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I'm fairly new to fishing other than as a boy 40 years ago and normally fish a small pond with plenty of 1 or 2 pound bass. These bass seem strong and healthy but I've never seen bluegill of any size taken out of this pond. A friend said some of the bass needed to be harvested to allow the bluegill and remaining bass a chance to increase in size. The pond has been stocked for 13 or 15 years. Any opinion on wether to keep releasing or keep a few. The owner is alright with keeping some.
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Gills become stunted for the lack of food.
for a pond there is three things you can you can do to increase the size of your gills.
[ul][li]Plant hybred gills[/li]
[ul][li]dont wory about the stunted gills breeding, their fry will get eaten by the larger gills and bass.[/li][/ul][li]Plant minnows and or flies, [/li]
[ul][li]"stone flies" check with DNR, you dont want to plant something that is not normaly native to the area you are in.[/li][/ul][li]Feed them artificialy[/li]
[ul][li]going out and tossing a hand full of fish food available though the same people he orders fish from or putting in an automated feeder relitively inexpencive. you can pick up a 5 gallon bucket and a feed spreader for under 50 dollars. Battery and solor charger extra. hang it on a pole at the end of the dock.[/li][/ul][/ul]remember small bass compete for the same food suply as a bluegill, so if you are over stocking with bass you are starving out the gills causing them to become stunted.
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2 other things you can do. I do this with the 5 lakes on my property in Spencer. First is I always throw all my older bread out in the lake to feed the fish. The second thing I do is in the summer. I have an old milk crate that hangs over the water with a rope attached to shore to pull it in. Then I will drive around and pick up any raod kill I find. I take it back and put it in the milk crate and let it swing back over the water. As the animal rots and decays it has maggots. As the drop off, they fall in the water. The fish really enjoy. Plus you will have an area that the fish stay around.
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not to mention a spot no one else will fish near by.... LOL[cool]
[laugh] I am suprized I didnt come up with that....[sly]
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