Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations BG size and spawning

So I stocked these 1-3" (mostly 1-2") BG and some FHM early April 2016. I caught the first BG yesterday. I feel like they have grown very fast. What do you think? When do you think a fish this size will start to spawn?

Chris,
Hopefully a BG expert chimes in but I'm not seeing bluegill characteristics on those pictures. What was the source of the BG? Did you get a mix or are they hybrids? I see some GSF features. Either way, they look happy, well fed, and growing great.

I raise the question only because age/size and strain (pure vs hybrind, BG vs sunfish) change the answer to the question of when they spawn and how often.

There can be a lot of variation from water color and clarity. I like the darker pigmentation on your bluegill and the yellow fin coloration is great. Clear water fish tend to have all the colors more washed out and less yellow fins.

They were supposed to be regular BG. I am a newbie and they were so small when I bought them it was hard to confirm. I bought them off a truck from Arkansas Pondstockers. The next round of fish to stock will probably come from Andry's because they are closer and nicer to deal with.

I'm curious on this also. I used them also. Got LMB, BG, RES, FHM. Mine were small also. They did have HBG on the truck, I saw them. Mine were stocked last week though. Are you feeding or is that natural growth? Nice looking fish!!

To me, they have all the characteristics of hybrid bluegill. Also, the growth rate for those fish is typical as well. Mine became interested in spawning at an early age, but little reproduction occurs as they're predominantly male. If I sincerely wanted pure BG, I'd be upset. However, you might enjoy having the hybrids. They certainly grow fast and are aggressive biters. I'm already catching new HBG recruits I stocked in May.

I am not feeding and no aeration but they are the only fish in a 3/4 acre pond that is very fertile. I'm going to add more 3-5" BG and RES this weekend. I want this pond loaded before I add any LMB.

It would be important to try to get a better ID from the pros here before figuring what to add next. Adding RES is probably safe but if you have normal BG you may want to add HBG this weekend, or if you already have HGB you may want to stick with only HBG (when you decide to up your numbers.)

The fish truck should know the difference between BG and HBG when they sell them to you but in this case maybe not?

Can you add more smaller forage fish before the LMB? FHM, spotfin shiners, golden shiners, bluntnose minnows, lake chubsuckers, crayfish, etc.?

I added either 20 or 30 lbs of FHM this spring. They have spawned and there are thousands of them everywhere. I will probably add some more early spring before I introduce the LMB just to be sure they are well fed.

Looks like a Hybrid to me...GSF X BG

Agree with HBG

Definitely HBG. Orange translucent border on the opercular tab, white/orange tipping on the fins, blue flecks in the body all say it has some GSF genes.

I will say though with the dominant blue lower jaw coloring and a very modest size mouth for a HBG and the lack of much green bar evidence in the cheek area that they either have greater than 50% GB genes or the cross is in a different direction (or something else altogether) than the HBG natural crosses I have been getting from my sediment pond.

Here is a picture of a similar size fish I caught a couple days ago. I'm sure this is one of my natural hybrids that I had transferred from my sediment pond as a fingerling and now caught in my main pond. Notice the same features that your fish have as described above, but also notice the prominent green bars on the cheek and the larger mouth.

As you can see, I think highly enough of the HBG in my panfish pond that I am actively adding the natural ones I have been getting from my smaller sediment pond. I like them. They grow fast and are easy to catch.

Edit: sorry I did not have a ruler handy when I caught this one and took the picture. But it is laying on a 2x6 board that would be 5.5" wide for comparison.

That fish has a lot of GSF genes

Agree, that fish is a BG x GSF hybrid.

I was told they can start spawning at 3"

They can and often do in newly stocked ponds. In ponds with large adult male BG the spawning of small 3 in fish is suppressed. Unless the BG are cuckholds or sneakers (alternate lifestyles).

In my tiny pre-sediment pond I see 3" GSF and BG making nests. There are no larger fish in there to my knowledge except for a few larger RES that I placed there in hopes they would spawn.

I have trapped the majority of them out before to give the RES more room and one large rain event and it fills up again with small BG swimming upstream from the larger sediment pond. The few GSF I have seem to be especially adept at swimming upstream also and get into this small pond.

Alternate lifestyles.....