Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Spring time with a couple bluegill...

So George cajoled me to getting some nice pictures of my bluegill a few posts back... so much that I went to the store and got myself a nice digital kitchen scale.

The first 2 pics are to give a little perspective to the thickness of these fish.

Maybe you all can help me with the Wr on the last picture of the male..? I wish I would have had his dorsal up in full glory on the photo. The last 2 pics are the same fish. I had to throw in the smb pic for extra fun.

Nice smallmouth.

....you might want to be careful that the bluegill don't eat him.

That's not a bluegill that's Rush Limbaugh!

Seriously nice fish! Congrats! I wonder if that one will be a two pounder when it gets over 10 inches?

Those things look like the Goodyear Blimp! WOW!

You proud papa - amazing fish - thanks for giving us up North something to look forward to...

GOOD job on the pictures Aaron - GREAT job on the BG ....
WOW!!!!

WOW indeed!

Thanks guys for the kind words.. anyone going to do the math on the Wr?

Aaron, I kaint do no math but those are some fattys! What store did ya get the scales at, expensive?

Wow, beautiful fish. Congrats. I really like the bluegill smallmouth combo.

Probably too expensive.. lol.. but it does 1/8 of oz, has a simple zero out, a nice surface, and the display can be pulled out so it seemed to work well.

Food scale at Target

Looks like a great deal for the scale... Have you checked its accuracy with a known weight?

yep, it was dead on.. and super consistent..

did a bunch of research and the reviews on this were great

I purchased a similar scale and weighed a 3lb dumbell on it to find it well over three pounds. I took the scale to a pharmacy where they have known weights, and they said it was almost as accurate as the high dollar scales they use to measure medical ingredients. They were amazed at how accurate a $20 wal-mart scale was. Come to find out the plastic coating on the 3lb dumbell was adding weight and my scale was good enough to measure it.

And great pics Aaron!

Holy moly. Those are obscene! Any idea about how old they are?
Good job.

Thanks guys. Pond is just under 2 years old. Fish went in June 07, so 2.5-3 years old.

I'll have to keep that scale in mind Aaron. Not a bad price at all if it is that accurate.

If I did the calculations right, and that's a BIG IF!

The smaller BG:
8 5/8"(21.9 cm) has a standard weight of 8.6 oz(244 gm) according to Bruce's RW Chart Link. Your BG weighed 1 pound, 2 1/8th oz/18.125 oz(513.835 gm) according to the reading on the scale from your picture.

The math:
18.125/8.6=2.107 which is a relative weight of 210.7.

and

The larger BG:
9 1/8"(23.2 cm) has a standard weight of 10.4 oz(295 gm) according to Bruce's RW chart. Your BG weighed 1 pound, 6 1/8th oz/22.125 oz(627.23 gm) according to the reading on the scale.

The math:
22.125/10.4=2.127 which is an incredible relative weight of 212.7!

Very impressive!!!

Now, I had to convert inches to centimeters and ounces to grams to work with Bruce's metric chart but I think I did the conversions correctly. So I would say, those are some crazy plump BG!

In the mentioned link above, Bruce mentions the highest RW he's seen in a BG was about 170... He said he feels anything over 180 is not possible. So, perhaps Bruce can weigh in... Either I screwed something up(highly likely), Bruce is wrong and BG can have RW's over 180(highly unlikely) or your scale isn't quite accurate enough(possible).

Your math looks right. I did it as well, but it's fun to have others grade the 'test'.

It's interesting to compare the male BG to Archer's BG from a few weeks ago (I was drooling over that one) They weighed the same 1lb 6 oz, but this one was around 9" vs his that was 10". You can see where this dude is just round.

Bruce will weigh in later I'm sure, I shared these with my bigbluegill.com buddy before I posted. I think he's scheming about something.

Both of those BG are darn blimps! I can't wait to see what your fish look like when they are 7 or 8 years old!

Geeze. What are you feeding those things?

