Thread: Bluegill and Pond?

Originally Posted by keeferfish

Is the pond over run with them and should I eliminated some?

You'll probably have to eliminate a lot more than "some".

Ponds that size get overrun by small bluegill very easily. PM tnpondmanager and get some advice from him.

DB4D is right...sounds like the Balance is gone in the Bass Pond.

Are there Bass left in the Pond....and any other Predators like Cats?

A few bass most which are also small. Don't catfish much but nice ones do live in there. We have recently started feeding dry fish food and I do have access to a 10 acre lake with a large amount of nice two pound bass. Last year we added about 10 but I'm sure the small ones need to be removed. I'm adding 5 pounds of minnows tomorrow for fish food!

I would definitely talk to somebody like tnpondmanager or your state F&G service. They could give you some good advice.

You basically just have to build the Big Bass Population back up, the smaller Bass can't eat the Medium sized gills to control the population....which means you have to remove all those mid sized Bluegill...enjoy catching, eating, and giving away, as many as possible!
Once you get rid of the mid sized 'Gills, the Bass And Channels will keep the population under control as the Big Bluegills spawn....contact a Pond Manager, or there's plenty of good info on the web about Managing a "Bass Pond"...and that's what you have.

If may "suggest' try adding more larger bass and impose a STRICT "catch and release' for larger bass and large cats only. it will take time but in a predator "heavy' environment bluegill either get BIG or they get eaten ! the surviving bluegill will get HUGE and have seen this happen in several well managed ponds. btw it is very easily possible to fish down the top predators but almost IMPOSSIBLE to overfish bluegills due to their very high "rate of recruitment', ie, as fast as a group of big gills are caught and removed other slightly smaller gills rapidly replace them...

you may be looking at a more extensive management plan than simply adding larger preds into the pond. I would suggest contacting a local or area fisheries specialist and let them come and do a survey/count and determine the balance. there are several ways to accomplish what you are wanting to do.

If you want to do it on the cheap, keep all small gills that you catch, return any large predators. I'd be easy on the food until I figured out what kind of plan I wanted to run. you don't want the fish becoming reliant on artificial food when you are wanting them to eat whats in it.

When keeping all of the smaller gills you catch, I recommend freezing them whole. Then give them away on your state home board or to friends to use as cut bait for catfish. You could also try keeping some alive and fishing them live yourself. You may just end up catching a monster flathead or blue.