I have a one acre pond on Johns Island, SC. We stocked it with 1,000 bream November 2 years ago and 100 large mouth bass the following spring. Last November we had a fish fill from pond turning over. We lost about 80 of the bass and a good number of the bigger bream. We have subsequently added aeration to the pond. We have caught about 1,000 bream with children with cane poles and crickets and a cast net over last two months. The problem is all bream are about 4 inches long. We have caught a few bass about 3 lbs. I added another 100 fingerling bass this past spring, but we have not seem any of them. I am not sure if the numerous bream did not eat small bass. I am not sure what the best option is now. We have caught a few adult bass from local pond and added. Should we continue to remove bream and add adult bass or start over? Any suggestions would be helpful. Thank you.
McKoy
Are you wanting big fat bass or large Blue Gill?
Ideally, we would like both. But larger blue gill is more desirable. The bass we have caught on rod or in cast net are very fat.
seems with lots of little BG and lower number of bass they will be big and fat...
If you want less BG more bass will reduce the numbers ....
You could add more or let them spawn a few times.....eventually most small ponds become bass heavy...
this is from my limited knowlege
The experts will help out I am sure...
Thank you so much for the help. My concerns are the the stunted bream are too big for bass to eat and that there are so many bream that the remaining bass eggs will all be eaten. We have removed over 1,000 bream, but it does not look like we have even put a dent in the population. I have not seen any bass that may have been from this year. Also the 100 bass fingerlings we put in this past spring have not been seen. Is it possible that the bream consumed them?
What size are the bluegills in the pond, and what size were the LMB when stocked?
I would not stock any more LMB or lepomis (BG or other "bream") until you have a good assessment of the current populations from catch , seine , trap , electro-shock etc. methods. What species were the "bream" ?
See these from the archives on LMB/BG ponds and mgt and balance.
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=255372#Post255372 http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92492#Post92492
LMB were about 2 inches when stocked originally and this past spring. Most blue gills are about 4 inches, a good number of minnows from this year. We have only netted or caught a few around 6 inches.
The "bream" were stocked 80% bluegill and 20% redear sunfish. We have not used a seine but have used a cast net and caught over a 1,000 fish. 90% 4 inch bluegill, many bluegill minnows and only 2 bass of of 1,000 fish which were very "fat" probably around 3 lbs. We have not caught any bass that may have been spawned this year. Also of the 100 two inch bass we put in this spring, we have not caught any.
LMB are going to avoid a cast net much better than a BG. I would think they are too fast and the net will not sink fast enough...
Other than what died in the fish kill I would say they are still there. Bass that have lots and lots of food tend to be hard to catch.
Well your fingerling bass won't help you I bet. If anything most of them got ate by the other bass? If all / most of your BG are in the 4 inch range you won't be able to tell if you have taken out enough or not until the next year as they grow to see if it's working.
If the bass are fat then they are eating them BG just gonna take a while.
Remember if you want larger BG you need more bass but they need to be in the 12 to 13 inch range anything over that should be taken out so they don't eat the larger BG. Or anything over 15 comes out. Remember a bass can eat a BG 1/3rd it's size. So if you have a bass that is 15 inches long it could eat a BG 5 inches long.
Having the best of both worlds as far as BG and Bass go is not easy! I have a 1 acre pond and I would like to think I am at the point where I have the best of both worlds, but I KNOW this is going to change / get out of whack at some point. No matter what you do it will sooner or later start to trend one way or the other and you will have to "manage" your pond and do what you think is best to get it back on track.
What ever you do remember NOT to over do it one way or the other. It doesn't take much to change things drastically in your pond! I too had a LOT of 2 to 3 inch BG in my pond and I put 3 more 12 inch bass in my pond and now I don't see near as many as I used to. I maybe should have only put 2 bass in instead of 3. It doesn't take much to throw you way out of whack one way or the other.
Like Eric said if you can afford it get an electro shock of your pond. I wish I could do that but I don't think I could get the boat down to my pond to do it!
Thank y'all so much for the help. I really appreciate the input and advice.