Well guys, it's time for the final thread in this series. I'm sure every angler has designed their dream body of water, stocked, of course, with their favorite species of fish to catch. Well, today we're going to design one for bullgills. So without further ado, here we go-
PERMISSION: The first step is to get permission to build. This is very important! Without permission, you are subject to heavy fines, and possibly worse. You'll also need a nice chunk of land to build on. I'd suggest building right in the center of the land, as wildlife will congregate there. Be sure you have a healthy insect population, and a nice population of frogs is good too. I would, if I had the choice, have it so that a small stream runs into the pond. That way, anything in the stream gets rolled into the pond.
SIZE: Any size pond can hold big bluegill. I've caught 1-pounders out of water no bigger than 1/8 an acre. I've also caught them on 680-acre bodies of water. I'd suggest a 5 acre pond. It's a nice size - you can use your boat, fill it with fish, and have plenty of open spots. If you must go smaller, get as close to that size as you can. I'd probably make the pond in a figure-8 shape.
DIGGING: The next step is to either rent a backhoe and dig out the land yourself, or pay someone to do it. Neither is that cheap. Unless you can properly operate a backhoe, I'd have someone do it for you. When digging, keep the pond an average of 2-5 feet deep - big bluegill can and will come into extremely shallow water to catch some of their favorite prey items. Plus, they're easier to catch in shallow water. The deepest spot in your pond will probably be around 15-20 feet deep. I'd recommend having peninsulas, as big bluegill like to surround smaller fish against cover (in this case, land) and just pick them off one by one. When building the peninsulas, have it so that they drop off to deeper spots, that can be utilized as spawning beds. Make the beds approximately 10-12 feet deep. In the middle of the pond, have the bottom gradually slope down to a point 15 to 20 feet deep. A useful thing for anglers is a channel dug straight from the deepest points up to a shallow points, as it can be a choke-hold for fish.
PLANTING AND DECORATING: By now, the entire pond should've been dug out, and for the most part, the construction trucks are done. There are a few things that you can do to make your pond better, rather than just having open water. That's so boring, and you probably won't catch nearly as many fish (mostly because they'll die off). The first thing to do is create a little bridge going from one side of the pond to the other. Use large rocks for this purpose, as it provide nooks and crannies for small critters, which provides space for the big gills to root around in. When building the bridge, make it so that it is completely out of the water when the water is lowest, but is usually deep enough for a small boat to pass over, with or without a motor. In any area that has a pretty flat bottom, put pea gravel over it, and plant it with grasses. It can hold small insects, which bluegill will greedily eat. Also, tiny gills will congregate near it. Finally, plant any coves pretty heavily, with hydrilla and pads. Plant the middle areas more sparsely with stalky plants and pondweed. Plant the shoreline of the pond with tall grasses in some spots, plus willow trees. If you can get some, plant some cypress trees. Plant the rest of the shoreline with stringy plants. By the time that is done, you can start submerging some trees. I'd recommend chopping down a tree or two and just throwing it into the deeper parts of the pond. Afterwards, you can build a dock. I like the "T"-shaped ones best, but any style will work fine. Make sure you can fish from it, as well as board a boat from it.
STOCKING: Before any gills go in the water, you'll need bait in it. Introduce bait species like fatheads, tiny goldfish, golden shiners, mosquitofish, baby bass (not a lot - only about 100 of these), baby bluegill, crawfish, and tadpoles. Let this ecosystem thrive for at least 6 months, but a year is best. By that time, you can introduce big gills.
INTRODUCING THE BIG GILLS: By the time all your bait species have flourished, and various other small species have taken up residence in and around the pond, you can introduce the big gills. To introduce big bluegills, first make a list of bodies of water that are filled with big ones. Then, go to a different lake every trip. Catch your limit of big bluegill, and live-transport them to your pond back home. Only go to a single body of water once, so that you don't take all the fish out of a single body of water. That means that you can't fish for big gills there anymore. To live-transport them, you'll need 2 or 3 pickups, a bunch of those gym totes, and a bunch of aerators. Once you catch a fish, simply fill a gym tote with water and hook the aerator up to it. One gym tote can hold about 3 big gills. Once you feel that your pond is well stocked (about 400 big gills, plus a few other fish), stop transporting fish to your pond. Live-transporting is much easier than stocking, and I'd love to see a place that stocks 1 pound plus bluegill.
OTHER FISH SPECIES: Depending on where you live, you can introduce tons of other fish species to your pond. There isn't much that will eat a monster bluegill, so your trophies should be safe. If you have a 5 or 6 acre pond, you have a wide variety of options. Maybe you want some more panfish? If so, go for fish like crappie, tilapia, yellow perch, rock bass, oscars, mayan cichlids, pumpkinseed, warmouth, big shiners, or redear. Maybe you're going for some kind of bass? Go right ahead and stock largemouths, peacock bass, hybrid stripers, or even a striper or two. Maybe you would like something with teeth? In that case, cool fish include northern pike, walleye, chain pickerel, bowfin, longnose gar, or even an alligator gar (be careful with this one- he'd have no trouble eating a big bluegill). Maybe you just want something different? Try going with carp, American eels, channel catfish, blue catfish (will also eat your bluegill), or rainbow and/or lake trout. I have only ever heard of one person with a pond with lake trout, it was a 5-acre my friend in Canada has. If you stock a little more than 400, say 500-600, you should have no trouble keeping populations high, even with big gar or catfish.
FINAL WORDS: Well guys, I really enjoyed writing this series, and I hope everyone has enjoyed reading it. More importantly, I hope everyone has learned something out of this. It is really helpful information, and can help turn a day full of 4 inchers into a day with a 4 pounder. So, remember these skills, and you may set the new world record! Thanks to everyone who read this far...
Drew
