Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations an el dorado sunfish pond

me too theo. i think the active fish i caught probably represent the smaller end of the stockers which a year ago during stocking ranged from 2 to 5.5 inches.

bruce there are some bigger guys in there, i'm eager to get a pic or two.

the larger ones matured (colored up) and spawned last summer, some of these still look on the "immature" side, or their coloration is light due to keeping the water from getting real clear.(thanks davatsa...i think they are beautiful too!...mrs DIED has great fishin instincts )

thats the big test this year ewest, will i need to artificially remove BG, introduce a predator, or will the bigger GSF keep up with the present mix of fish given the upcoming summer drawdown? i'm also trying to evaluate the question of what survived last summer's drawdown, how did it affect the %'s and year class distribution of my fish?

Nice fish photos Dave.

Looks like your medieval management practices are paying off. I guess a corkscrew is good for something other than opening a bottle of Slug Gulch.

dont forget i know of two ponds that could really use some extra BG...so when i get to culling this summer.......

here is a nice (male??) BG at 8-inches caught this afternoon during an all too brief resbit from life.



no stunting here yet and i think i see the beginnings of "helmet" development

i also caught a couple GSF for the first time this year, two size classes were hitting.....4-inchers and 7-inchers, no big boys caught yet in the couple times i've tried.

Nice male. Definitely the start of a helmet.

Are you going to be doing any selective culling of GSF through angling?

Does anybody know if male or female GSF have more growth potential? For some reason I thought that maybe the females grow bigger.

bruce, i'm actually concerned about GSF viability due to lack of catching and lack of simply seeing them this spring. i'm watching closely to see affects of numerous BG on GSF spawning this year. i'm guessing it'l be the BG needing culling.

i'm also thinking JHAP and I have a date w/ a seine.

confession: for all the GSF talk you've had from me over the last 2 years, i cant tell a male from a female and cant answer that question or even guess. i think the eartab length may be a telling trait but dont know for sure as i've yet to harvest any from here.

maybe bill cody could weigh in on telling male from female GSF.

Wow Dave what a great BG!

Now ya have me concerned about the GSF though.



I'll be there, seine in one had, corkscrew it the other.



Consider yourself very lucky that I'm not up to my normal humor level. This just begs for some irreverant quip or capitioned picture. Brettski? Bruce? Theo? GW? Fatty? Come on, someone help a brother out here.

I think the GSA is about to put out a press release stating that they will be closely monitoring any humans who are trying "too hard" to identify green sunfish by sex.

That's more like it!

Yeah, we are serious. No kinky stuff permitted.

well i still cant tell a female from a male GSF.........

but i can show you some pics of what's being caught if you fish my puddle.....and it is a puddle......

up front data......no RES detected, no monster GSF detected, catch rate.....one fish per cast, average fish.....see below:

Actually even 7-8 inch GSF are bigger than anything we see around here. Usually ours are about 6 inches, tops.

Looks like a blast, DIED!

bruce, those 7-8" GSF are two years old....original stockers June 2006, first spawn late summer/fall 2006.....those are the first generation fish born in that pond. 8" in two years is good/excellent GSF growth rate?

Yes. Absolutely.

8 inches in two years is good for any lepomid...anywhere.

They appear to be in good body condition. Do you agree with that assessment?

D.I.E.D., did you start fresh in June 2006?

It seems odd to me that all the fish are very similar in size. It seems like it could represent a lot of situations, some good, some not.

Nice BG DIED. I like it when they don't all look the same.

Sunil may be right. I know we have talked about this before. You may now be reaching the point of mgt intervention. A lot of lepomis around the same size with limited food. No doubt that you have a better assessment than us because you have seen the whole pond. Sunil I bet they are the same size in the pics because of the sampling method (creel survey). Probably a bunch of smaller fish as well.

Pretty fishes Dave.

I don't remember if you're feeding or not. Since tropical storm Fay I now have WM in addition to my FH/RES thanks to Mr. H's upstream pond. That messed up my RES test a little, but I'm glad to have the WM anyway.

I asked about the feeding because I'm trying to get the WM to take pellets. Has anyone heard of GSF taking them?

