Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction CREATING A BULLGILL NIRVANA

Hello Gents'
My name is Mike Kubacka I am from Washington Co Pennsylvania and a newbie to the management side of being a pond owner. I have a 1.5 acre pond that is 30 yrs old and the average depth is 12-15 deep near the dam, and tappers off at the shallow end at 2-3 feet . When I bought the farm 15 yrs ago there were LMB and some decent BG 6-7 " there were some larger bass 15-16 " but not a lot, mostly buck bass 8-12" ..Fishing was not bad but a always yearned for a Trophy BG pond were you could catch 9-10 BG on a regular basis.. With this in mind and before a came across the wealth of knowledge on this forum I went to Zetts Fish Farm about 10 yrs ago and purchased 150 of there pure strain BG 5-7 " 50 CC 6-8 " and 50 YP 6-8 " .. Fishing now, we catch a few nice BG 8-9 " No big LMB but still lots of 8-12 "LMB , CC that we occasionally catch are 18-20 " and a few YP 8-10" not many ..What if anything can I do to reach my goals of a BOW geared toward a BULLGILL Nirvana ...Thanks !!

Start a feeding program. Look at Texas Trophy fish feeders and Optimal Fish food. Continue to harvest bass over 15", and catfish over 2#s.

Thanks Brian.. What size feeder and what size pellet..?

Optimal feed is designed for Bluegill, and since you have adult fish, just the regular Optimal will work great. Size of feeder really is just how often do you want to fill it. I bought a 335 and fill it once a month, feeding 6#s/day. The different TH feeders are the same, just different size hoppers.

Our ponds are close in size, so I would guess you will be feeding 5-6# when fish start feeding really good. You will start slow and increase as fish feed better. General rule is what they can eat in 10 minutes. I throw in 6 second intervals with is about 1/2 pound per throw. The warmer the water gets the better they will eat. They will eat more than I will throw during early summer thru fall! The MAX amount is 10#/ac, but that way more than most people feed.

Establish the size hierarchy, and release the largest bluegills for your pond. Learn to sex them also, and recognize desireable characteristics in the males. Those that display superior qualities, keep. Cull the females unless they are spectacular.

And definitely feed.

THere are many, but here is one good thread on sexing BG

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=135990&page=1

Thanks for the link Brian!!! I wanted to ask, but you read my mind before I had a chance to ask.