Howdy,

We bought some land that shares a pond with the next door neighbor back in 2012, and finished building our house last year. We knew there were some largemouth bass in there because the people across the street were fishing it one day and hooked at least a 4 pounder when we were building the house.

I had not picked up a fishing pole for at least 20 years until last week. I went to Walmart, bought a cheap rod/reel and a few lures, and went fishing.

I made 10 casts that day - first 3 had 2 lmb and 1 perch, and at the 10th cast i had caught 8 fish. I had what felt like a nice on the 10th cast, but he spit the lure and as I was reeling back in, another one jumped on

None were keepers but it was nice to see them there. Now it seems all i want to do is go home and fish (which is not so bad for many reasons).

I know I have work to do on the pond. The other lot that owns the rest of the pond has been vacant since 2008, and i hope whoever ends up buying that lot will work with me on keeping up the pond. If not, I will do what I can for my little section, but no need to cross that bridge as far as i know right now...

Anyways, Look forward to figuring out what the heck i need to do with my pond and how to get it right!

Welcome from Deep East Texas. Ask lots of questions and subscribe to the Pond Boss Magazine. You will love it.Congrats on finishing up your building!! Now maybe you can purchase the other lot and then you will own the whole lake and do what you want!!! Good luck

Welcome fellow Texan to the forum. You will have tons of fun on here and actually learn a lot and pass on the info to others. Read a lot on here and ask questions and have fun!

Avants,
Welcome to Pond Boss....tons of good info and lots of good helpful folks here!

Avants,

Welcome.

If you think none of them were keepers, you may be fishing an overcrowded pond which would mean its time to cull, a lot.

Learn about RW for your fish species and cull every predator that is below your RW goals. Your prey fish need high numbers and good RWs to feed the rest of the pond.

Having a shared pond is always a challenge. Best of luck.

Any way you can afford the other lot? It might keep down a lot of future problems.

How big is the pond?

How far North of Cowtown?

Thanks would love to have the other lot but it has a crappy house on it that I cant afford to tear down.

Thanks all for the welcome - I appreciate it

the pond is just over 1.5 acres and I own a little under half of it.(i had that info at work and left it on my desk...Ugh)

I'm not too far North = in Haslet. Just off 287

Avants, you will find that the definition of "keepers" at Pond Boss is VERY different from what you're used to!

Avants, Welcome to this board. Lots of great info, take your time, that pond has been there for awhile? .. Listen to Dave, even his granddaughter blames him for this affliction. Dan

Well true, I am a catch and releaser... Heck I am afraid to use live bait because a turtle might latch on and I would not be able to get the hook out... its not his fault he was doing what he do

Catch and release works well on public lakes; not so well in impoundments like ponds. The brutal truth is that Texas ponds are generally predator(bass) heavy/forage(bluegills) light. This generally results in runty starving bass. They simply over spawn and eliminate the bulk of their food supply.

Dave, This is true in Florida also. Larger LBM will cannibalize the smaller LMB till you have a true mess on your hands. Disease on the skin and a cataract like cover on one eye or both of the things I have witnessed on some of these starved ponds. Skinny fish do not fight well. Dan

Welcome to PB . Dave is right about catch and release. You will have to be the harvest manager to have good results.

You indicated that you own less than half of the pond. I am not aware of Texas laws, but in most states if you own any part of the pond then, at least from a boat (by water), you have legal access to the entire body of water.

Good news for you, but may not be quite so good if you get a neighbor who will also having access to the entire BOW.