Prepare to be slapped. I think it's only fair.

Dang, DIED you went fishing without me???? Great photos and I see the one cast one fish ratio appears to be holding up.

Did you move any to the ranch pond? I'm telling ya you are going to have to stop hording fish. Eat'em or Move'em (or both).

GW, Died does feed his fish and GSF readily take food. That could be because of the fact that he added feed trained BG and they readily ate feed from day one so perhaps the GSF "learned" to take feed but maybe they would have taken feed on their own I don't know. As a side note it is funny to watch the feeding process at DIED's pond. The BG take sort of a shallow water attack to the feed. The GSF rocket up from the depths to take food.

We tried that some my last trip up Ewest. I think DIED is too emotionally attached to his fish. We caught a bunch of fish but we only took 5 out of the pond. Every fish DIED would evaluate to determine whether or not he wanted to remove them. Jeez what a fiasco. We'd catch a fish he'd say "Nope this one is a male, that goes back." Then we'd catch another "nice body condition on that one, better keep that one." Another catch "ahhhh, gravid female, can't let that one go." Reel in another "wow, look at the coloration on that one, that's a keeper." Another was brought to the boat "well I guess that could go in the bucket." Snagged another "dang that one appears to be left finned, don't see that everyday, I don't think I should let that one go." We caught about 20 fish and only 5 came out of the pond. Next time I'm gonna get DIED good and drunk, I'm not sure if that'll help but it can't hurt.

Oh, and by the way DIED, I'm driving up tomorrow so we'll see you soon.

I wouldn't try that JHAP, he'll probably want to release EVERY fish and sing to them too.

thanks bruce, yes i agree, all the older/larger fish have great body condition.



yup, started fresh in 06. GSF in 06, BG and RES in 07. the BG ranged from 2 to 5" and the RES were ~5 to 7" when stocked.



thanks eric, those gills are pretty arent they? i love their colorations. and i think you hit nail on head. i have definitely reached the point of needing intervention which is why a good friend of mine who is no longer with us put a bass in my pond. there are a bunch of smaller fish ranging from just born to the sizes you see posted above (and some bigger that wouldnt cooperate). the younger BG are thin and need culled.....JHAP be prepared for more take home....i'd like to do this ASAP. the younger GSF are generally fat, in fact all the GSF look really good. they are doing well as top predator, its the young BG that are showing the effects of not enough forage.



thanks gw, yes i feed, but am feeding alot less given my terribly low water conditions. maybe once a week just to keep them trained. the gsf took to pellets almost immediately. like JHAP mentioned, its a hoot to watch the differences in how BG and GSF take feed...the BG just cruise near the surface and slurp them in, the GSF hang deeper and thrust up and attack the pellets making a huge splash, then dive back down.

JHAP, i'm ready, i've said my goodbyes, its either move em out or watch an impending fish kill....bring yer wally world aerators.....

i didnt get many pics of smaller fish, but here are some, the GSF is nice little guy, but the younger BG are definitely showing they could use more to eat.

Good deal. I'll bring out my aerators and some buckets and we'll get 'er done.

Oh and I forgot to tell you I bought some of the bait that you had and some small jig heads. I had to order the bait because someone, whose name we won't mention but whose initals are DIED, kept buying up the supply at Longs. Also we got JWHAP an ultra light rig. After she saw how far I could cast a 1/16 oz jig and that a 4 lb bass was no problem on the ultra light she promptly wanted one.

We'll get together later this week. Talk at you soon my friend.

He sings to them when he's sober, I just didn't mention it. Everytime we caught a fish he sang some.

I didn't mind it at first but after about the tenth time of hearing DIED belt out......

"You are my sunfish, my lovely sunfish, you make me happy when skies are grey, you'll never know fish, how much I love you, JHAP please don't take my sunfish away."

....it got kind of old and somewhat annoying.

Perhaps it's me that needs to be drunk.

thanks for not telling them about my america rendition, you know, remember that one......

O beautiful for spacious waters,
For amber fins of glory,
For emerald streaks majesties
Above the oxygenated pond bottom!
GREEN SUNFISH!, OH GREEN SUNFISH!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From pond to shining pond!