Im in East Texas and have just completed an 8-10 acre lake! We have 20% of the lake volume in PVC structure! The lake bottom has had channels cut through leaving ridges that are 3-4ft higher than the channel! We are now praying for rain! The water along the dam should be 17-20 ft deep with an average lake depth in the 6-8ft range!All we want to do is grow big bass...I have no interest in stocking channel cat! So with that being said we have had a bad experience with another private lake being stocked with Floridas...over time the fish grew plenty big (only knew this b/c they were shocked up) but extremely hard to catch! If you cant catch them it doesnt matter how big they get! I need to know if all the management is done right(stocking, catching, feeding, etc.) what species is gonna be our best chance to grow 10lb+ bass that are still aggressive! I appreciate any help!

Look under the resource guide and find Todd Overton. He will tell you everything you need to know. He has all the fish you want to buy and he's not that far from you.

Your probably going to get plenty of help here. I'm no expert but have but have been working trying to turn around existing ponds to produce larger fish. This forum is the place to be thats for sure.

Everyone will agree on one thing and thats concentrating on getting your forage base in top shape first, AND keep it that way forever. Then your bass will grow regardless of what you put in.

Having the perfect spread of bass genetics is where all the opinions come in.

Probably a certain percentage of Northern and Floridas will be your best bet for the "long run." Say 60% northern and 40% Florida just as an example. Then let them start producing F1's or tiger bass naturally and for years to come. The tiger bass being a cross between the two original stockers and supposedly having the growth potential of the Florida and the aggression of the Northern. Clip the fins of the original stockers and never take them out, as they will keep your gene pool in order.

Welcome to the forum. I would suggest getting Bob Lusk's book Raising Trophy Bass from this website. It sounds like you have made your lake correctly, congats on that. There are others that have had the same experience as you with the Florida bass. I am soon to stock my new 5acre lake with bass. I have not figured out the ratio I plan to go with yet.

All of these guys have great info. You should get the book "Raising Trophy Bass by Bob Lusk" it is an easy read and has lot of great information that you want to know. It is very understandable. Overton haas great fish and very knowledgeable about what he has def. a good source. Just keep your ears open and keep your will to learn and to have a better pond and you will be there. Please keep us updated on your decisions.

Thanks for the props. Wish I were selling water right now.

On the question of bass genetics I recommend you stock a mix of pure Floridas and pure Northerns, probably in a 50/50 ratio. Then see where the chips fall. Some will interbreed, making the infamous F1 tiger bass, some will breed florida/florida, some will breed northern/northern. You'll get the full spectrum within a few spawning seasons. Then you can bump the genetic structure by stocking pure florida fingerlings down the road like the TPWD does to maintain a decent % of florida genetics in public lakes, or you can stock pure northern fingerlings if bass catch rates are sub-par.

Also keep in mind that managing for trophy bass is in itself managing for fish that are hard to catch, because fat bass are well-fed bass and well-fed bass eat one or two big meals per day and your bait or lure needs to be in place at the right moment for these striking opportunities, unless it is spawning season of course.

There are pros and cons to every decision you make, but we should be able to talk you through most of them here on the forum.

I think I'd also consider a call to Mr. Pond Boss himself, Bob Lusk.

You can never go wrong there.

Thanks guys for all your quick replies! I was thinking the 50/50 mix was probably the answer! Todd we will be using you when the lake fills...we are located in sulphur springs and hope with enough rain there will be enough water in the lake that we can stock the baitfish and bream this fall followed by bass in the spring of 2010! Im assuming we can stock the right amount for around $400 or so an acre? Also are we better off going with the feed trained fish? Do they grow signifigantly faster if pellet fed...and does it effect artificial lure fishing at all? Thanks!

