Would CC's control the smaller bluegills?

[David Hopkins]

I have a 1 acre pond with 5 larger bass I would like to keep(16-21"), but I do not have any large Blue gills.

A few up to about 8" is it. But I have lots of blue gill 4-6 inch. Every thing I have read is to take out the big bass and have lots of smaller 12-15" bass. Would CC take their place?

[Tony Livingston]

CC will certainly utilize bluegills as forage, but in my opinion they will not provide the level of control that LMB will. If I'm not mistaken, this is a new pond for you? If so, it could be that the reason you're not seeing many larger BG's is because they've been harvested in the past.

For growing larger bluegills, you need food, good water quality, adequate predation on smaller fish, and time.......those lilies I see in the background will provide a lot of cover for smaller fish, which could end up geing a problem if growing large bluegills is your goal. One of the hardest things to try and maintain in a pond scenario, is a small BOW that will produce large bass and large bluegills together.

In many cases, it ends up being one or the other.

[David Hopkins]

Thanks Tony, I don't really plan to grow large bass, just keep the ones I have. I'm working on clearing the pond. Hoping to clear about 75% from what I have read. I also have a school of 20  8-12" shiners(I think). trying to net those out and restrict the forage to BG. The prior/original owner was 100 so I don't think he did much harvesting, but who knows what the neighbors did. Would adding a 20 or so CC's help at all or just give me something else to catch? I have seen 5-8" bass, but have not caught any. I am feeding 1/2 lb cat fish food daily.

[Tony Livingston]

Personally, I am not a fan of having CC in a pond where the emphasis is on growing bigger bluegills. CC are pellet hogs, and will eat much of the feed you are trying to get into the bluegills. In addition they are very wary once caught and released, making their removal difficult. If you want to try some, limit yourself to just a few, and remove them as they are caught.

[Jim Gronaw]

Tony is correct in that the bass will be a better predator on the bluegills. For what it is worth, almost all of the better bluegill ponds I fish for 9 inch and up fish do have an abundance of smaller 9 to 12 inch bass that feed heavily on the yoy gills each season. However, several of those ponds have a few larger bass, like your 16 to 21 inchers, that seem to make out just fine and do not tip the scales very much.

You may want to reassess the removal of those bass, as they will surely help in reducing the 4-6 inch bluegill population. It may seem weird, but if you could remove, perhaps by angling, the number of smaller bluegills, and release the larger 6-8 inch fish, then the remainng bluegills may experience a growth spurt in the next few years that would put them beyond the preffered forage size of those larger bass.

This is just one thought...Tony, Walt and Bruce could certainly weigh-in on this with solid pond management concepts. But keep in mind...if you want big bluegills, then you should not harvest those larger bluegills. Once they are gone, it is tough to get those alpha male bulls back in the system...it would take a number of years with many dynamics to consider. Every pond and lake is different. Seldom does 'one size fit all'.

[David Hopkins]

How may 4" blue gill would a 16"+ Bass eat? (in FL)

[Tony Livingston]

A lot. It is generally acknowledged that a LMB needs to consume 10 pounds of forage to gain one pound of weight. If you're worried about that 16" bass eating too many bluegills, you probably shouldn't be. As Jim stated, removal of smaller, competing fish means more food for those that are left. You're fine having those larger bass in place, but the smaller bass are what you need to maintain pressure on those smaller gills.

[David Hopkins]

Wanted them to eat more. Just wanted to know how many a bass would eat in a week/month/year. If I should remove some of the little gills (100)? If I had to guess I would say the  pond has almost 0 fishing pressure the last 15 years