Do you love big bluegill?

Your Pond

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This group is about your pond. How's it going? Questions on what to do next. Fish size and type.

Members: 46
Latest Activity: Aug 16, 2018

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Fish Feeding 13 Replies

I have a 5 acre pond with bass,bluegill, crappie, and catfish. I was thinking about getting a protein based food called Aquafeed to feed the fish in order to keep them fat and healthy. Is this a good…Continue

Started by Wade Jones. Last reply by Terry E Brand Aug 16, 2018.

Bad Luck Stories 1 Reply

I caught 4 bluegill Thurs. before I laid my pole down around a post, and went to get my fishing chair. It never got pulled in before when I did this, but it did then. Whatever it was swam all around…Continue

Started by 10.5" RES Sharon. Last reply by David, aka, "McScruff" Jun 22, 2013.

Looking for Rotenone or someone to do it cheap 1 Reply

Thanks for this cool group everyone! I currently have a 1/4 acre pond that I'm wanting to redo. I am unable to locate a source for Rotenone or someone to do it for a good price. I live in MD, so…Continue

Started by Chris Roberts. Last reply by Ryan McCaw Apr 27, 2013.

Skinny bluegill and bass 6 Replies

Hey everyone hope you all are great fishing season and enjoying the summer, unfortunately at my pond the fish are not doing all that great this summer. My pond has always produced 4 to 5 pound bass…Continue

Started by Wade Jones. Last reply by Mike Cross Oct 11, 2012.

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Comment by dick tabbert on February 17, 2012 at 10:20pm: Walt good stuff. I didn't know that about the blue cats I really thought the only way to get rid of bullheads was to poison off the pond and start all over. Thank you for my learned wisdom for today.

Comment by Walt Foreman on February 17, 2012 at 9:15pm: Perfect solution for the bullheads, Sharon - if you get some adult largemouth from Overton's, get a couple of their blue catfish. They sell them in sizes over a pound; depending on how big your bullheads are, it would take the blue cats a couple years to get big enough to eat them, but once they did they would clean them out. And the bluecats will also help significantly in thinning out your small bluegill - they'll really hammer them.

That's another good reason to add some pound-size largemouth to the pond - I didn't even realize you had bullheads. A 12" largemouth won't be able to eat larger bullheads, but they'll hammer the young-of-year bullheads so that once you get the larger ones thinned out, they should eventually disappear.

Comment by dick tabbert on February 17, 2012 at 6:02pm: No Sharon you didn't say you had bullheads did you. I don't know how you would get them all out I do know of a drastic way but I don't think you want to go that route. Maybe you can ask around and see if there is a way to get rid of you bullheads.

Comment by 10.5" RES Sharon on February 17, 2012 at 5:56pm: I hate catfish for just that reason. Have been taking them out since last summer. Seems to be a never ending supply of them. Expecially bullhead. I don't understand how they can wait for 2 weeks and then bite the trot line I have in the pond.

Comment by Walt Foreman on February 17, 2012 at 5:25pm: You were wise to take it out of the pond - as you've probably noticed by now, catfish will hog the heck out of pellet food, meaning your bluegill get less. So your bluegill will thank you!

Comment by Tony Livingston on February 15, 2012 at 7:56pm: Good fish Sharon. I hope you're right about it heralding the arrival of Spring, although I catch them while ice fishing too!

Comment by 10.5" RES Sharon on February 15, 2012 at 7:42pm: Well, the catfish have started biting. Must be spring. This one is 22". I put it in the creek.

Comment by dick tabbert on February 8, 2012 at 2:38pm: Wanting to learn all I can about ponds. Most thing wanted is to raise big blue gills. I do have a few but far short of what I think I should have so I'll have my ears and mind open.

Comment by Walt Foreman on February 8, 2012 at 12:55pm: It's your pond, Sharon, but I think that would be a shame. If big bluegill have been your goal, I'd encourage you to stick with that goal - you're ninety percent of the way there already and have made great progress. Also, smaller ponds such as yours are far less suited for managing for trophy bass than they are for trophy bluegill, because you can only grow a handful of big bass in a pond that size, and big bass tend to be much more hook-shy as you've noticed than small bass, which means you could be spending a lot of your time not catching much. Whereas a pond the size of yours can produce dozens of trophy bluegill at one time, along with dozens more of a size that most people would consider trophies.

It really doesn't take much tweaking, if any at all, once you get the numbers of bass where they need to be. I've managed multiple ponds in the past in which the bluegill averaged close to a pound apiece - without feeding - and once I got the bass population high enough, I didn't have to do any further stocking, and I managed some of those ponds for ten years. I'm managing a four-acre pond now that has not had any fish of any species stocked in it in about fifteen years now, and several 10"+ bluegill were caught from it last year and I expect several over 11" this year.

I really think the only step you have left to get your pond really cooking in terms of big bluegill, is to stock twenty or so pound-size bass, or forty or so 6-8". I hate to see a bluegill aficionado get so close and give up.

Good luck with whatever path you choose to take.

Comment by 10.5" RES Sharon on February 7, 2012 at 5:24pm: That's why I'm thinking I should just give up on big bluegill and raise bass. It seems to me that always trying to tweek the pond to get just what I prefer is going to be a major problem.