. (you could even use a 5 gal bucket.)
Remove fish from that container and place in a 2nd container.
Remove fish from that container and place in the salt dip.
Remove fish and place in the recovery container.
Then place in pond.
It may seem like a lot of work, but if there is anything in that pond that you don't want in your pond, i.e. invasive plants, external parasites, etc. that's what I would do.
I would change rinse water every few fish.
Make sure that the rinse water will not run into your pond, even 2 weeks from now after a heavy rain.
I might have introduced Eurasian Water Milfoil into my pond a number of years ago by not doing that procedure. That's what I do now. Expensive lesson learned.....
Bluegill of 11"+ from regular Midwestern waters are truly trophy size BG. If you manage to get a few, a couple pictures of the biggest ones next to a ruler will make you a hero on this website. When you bring them home a weight and length of one of them will provide a Rw (Wr condition factor) to assess what type of body condition (plumpness) they are in. Standard weight for a 11" BG is 1 lb3oz and for a 12" is 1 lb9oz.
As mentioned a salt dip is a good idea when transferring fish from one water body to another. Old fish are more likely to harbor protozoan, bacterial, or viral infestations due just because they have been exposed for a longer time. Fish as a carrier may not have symptoms, but the 'condition' could be spread to newly stocked vulnerable fish.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 05/08/1501:06 PM.
aka Pond Doctor & Dr. Perca Read Pond Boss Magazine - America's Journal of Pond Management
Bluegill of 11"+ from regular Midwestern waters are truly trophy size BG. If you manage to get a few a couple pictures of the biggest ones next to a ruler will make you a hero on this website. When you bring them home a weight and length of one of them will provide a Rw (Wr) to assess what type of body condition they are in. Standard weight for a 11" BG is 1 lb3oz and for a 12" is 1 lb9oz. As mentioned a salt dip is a good idea when transferring fish from one water body to another. Old fish are more likely to harbor protozoan, bacterial, or viral infestations due just because they have been exposed for a longer time. Fish as a carrier may not have symptoms, but the 'condition' could be spread to newly stocked vulnerable fish.
I dont have a good fish scale yet, figured I was a few years from needing that at this point yet but I will see what I can do with pics with a ruler. Again I have my doubts on the claims of 11" just because I have personally never caught an 11" BG.
The pond they are coming from is basically is impossible to get water from as I cant get a truck within 100 yards of it due to location and being down in a very steep hole. Banks leading to it are steep enough that the last time I fished it with my buddy 10 years ago we almost rolled his truck over because we ended up sideways on the hill side some how and it started rocking over really bad.
So with that said could I use the tank I plan to transport in as my salt bath? I plan to pump the tank full from my pond before going over there to fish, the fish will be kept in baskets and then transported up the hill to my truck and into the tank. Should be no more than a 10 minute drive from my place to his where I can set up another tank to use as a rinse tank before releasing. Thoughts on this?
Right now we are having a lot of rain today so I am hoping that wont screw them up to bad where I can still catch some tomorrow.
Be careful with the salt dip. Too strong of salt concentration as disinfectant can fairly quickly stress the fish and they need to be removed when showing first signs of stress. I would not haul them in the disinfecting salt dip since you cannot watch them constantly for when to remove them. You can use the hauling water as a rinse step, but hand transfer the fish into the haulig tank. Do not pour the fish source pond water into the hauling tank. Cecil Baird 1 has salt dip instructions in past threads.
I dont have a good fish scale yet, figured I was a few years from needing that at this point yet but I will see what I can do with pics with a ruler. Again I have my doubts on the claims of 11" just because I have personally never caught an 11" BG.
Put the fish in a plastic grocery bag or a zip loc bag, and then hang the bag on the scale.
Ok so a month ago or so I stocked my pond with 500BG, 100BG/RES hybrids, 100 RES, and 10 lbs of fhm. With my plan to be some additional bluegill possibly late summer and LMB and a few CC next spring summer.
A warning about waiting until next summer to add the bass. I too stocked my bream in early spring. There were no BG bigger than 3-1/2" but they had spawned by May. I added 4" LMB in June. Even then the FHM where out of control by September. I added a few large HSB that fall and the FHM population had declined significantly by spring. It took the entire second year to bring the small BG population under control.
Well guys I am a big failure when it comes to pictures, but the fish were not quite what I was told but still some very nice fish. I ran short on time before having to go in on afternoon shift Saturday so it was a rush to get them put in and stuff cleaned up. I measured a couple of the big males and one was 10 3/4 and another was 10 5/8 all of them were close to 1 1/2" thick.
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