Do you love big bluegill?

new blog up with an article on raising big bluegill

Hi all. I've started a blog for my bluegill guiding service on which I will also be posting articles on pond management, especially big bluegill, from time to time. I just posted an article on common mistakes made by pond owners who want big bluegill. Here's the URL:

http://bluegilladventures.blogspot.com/

If you visit the blog, leave a comment so Google will know I exist!

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Comment by Greg McWilliams on August 4, 2012 at 8:14pm: People fishing it would not be a problem, due to the location!!!!!! I love the looks of the COPPERNOSES and do have a place I can get Coppernose or Bluegill for stocking!!!!! Any Preference????? I will check on the alkalinity!!!! Thanks I will be in touch!!!!!!

Comment by Walt Foreman on August 4, 2012 at 7:46pm: Do you have carte blanche from your company to do whatever with the lake? There are a three smaller (two half-acre, one about an acre) ponds that are on land adjacent to some ponds I manage, and I got permission to work with them from the corporation that owns them, still keep the VM from their rep giving me permission on my phone. The first thing I would do would be to get something definite from the company stating you have a right to manage the pond, including stocking. If they seem really receptive, you might even ask them if you could have a sign or two made with fishing regulations, so people can't come in and keep whatever they want. I would definitely try to get something either recorded or ideally in writing, giving you permission to work with the pond. It's not as big of a deal with private pond owners, and might not be with a company but better safe than sorry.

A new pond is awesome for growing big bluegill. The first thing I would do would be to stock as many fathead minnows and crayfish as you can afford, and let them spawn for a few months before stocking the bluegill. Now would be a perfect time for this, as crayfish sometimes spawn even in the fall, and definitely will in early spring. If the pond has significant weedgrowth, I would also stock grass shrimp, making sure to get the variety that can tolerate cold winters - Fattig Fish in Nebraska sells them.

Once you stock the bluegill, go with MUCH lower stocking numbers than what your state DNR (or most other pond managers) recommend. If you want to grow giant bluegill, stock 100 bluegill, and stock larger-size fish, 3-4", or 4-5" would be even better. Stock largemouth at the same time you do the bluegill - 75 4-6" largemouth. The bass will not grow well at all but the bluegill numbers will stay low and they'll grow like wildfire.

Check the alkalinity of the pond; if it's below 20 ppm, lime it with ag lime this fall so it will be ready for fertilizing next spring. Better yet would be to go ahead and fertilize now if the alkalinity is okay: fertilize as soon as possible, then again a couple weeks from now if you don't get a plankton bloom from the first application, or a month from now if you do; fertilize monthly until the weather starts cooling down (October here in TN). Fertilizing now will get the food chain ramping up with more invertebrates such as dragonflies using the pond so there's more food for the bluegill when you stock them.

If the company will let you put an automatic feeder on the pond, and you think there won't be enough people fishing it to fish the pond out (a feeder is a fisherman magnet), feeding a high-protein food makes a huge difference in how fast bluegill grow, and the maximum size they can reach. I feed Silver Cup but Cargill is also good. But even if you can't feed, if you go with these stocking numbers the bluegill will grow rapidly in a fertilized pond.

Note: the biggest key as to whether this plan will work is whether a lot of other people will be fishing the pond. If no one fishes the pond, or more importantly, if the company will allow you to post regulations and you think the people fishing will abide by them, you could have some awesome fishing in a couple years.

For regulations: bass - catch-and-release only. Bluegill - TWO fish between 7-8" may be kept daily, beginning one year after stocking. Catch-and-release only up until then. No fish under 7" or over 8" may be kept.

Comment by Greg McWilliams on August 4, 2012 at 7:20pm: The pond now has no fish that I know of but does have FROGS!!!!!!!

Comment by Greg McWilliams on August 4, 2012 at 7:19pm: I have seen the FISH from you management!!!!!! ,You are GOOD!!!! I have it BOOKMARKED and will await further blogs!!!!!!!

Comment by Greg McWilliams on August 4, 2012 at 7:13pm: Walt I have a question!!!!!! There is a pond in the area where I work that its dam washed out several years ago!!!! The company rebuilt the dam!!!!! it it fill up last spring, with willow trees flooded in the shallow end. The pond is about an acre with 12 foot of water next to the dam!!!!!!! Starting from scratch how would you work towards BLUEGILL POND????

Comment by Walt Foreman on August 4, 2012 at 7:11pm: Thanks very much, Greg! I'll check the comments to see if I can figure out what went wrong - I'm by no means an expert on web stuff so who knows. Thanks for visiting the blog! I have another article almost written, should have it up in a few days.

Comment by Greg McWilliams on August 4, 2012 at 7:03pm: Walt, Well written and informative!!!! I did comment there but could get it to show up as comment!!!!! Good JOB!!!!