Whether you pursue them with the most sophisticated graphite flyrod or a simple cane pole, bluegill provide some of the fastest fishing action available to the Missouri angler. Bluegill can be found in a variety of places, but in ponds and small lakes their populations thrive. To produce a good bluegill population in your pond, you need to have clear water and moderate amounts of cover.
This website brought to you in part by the following sponsor:
Whether you pursue them with the most sophisticated graphite flyrod or a simple cane pole, bluegill provide some of the fastest fishing action available to the Missouri angler. Bluegill can be found in a variety of places, but in ponds and small lakes their populations thrive. To produce a good bluegill population in your pond, you need to have clear water and moderate amounts of cover. The clear water is necessary so prey can be located, and the cover serves as sites for aquatic insects and other food items and as hiding places to avoid lurking bass, herons and other predators.
The proper stocking and management of ponds is essential when you want to provide years of quality bluegill fishing. If large bluegill are what you want, then you need to leave a high portion of 8- to 12-inch bass in the pond. These fish will eat many of the young bluegill that are produced during the summer so that the remaining fish will have more food available and grow faster. This is important because the average female bluegill can produce as many as 20,000 young per summer! If all of the offspring survive, the pond will quickly fill with small, slow-growing bluegill that have depleted their food supply. This situation occurs when bass are in low numbers due to inadequate reproduction or overharvest. The development and maintenance of the type of bass population that ultimately produces a quality bluegill population requires severely limiting the removal of bass. Consequently, you will be sacrificing the quality of your bass population.
Feeding bluegill a pelleted, high protein fish chow can also produce bigger fish. This approach requires daily feedings or the installation and upkeep of an automatic feeder. A night light placed above the water surface to attract insects that fall into the water and are eaten by the waiting fish can also be effective. The benefits are very seasonal and the installation and upkeep of the light may be cost prohibitive.
The stocking of bluegill-green sunfish hybrids can benefit your bluegill population if done correctly. Growth rates of these fish are relatively fast and they tend to grow larger than true bluegill, but hybrids don’t reproduce very well. Consequently, hybrids should be stocked as a supplement to the bluegill already present in the pond. To avoid predation, you need to stock fish at least five inches or larger. If you are interested in purchasing hybrid sunfish for your pond, you can get a list of commercial fish dealers from the Missouri Department of Conservation by calling 646-6122.
If the sudden disappearance of a bobber from the pond’s surface, followed by the characteristic tight-circle jerky fight of the bluegill is an experience you want, then managing your pond for big bluegill is an option you should consider.
