Bluegill out of my pond

I think she is healthy!

No doubt about it.

Looks like you probably need to do a fish fry with some of her friends!

Nice!

Beautiful

Nothing better than fried bluegill.

I return all of my bluegill to my 2 acre pond to spawn - they are the food supply for my large mouth bass - I have native and Floridas and those guys stay hungry for sure -

Yes! LMB can eat more than you think!

It would take a really big bass to eat bream this size. I would guess they eat more bass eggs and fry than bass eat them.

Looks like none of your fish are missing a meal Also sounds like sound pond management for big fighting fish that taste very good.

Do you periodically cull out the 1-2 pound bass to allow for more bait fish to adequately feed and grow the big ones?

Healthy pond for sure!

You'd be surprised how big a gill a bass can eat til you catch one with attached bass.

The most recent issue of TWA magazine features "Big Bass and Big Bucks." It compares managing for big bass and big deer. Tlk has got that concept down.

Yes Sir - I have said for years that managing deer and fish are identical. Provide feed - cull regularly because it is all about keeping the number of mouths to feed in balance - too many mouths and not enough food is not a good combination. So I cull the middle age bass (culls) the same as we cull the does and middle age bucks who show no potential. Keep their environment healthy - end of the day it is all common sense, effort, $$, and being disciplined

they do not just eat fry and eggs they eat the smaller and younger BG - I have tons of cover in my pond for the young bass to hide - the larger bass will go after the younger and smaller Bluegill - end of the day the Bluegill provide the buffet for the Bass

Feed the Coppernose Bluegill and Tilapia....and they feed my bass.

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you got it

You must be in east Tx. I’m sitting here watching a bunch of ducks swim around in a 1/2.acre tank that was 16 acres when full in west Tx. It dried up last winter. We had some nice bluegill and bass. The wheat looks like chit right now and I don’t think anyone made a cotton crop last year. Pray for rain in west Tx.

No sir I am in Central Texas - I have a spring that feeds my pond when it is wet and a well when it is dry

About the only thing as expensive as raising bass is daughters. And they both reproduce some more expenses.

I didn’t realize it was expensive to grow bass.

Yep, bass are eating machines. They need prey that is about 1/3 of their size. It’s a matter of protein received vs energy expended. A 3 pound bass will lose weight and languish on minnows.

So, I consider myself a bluegill farmer. And I feed them, the prey, high protein feed through a Texas Hunter Fish Feeder$$$.

It’s not as long as you stock your tank correctly, as well as fillet plenty of bass every year.I have almost $0 in this bass from my house tank in Graham. The only cost on bass is initial stocking. The key is to get your bluegill going first. Bass reproduce in massive numbers and need a lot of food. I kill everyone I catch under 15”. You need to evaluate your tank after 3 years of stocking and kill every bass under your size limit. Evaluate every year and up the limit. This has worked for me on many tanks. The only thing you can’t control is drought.

You also can’t control water turkeys(crested cormorants). They almost totally cleaned me out 2 years ago on both of my tanks/ponds. I restocked, and this time, strung cord attached to TPosts across the pond. That worked until either deer or pigs bumped into the cords and busted them. I don’t live there so had no idea. I’ll be evaluating and most likely do it all over again.

$$$$

Exactly - cull the mid range bass so there are fewer mouths to feed - it is not expensive - it is labor intensive

Tlk, the labor shouldn’t be an issue with all those grandkids doing the culling.
If you still need some culled I have a lady that LOVES to fish.

you and she are welcome anytime

Be careful what you offer-she’ll wanna but a second home down there.