Anyone do it?
It seems like there are abundant blue gill in a pond near me. But i have never kept anything.
I am more interested in catching and eating these days, but i am reluctant to take from a pond.
Honestly, i doubt i'll keep anything from this pond. I want to make sure it stays a fun place to fish for everyone.
I keep having the thought that everyone kept a couple... it will screw it up for everyone.
I've never caught any panfish on a lake, perhaps i need to focus there instead.

just curious on what your thoughts are.

My dad and I have always used perch for cut bait on local ponds (ranger ball park, Chisolm park, etc) and we toss the crain at chisolm a few when he comes by and there's still plenty when we go out there each year. I've been trying to avoid cut bait now since the turtles eat it mostly. Now whether or not the fish are safe for people to eat is another question. I trust the stocked fish like cats and trout but I don't know about the local fish. We stopped keeping the catfish at the ball park because they started looking sick and they started getting sores. Then we eventually stopped going there.

Texas Parks&Wildlife Dept.has a fish band consumption warning page on it's web site. It tells you all the warnings on fish not to eat on all state water bodies. I usually keep fish from a water body that has good current flow year around and the water is good year around. I have kept Bluegill from small stock ponds and the water was in very good condition and so were the fish. Common since and good judgement also play important factors in keeping fish.


Side Note: Taking a few Sunfish off of a lake or pond will not hurt it one bit. It would probably help the water body by keeping a healthy fish population. Just my two cents.

Fihing small creeks, private ponds, and public park ponds the leading theory was to catch and release, but selective removial helps water bodies. I would not take the large end of the population, but keeping the average size a time two will help to control pop. numbers. Alot of small ponds that have limted to no water exchange will become stunted, this is problem with sunfish and the populations tend to hybridize as well.This encludes bass and crappie. The sad thing about doing this is that joe blow see one fellow eat few and he takes all he can get. So doing the right thing may ruin it for a few. Good luck

You will improve the sunfish population if you take the sunfish catch home to eat. Most ponds are overpopulated. Predators such as bass and crappie will keep the sunfish under control, but it is the bass and crappie which are usually kept. You cannot hurt the sunfish pond population with a rod and reel. Cast nets are a different story.

I think i might have a couple of sufish for dinner this weekend.
Thanks for the advise on taking the mid sized ones.
I've noticed there are a lot of small, some mid, and just a couple of the larger ones in this pond.
Unless the large ones have wised up and that bread just floating there under a bobber is not the best idea