I was going to post a photo of a nice 10-incher I got yesterday. But, it would be like comparing Don Knotts to Arnold the Guvner.

What beauties!

Aaron, do I detect a copper nose on the big male BG?

When a bluegill is that big, how do the filets taste?

As an example, you know how when you get some fried chicken, and the legs are skinny but the meat tastes fine? Then you get a leg from somewhere esle and the thing is huge but tastes funky?

WOW Aaron. Great fish!

Barbarian.

Have you no shame? Is nothing sacred?

I wonder if the scale's pan was like a frying pan in the AZ sun.

Sounds like Dashiell Hammett writing a Pond Management book; "Sam Spade in Desert Bluegill".

George, I think Todd said those don't look like his BG.. I don't see the nose.. I honestly have trouble telling but think it's a native bg.

Sunil, you think I ate that fish??? no way. And since it's March it was only 87 degrees so the pan wasn't hot. I only fished for about 15 minutes.

It looks like it has both native and CN genes in it perhaps...

Whatever they are those BG are true freaks of nature.

I would doubt that unless the fish is about 1.5 years old, which is unlikely. I stocked pure native and pure cnbg..

A big male CNBG would have a prominate "bar" on it's nose - as well as light colored fin edges. At lease that is what I look for but maybe hard to tell with dark color.
Mine are always lighter (and skinny compared to yours) coming out of turbid water, so easier to tell.

The problem is that BG are such popular fish to stock that most subspecies are not distinct anymore. There are actually 3 recognized subspecies of BG.

Lepomis macrochirus macrochrius- The "native" or northern bluegill
L. m. purpurescens- The "coppernose" bluegill
L. m. speciosus- A little known subspecies, found native in Mexico and west TX and intergrades with the coppernose in AR, OK and TX.

It can be very hard to truly know if you have a "pure" strain BG population. Particularly if you are in a southern state such as AR, TX, MS or GA as all three subspecies are capable of living in these states and their genes have undoubtedly mingled. When you guy from a hatchery, even they cannot be so sure just where their original stock originates.

CJBS2003, I agree in general with your statement, “When you guy from a hatchery, even they cannot be so sure just where their original stock originates”, but disagree specifically by virtue of my experience with two of the best fisheries biologists/hatchery operators in this part of the country.

Bob Waldrop of Tyler Fish Farms caught “pure” Florida CNBG from native Florida waters and personally transported them to his fish farm for brood stock. Todd Overton of Overton Fisheries can certify his “pure” CNBG brood stock as well.

As a rank amateur, I certainly do not question your credentials, but with experience, the characteristics of the “pure” Florida strain CNBG are obvious.

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=12669&Number=146774#Post146774

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=12949&Number=152054#Post152054

COPPERNOSE BLUEGILL



Found primarily in the southern U.S. Does not thrive in cooler, northern waters of the U.S.

Also an omnivore, that eats zooplankton, small fish and does quite well on pelleted feed.

High fecundity which enhances it's ability to act as a primary forage fish.

Can reach two pounds. One pound fish is considered large.


One Nice Coppernose - http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=002562;p=1#000000

CNBG variation Fla vs Ark -
http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=004532;p=1#000004

My post was not meant to say it is impossible. Tyler Fish Farms and Overton Fisheries are not the norm, they are the best of the best... My post was simply to say that in today's modern world where different subspecies have been stocked all over the place, one rarely knows for sure what genetics their fish truly have.

People have a way of dumping fish all over the place. The Johnny Appleseed affect.

My money goes on CNBG.
These photos are enhanced only with changes in brightness and contrast, and shows the copper bar and yellow/bronze pectoral fin.
Tail fin coloration is indistinct due to white background.

Aaron, next photos with your new camera try in shady area with darker background to see if bar and stripes are more apparent.
These fish are fantastic – CONGATULATIONS!

I agree George. Plus some of mine that are related to George's have the same coloration/morphology. They are not as big or fat yet but they are sure trying to get there.