I may be biased in that I'd rather catch 1 5 pound bass than a hundred "big"
bluegills, but I'd say killing the small bluegills may be cutting off those
hawg bass' food supply, at least somewhat. Sounds to me like you've got a
pretty balanced deal there overall, with plenty of bass to catch. The pike
might need to go - in fact if you caught a 6" one there's a good bet momma's
in there too. Call me anytime to wet a line!

Oh - snappers make great scavengers & even better soup.

Warren


"johnval1" wrote in message
news
I need advice from the group. I live in a small sub in MI that has a
private 4 acre pond. I am the only person who fishes it. It has bass (a
couple in the 5 - 7 lb range), some yellow bullheads, a whole bunch of
bluegill, a couple small perch, and some good sized crappie. Yesterday, I
even caught a 6" pike. I also caught 4 doz bluegill and a 22 lb snapping
turtle.

Most of the bluegill are quite small. Very few are larger than my hand.

Should I cull the small bluegill from the pond? I seem to recall some
ancient wisdom that says this is a good approach to managing the fish
population. Would this help or hurt the bass population?

Secondly, should I kill the snappers should I catch any more of them? I
have no idea what snappers eat.