Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Copper Nosed Bluegills in NE Ohio?

CB1 When you paint large CNBG note the thin band of white on the margins of soft dorsal, caudal and anal fin. The dorsal spines are often white tipped. Interesting feature.

Actually a one pound bluegill does not go for $100.00 -- more like $40.00. For $100.00 the fish has to be at least 1 lb. 7 oz. with no flaws -- as in no scales missing, no fin flaws etc. For any flaws that price goes down. Unfortunately the older and larger the fish the more likely there will be a flaw.


I tried selling fish from another farm once and it wasn't worth the trouble. I have to grade the fish as in furs to determine the price, and if I get them frozen I have to thaw them out again.

Many states don't allow the sale of gamefish unless they come from a commercial farm anyway. Some don't allow the sale of gamefish at all, unless they are for stocking. Some only allow it with catfish or other commercial fish like hybrid striped bass or trout.

Some states like Texas require the buyer to purchase a "Texas Fin Fish Import License" and the seller even if he is out of state a "Texas Retail Fish Dealer License" which is $75.00 and $70.00 accordingly last I checked.

This refers to "Commercially Protected Fishfish" which are Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Hybrid Striped Bass, Black Crappie, and Walleye. Needless to say I don't sell any of the above species to Texas. Illinois wants me to buy a $100.00 permit to sell dead fish. No fish sales there either.

I have the laws in writing inquiring about legality from the states that would respond (some won't) to cover my you now what.

I had a special agent in Wisconsin tell me he won't respond as, "I was going to break the law anyway." Fortunately I was able to get the information I needed off the Internet from their game laws.

You can always count on the government to figure out how to cut in on the action under the guise of protecting fish and wildlife. I tend to be skeptical as I've seen agencies that make the rules and enforce them break their own rules.

Thanks for the offer though.

I've seen that. The ones I got in to mount were long dead so it must have faded out.

Yeah I'd have too say I've never seen a 1.5lbr that was flawless alot of mine have grubs..

Same here.

I'm going to start raising more yellow perch and bluegills comletely inside vs. just in the winter in my recirculating tanks and see how big I can get them and how fast. I can set the water temp whatever I want it to be year around.

I can raise up to 500 lbs. of bluegills or yellow perch in a 2000 gallon 12 foot Intex pool with a a couple of RBC's, a center drain, and whatever mechanical filtration I choose. This without adding pure oxygen or using ozone.

I've got two high schools raising bluegills for me inside for the winter now. I supply the the equipment and food and the fish. One of my directors said it sounds like a smart business plan if they don't kill the fish! LOL

Cecil, sorry I missed your post.
I would carefully research availability of pure Florida CNBG from Arkansas fish farms.
PM sent.

I agree with Cody and Ewest about BG color changes and cream-colored fin tips.
Do you think it would be feasable to place a few of the RM lake BG monsters in a clear water tank and see if the dark colors change – it’s very difficult for me to distinguish pure CNBG characteristics of the dark fish.

The second photo in Eric’s post is my CNBG, and the otherCNBG photo are several generations old – Overton is now selecting brood stock that have redder tails and fewer and broader vertical stripes.
http://www.overtonfisheries.com/StockerFish/SportFish/CoppernoseBluegill/tabid/68/Default.aspx

George

Kenc thanks - one of those fish was George's , one was mine from George and the other was from Auburn Fisheries Dept. There are a lot of very good CNBG pics and text here.

One Nice Coppernose -


http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.ph...1&site_id=1





CNBG variation Fla vs Ark -


http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.ph...1&site_id=1

I attempted some collection of our native CNBG here in NE FL earlier this week. Long story short, I have one in a five gallon bucket that I kind of forgot about. We had our winter last weekend as it got down to 30 degrees. I am not sure how cold the water in the bucket actually got but it usually is not far off from the air temp. It was not below freezing for long in the early AM and the max temp for the day was about 54. The fish was alive and well when I remembered and checked on it in the late morning and the next day. I was concerned the fast drop and cold temps experienced in the bucket would be much colder than any lake of pond would get but it didn’t seem to bother it...

OH YEA, the bucket was left outside

I talked with one of my board of directors yesterday that runs a fish farm in Birdseye, Indiana and he can get me some coppernose bluegills from Malone and Sons later in the spring if I want some. I just have to decide if they are worth the expense for the indoor systems and there is an advantage vs. the northern bluegills.

One thought I had was if they will stay indoors if there may be any advantage in producing an F1 cross in the future. Thoughts?

Are you absolutely sure the fish is a coppernose?

Cecil that would be a worthy experiment.
A couple of my largest BGs early on were what believed to be a F1 cross between native BGs that my grandsons transferred from a neighbor pond into brand new pond stocked with pure Florida CNBG.
The first spawn produced is what now I believe were F1s that looked more like Randal Mill monsters than I have ever seen since.

I culled the fish with those characteristics to brood/grow pond and got rid thse genetics as a result of a massive fish kill, and stated all over with my pure Florida CNBG program.
George

Ceceil,
The pond does have RES in it too. all the BG I have taken seem to be CN. I guess we could have intigrades here in NE FL.......
All them do have a distinct Copper Nose around here though.
Ill photo for you to see what you think, it does appear to be a female. They run a little small in this pond as they are kinda crowded I think. It was 45 last night and it is still doing fine in the bucket. Would a RES CNBG x be a little more cold tolerant?

Northeast FL isn't where you would get an intergrade between northern and CNBG. You could see that on the panhandle perhaps but there you get some of the more uncommon BG like the hand painted.

I'm not doubting you at all BR. Just asked if it could be a possibility.

No idea about a res X cnbg hardiness. I do know I'm just south of res' northern range and they don't always take in ponds here but are native to the larger lakes.

Bobby - Out of curiosity, how big are the larger CNBG in your FL pond?

Bill, they ae not monsters at all. I only recently started adding them and they get hand feed a few times a week. Goal for them is to be food for the larger fish. Ill take some pictures of the ones I am stocking int eh next week or so. what was in the pond was a genrerational bream hybrid of sorts, I am adding pure CNBG as I can get adults to get them more prolific.