Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat BlueGill Spawning areas

Considering adding some pea gravel around the edges of the pond for BG spawning.

Can I get some recommendations as to where to place them? I believe PondBoss says 18-36 inch water depths. Does that sound correct?

Is it smart to just go all the way around the outside with gravel?

Keep in mind that the more spawning areas you provide...the more spawning you will get so you have to determine if more spawning suits your goals. My pond is more of a hybrid hole of water with HBG and HSB and I only put in about a 144 square feet of gravel in my 1/4 acre pond for the HBG. I an definitely getting recruitment, but I can't tell if it's too much or not enough because my 2 year old pond has not settled in yet. I would suggest starting off with a smaller portion of gravel and adding more if you feel you need more forage production as the years pass.

My gravel bed starts at the bank in about 12 inches of water and extends out to about 3 to 4 feet of water. I put it a little further out than the 36 inches you mentioned to account for any water level changes in case my pond's full pool fluctuated during the spawning times. I also used regular ole' creek gravel that ranged in size from sand to baseball size rocks...it was easily moved from the nearby creek prior to the pond filling up.

BG like a large area where they can build a community of nests (vs a narrow strip along the shore). Reasonably flat. I'd guess 3 to 4 square feet per nest although each "bowl" is perhaps 14-18" in diameter.

Most people choose small pea gravel. BG will make due with sand up to stones. They'll even use hard clay if that's all there is. I chose 1" and smaller. Research shows the larger gaps increase fry survival. I think whatever you choose will be fine. I have lots of nests and fry this year. My CNBG definitely love it.

If you have BG in your pond now you may look to see if they have a natural preference. If there is a perfect location they have probably found it.

Like QA my pond level moves around so I have a range of depths. I'd say they like 12-18 inches best but there are beds out to at least 3 feet. The GBH likes to work these beds, they are shallow enough.

I’m not worried about over populating. I have a very limited food source for the bass. I want to order 100-200 adult BG, but none of my suppliers are selling adult BG right now. Which makes sense with bg spawning.

I caught 5 tonight and will relocate them to the pond, with a auto feeder.