Bruce Condello with 12-inch bluegill X green sunfish hybrid.

Comment

Comment by Vince Fusco on July 29, 2012 at 9:09am

Beautiful Hybrid, Bruce! I have never caught one and wonder if they fight harder than a regular gill. Congrats on your catch!

Comment by DAVID L EITUTIS on July 28, 2012 at 10:08pm

WWWWWWWWWWWWWOW  "THE LEADER OF THE BAND" DOES IT AGAIN! THE STUFF of dreams Bruce and a great pic and fish . LOOKS LIKE the baby bass can watch out for these things ! I love the markings on the fins on the bottom kind of remenicent of my Brown Trout chasing days.

Comment by dick tabbert on June 9, 2012 at 10:17pm

Nice hybrid Bruce love the bold markings you can really see the Green Sunfish in it. Great job.

Comment by Angelo C Mastrando Jr. on May 2, 2012 at 10:59pm

Wow! That's a monster!

Comment by Tony Livingston on May 1, 2012 at 5:26pm

My observations mirror Bruce's in that ice out is when I tend to see any weakened fish. They don't last long once they get in that condition, nature is always ready to utilize her resources in whatever manner she sees fit. I will sometimes find the fish in shallower water, swimming slowly in circles and acting lethargic, and yes it does sometimes appear that they struggle to remain vertically upright. The end of the road.

We add hybrids every two years, trying to approximate the numbers removed in an effort to maintain a steady population. For the most part, it is currently catch and release on the HBG unless they are females, which may get removed as caught.

Remember, these are hybrid fish, not something we want to keep for reproduction, unlike our native Bluegill. As such, the time will come when it's either harvest, or let them succumb naturally. As hard as I think it will be for me to harvest them, it seems wasteful not to.

Comment by dick tabbert on May 1, 2012 at 3:44pm

Thank you Bruce for the clarification. 

Comment by Jim Gronaw on May 1, 2012 at 3:43pm

Outstanding info! My friend who has the hybrid pond restocks every 4 years...maybe that's the reason, though he claims little knowledge of fish and fisheries.

Comment by Bruce Condello on May 1, 2012 at 3:15pm

....oh, and BTW...mustard and oat flour on 8 inch bluegill, females that are relative weights 90-100.

Comment by Bruce Condello on May 1, 2012 at 3:13pm

Wow, great observations!  My experience is that older fish in Nebraska are much more likely to be seen languishing right after ice out, usually in March.  The long, hard winter is the final straw in an accumulation of stressors, including increased incidence of bacterial and fungal infections, as well as a greater inability to capture prey.  Diminishing body condition is a vicious cycle.  Decreased fitness leads to decreased ability to hunt down prey leads to decreased fitness, etc. etc.  The final result is a fish that has little to no muscle mass, and is probably devoured soon after death by the resident catfish, or the resident microbial community.  I prefer to eat fish when they are still in pretty good body condition, which usually means 7-9 inch fish that are clearly not pellet eaters. 

Comment by Leo Nguyen on May 1, 2012 at 2:30pm

From what I've read through the Pond Boss forums and submissions of various pond owners, who have greater control and observation than the field observation done by fisher management agencies, older gill are much more susceptible to diseases, especially inability to fight infestation of parasites. They eventually grow weak, blind, and death follow soon after. Bruce's lake is a prime example of optimal conditions, so, I think these fish may exceed their presumable lifespan period.

 

Bruce, Tony, Walt, could you confirm with me something: do the gill become succumbed to disorientation, ending up doing surface float either belly up or awkward sideway/at an angle, follow by death? We noticed salmon, bass, coy, and trout shown similar aging symptoms before death in the wild, but not sure how these panfish fair out their lives before predation occurences in the wild.

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