Well fish do grow a lot faster if they are fed. Reason being is they do not have to work near as hard to eat. (they do not have to chase bait fish around, so they spend less energy and save calories.) Bluegill and Golden Shiner take to feed easily (feed trained.) Bass on the other hand are hard to feed train unless you get them really young. My experience with fishing in ponds that have supplemental feeding programs is it is not any harder really to catch them. You are probably thinking that since they are getting feed they are going to be full. A lot of my strikes are reaction strikes. It is not like throwing a lure to a bunch of overcrowded bass that are hungry. You don't catch one every cast. (thats why its called fishing and not catching thanks dad), but they are going to fight harder and be a lot healthier fish that look like footballs.

What other species of fish is your pond going to have?

Glad to hear it!

Let's aim at stocking YOUNG bass, if your lake is ready in late May/Early June. We start feed-training our bass as soon as they are removed from the production pond at about 2" in length, usually late May, and they are about 6weeks old at that time. If your lake is ready for bass, i.e. your lake has sufficient baitfish of the right size, then we'll stock these young bass at that time and they will NOT be fully feedtrained. As the summer progresses our bass have feedtrained (or as a consequence died of starvation or got eaten by siblings)and grown so that by October we have a mix of 4"-6" and 6"-8" fish at best under our specific conditions. If you had stocked these in May at 2" then under the right conditions they could already be as large as 10"-12" in size..or larger even...super growth rates.
Feed-trained bass lose time on a fish farm compared to a wild setting (with good conditions), but they give us options and flexibility as well.

So if your lake fills (fills = a mix of sufficient volume of water and optimism)in Jan - April time frame then stock standard mix of baitfish (assuming good water quality), assess baitfish production in May, then stock bass when the timing is right. Timing is critical here and regular sampling of the lake shoreline with a minnow trap has to be one of the easiest ways to sample for evidence of bluegill and fathead minnow reproduction. Call me when you find bluegill and fathead minnow fry and I'll have my bass here waiting. We can even stock some tilapia at the same time as the bass fingerlings to fill any gaps in late summer/fall forage availability. Getting your bass off to a good start is essential to the success of the program.

If the drought persists and your lake doesn't catch enough water for baitfish and/or bass stocking, then the plan changes as well. We can address plan B as the time comes.

As far as other species of fish you personally might stock, bluegill, tilapia, and minnows will all readily consume or learn to consume pelleted fish food in your lake.

$400 per acre price for the basic 800 bluegill/200 redear sunfish/5lbs fathead minnows/5lbs tilapia/50 bass PER acre. Bass fingerling prices increase drastically as they are feedtrained and offered at sizes larger than 2"-3". Larger bluegill, which might be needed if we are stocking in late spring or summer in order to get a faster spawn, also carry a larger $tag.

Hope this helps. My brain is now tired and I think I'll go bust a beaver dam or something.

IMO the best mix of LMB is 45% North. , 30% Fla and 25% F-1s in southern ponds (your location). In one pond we recently used 50% Nort. 25% Fla and 25% F-1s. I will point out that a study on the issue in TX lakes provided that most of the lunker bass (12+ lbs) genetics were Fla at high %.

Great...that sounds good! Im glad to hear we can wait to stock the baitfish untill jan-april...the lake should be pretty full if we get a good years rain considering we have a pipe to catch runoff from adjacent properties! I will definately be giving you a call Todd...my name is Jake!

Im trying to paste some pictures on here to show you guys the lake and some of our homemade structure! Any help?

Scroll to the top, and hit the FAQ link...then read how do I add an image to my post. It also helps if you have a photobucket account or something like it (its free) to copy from.

Here's a link to a few pictures of structure...picture quality is not great when I transfered to .gif!

http://flickcabin.com/public/viewset/6164

WOW! That's some of the coolest structure I've seen, ever.

Bass-heaven!

Hello Sulpher Ranch and welcome to Pond Boss. Wow, nice entrance to the forums, very creative structure. We're glad you found us.

Looks like some of the modern art around DT Houston

Great looking project! Thanks for posting.

Thanks for all your compliments...we have spent many weekends building this stuff! There are a few more unique structures we have built that I will try to post!