Yes, we will disagree then. I make my living managing ponds and part of my job is selling bluegill when ponds are overcrowded with bass and need to be replenished for the bass to continue to grow.

If I wanted to sell more bluegill I would be an advocate for harvesting bluegill, but that’s not the right way.

Lefthorn, my guess is that you are managing lakes for bass and more particularly big bass. The way to maximize growth and numbers is to provide all the food possible. Others enjoy harvesting, cleaning and eating lots of fish. By keeping lots of bream and a few bass the neighborhood fish fry is a sustainable resource. Neither is wrong IMHO but the goals and the strategy are vastly different.

Fishduck, yes, we mainly manage ponds for bass and there are different strategies for different scenarios. And I understand that, but I run into people all the time wanting to manage for bass that ask how many bluegill to harvest.

Ours was managed by American Sport Fish and another group. They always did the bluegill harvest by pounds and bass by numbers. They told us to keep every bass that we caught that was 14” or smaller. This pond also had shad stocked in it.

Lefthorn is the man. It all depends on how you want to manage your lake. If you want to manage for big bluegill you want the bass to be over populated and hungry.

Sold my lake two years ago after 45 years of management, worked with the state fisheries on how to manage this lake for 45 years ,not much anyone can tell me on lake management.

Fisheries management isn't one-size fits all...

I'd love to find a pond that needs some bluegills removed...... they sure are fun to catch.

And way better eating than a bass

Filet em up, grill em and make fish tacos. That’s how I eat bass