Julie Anderson
Thanks to the generosity of the Bandits Golf Group and several individuals, SunBird Golf Resort is now home to 54 Bluegill and 69 Grass Carp fish. The fish were delivered to their new home on Wednesday, Dec. 9, in hopes that they will chew their way through lots of algae. We learned from the Arizona Fish and Games Department that our larger carp, some now close to 14 years old, have stopped eating and will live out their years just lazily swimming about in the lakes. We needed some younger, hungrier fish, and learned that Grass Carp will happily chomp through the algae waiting for them in our lakes. We purchased the Bluegill for the fishing enjoyment of our residents, and they were all placed into the lake by the clubhouse. We hope that you will respect our “Catch and Release” policy, especially while our new fish get acclimated and, hopefully, reproduce: All golf course fishing is only for catch and release.
We would like to buy some Tilapia in the spring, as they are known to be voracious algae eaters, but we will need more donations before we purchase more fish. These fish were purchased, delivered, and placed for a total cost of $1,800. We received $1,880 in donations, so we have $80 in the Tilapia fund. Thank you to Jack Cooper for researching and coordinating the Fish Initiative. If you would like to donate, please contact Jack or drop a check off in the Pro Shop with “Fish” written in the memo line. Now, if our resident herons and ducks will let them eat and grow, we will all be happy.