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So a few minutes ago I got a text from a landowner with a fish photo. This was caught this past week from a seven-acre pond we manage in west Tennessee. This pond was stocked as a new pond in March 2016 with 1-2” coppernose bluegill, so this fish is no more than four years old, meaning it still has two years of growth left.
Attachment 351717
Wow, what a fish!
That is tremendous growth! How big is the fish?
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That’s crazy big in my book!
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Unfortunately, the angler who caught it (a neighbor of the landowner) did not weigh it. I would estimate well over two pounds at a minimum.Quote:
Originally Posted by D10
Wow, A good one for sure, thanks for pic.
Very nice fish. Are they fed or natural forage?
Wow you are showing us some amazing gills. Do they get pellets?
This pond and the other pond I posted photos from a couple days ago both have feeding programs. The feeding alone, however, doesn't produce bluegill this big - there are thousands upon thousands of private ponds and lakes across the Southeast that have feeders and don't grow bluegill like this or anywhere close. Many of those lakes are far larger than these two ponds; and water body size is a major factor in fish growth. A study was published three years ago in which the author found that bluegill growth in central Georgia small impoundments was more influenced by lake surface area than any other single factor:
Influence of lake surface area and total phosphorus on annual Bluegill growth in small impoundments of central Georgia (Book, 2016) [WorldCat.org]
All that just to say, it ain't easy to grow bluegill this big, anywhere, and it definitely isn't easy in smaller ponds.
Very nice.
Another nice one, big Gills being grown out that way for sure.
Amen to that! Trying to grow big bluegill on a public lake is really hard too ( in Arkansas anyway).Quote:
Originally Posted by tnpondmanager
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Public lakes in the South are a lost cause until DNRs decide to come into the 21st century with their regulations. Several northern states have enacted stricter harvest regulations on bluegill based on the dozens of studies that have been published since 1980 that show that overharvest is the single biggest cause of poor bluegill size structure (it actually changes the genetics of a population), and have seen their bluegill fisheries improve. But our game and fish agencies here seem determined to destroy every last vestige of quality public bluegill fishing. There would be many public lakes across the South that regularly produced 10-12" bluegill if they were properly managed.Quote:
Originally Posted by D10
Yep. A size restriction on bluegill or redear wouldn’t fly with the average bream angler in Arkansas. Most just want to be able to go out and keep what they catch. There’s nothing wrong with that but it makes it hard to grow big fish. I have been thinking about experimenting with some kind of size restriction on one of the lakes I manage but I don’t think it would get approved right now. Maybe as time passes and more bream anglers are more in it for the sport than the table, I could do that.Quote:
Originally Posted by tnpondmanager
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Just my personal opinion, but I don't buy that a majority of anglers wouldn't accept limits on bluegill. Certainly there are people who think they're not bluegill fishing unless they can take the obligatory tailgate photo with fifty or a hundred bluegill laid out dead, but there are ten or twenty anglers for every one of those who would give anything to be able to fish a properly-managed bluegill lake in the southeast and would not think twice about adhering to stricter regulations.Quote:
Originally Posted by D10
Even beyond the question of whether or not anglers would buy it: it's hard for me to fathom why that's even a consideration. I have no doubt that thirty or forty years ago when it became illegal to keep as many big largemouth bass as one wanted, that that was not a popular regulation change; yet DNRs across the country did it to protect the future of the resource. They were protecting anglers from themselves.
And yet somehow bizarrely they reason, here in the South, that they couldn't possibly enact regulations to salvage - because we're well past the point of protecting, the resource has already been destroyed - bluegill fisheries because anglers wouldn't like it. It's really mindless.
Thank you for your perspective on the topic. I may be miss characterizing what the “average” bream angler wants in a Bluegill/redear fishery. I need to ask bream anglers these question first hand during creel surveys. You know what they say when you assume things...Quote:
Originally Posted by tnpondmanager
And yes you are right. I bet bass anglers threw a huge fit at first when restrictions were put on bass harvest. Now you can’t convince a bass angler that they need to keep some small ones to improve growth. Now the problem with managing Bass is too little harvest to effective manage the population through regulations (another topic of conversation).
I have a lake that was at one time a true trophy bluegill and redear lake. That was 30+ years ago. What has changed? The pressure and harvest on this lake has exploded. The local bait shop can’t keep enough crickets and worms in stock during the summer months. Now a days, an 8” Bluegill is a big one and occasionally an angler catches a pound plus redear. For this same reason we had to enact a 10-in minimum length limit on crappie. Exploiting was about 67% for crappie. If I had to guess it is probably very close to the same for bluegill.
To enact a regulation like this, we have to have three years of data that demonstrate a need. That mean extensive age and growth studies and probably an exploitation study. Unfortunately a project like this get put on the back burner due to a lack of time. I may need to talk to a local university to see if I can find some students interested in helping me with a side project.
Thanks again for your perspective. It’s not often that Fisheries biologist in Arkansas have this type of conversation about bream. Maybe that will change one day.
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When an eight-inch bluegill is a good one, as is the norm now on public lakes across the southeast, it's well beyond the point of need - it's to the point that if something isn't done soon, there will be no public bluegill fisheries in the region because bluegill will average four inches long everywhere and people will stop fishing for them.Quote:
Originally Posted by D10
well since lake surface area is a constant and not likely to change, guess that only leaves phosphorus. so you add that to the water to grow bigger gills or fish?
married a gal who happened to have a 17 acre private lake and land around it. Totally underfished with bass actually malformed because of numbers and most were 10 to 14 inches but huge population of big bg's. BBF and I started catching boatloads of bass and fileting them to get population in balance which we did but BG's still had big population of really big fish. Were more in balance but still needing harvesting it was nice to be able to fill your two man full of both and sustaining a very healthy population.
On public waters I think most fisherfolk would welcome a limit restriction as it has worked on bass, catfish and crappie. why not sunfish?
stupid big is my thoughts on that big ole slab of a bluegill ….WOW
what a nice fish ! and I enjoyed the conversation on a very interesting topic. Thanks guys.
Nice fish Walt - good to see your hard work is paying off.
Gonna need a bigger bun for that sammich. :yikes
i can see how blue-gill can have the opportunity to get much bigger in a managed pond.....what about river blue-gill , are there just too many predators for them to have a chance to grow really big ? i mean when i fish my slew there are herons , gar , snake-birds , alligators , turtles , king-fishers , otters , even mink , eagles , and even me trying to catch and eat them......i never really had the time to do much fishing until i retired but it seems that over the last year (really only about 7-8 months ) or so i would have caught at least one big blue-gill ....i am really only a beginner blue-gill fisherman , maybe i just don't fish the right places , the right times , or with the right bait to catch a big blue-gill..... but i believe that their are some monster gills in all that big water right outside my door , i just have to find them.