I fish a lake around the corner from my house that's over 60 years old. I have caught an 8 and an estimated 10-12 pounder out of it. I hooked probably a 13 or 14 pounder one day but it broke my line. i also hand-grabbed a monster by the tail that probably weighed 10 lbs. if not more, but that was on very abnormal days. On a typical day I will go and catch 5-10 fish weighing 1/2 lb. to 1 1/2 lbs. if that.. How could I manage it properly? It has some HUGE bluegills in it but there are so many small bass that the probability of catching a big bass isn't very likely. A few years after the lake was built they pulled a 12 pounder out of it and filled the trunk up with water and rode it around town showing if off lol. My how the times have changed. I believe it's around 12 acres with tons and tons of structure in it. Beautiful lake with huge fish, you just don't see them very often. Anyhoo, my question is, how do i manage it properly? Slot limit, etc.. What do i need to do?
What are your goals for the pond?
to be able to catch quality fish.. and to be able to consistently pull 3 and 4 pounders out on a regular basis..
O.K. then. Look in the archives for a Relative Weight chart on LMB. Get a good scale and measuring device and start a log of WR (relative weights) on the fish that you catch. If the fish are under 100 (actual weight divided by weight on the chart) then you need to start taking out all the individuals that are under weight.
I'm talking about LMB here. Typically a pond that has large BG and thin LMB is called bass crowded and there isn't enough food for the LMB to get any larger. Adding food isn't really a cost effective option because it takes 10# of forage to put 1# on a LMB.
It's not a quick fix, it'll take a year or so to start seeing results. You could speed up the process if you can electro shock the BOW and take out large quantities of underweight fish.
Oh. Okay Give me just a minute.
I would say Probably 11 acres. I'm not exactly sure. It's a pretty good size BOW.
I wish i could shock it, but the man that owns it doesn't want to. He doesn't want to know what's down there. Lol. But yes that would make things much easier. I fish it the most out of anyone, sometimes everyday. I think there are four or five other people that fish it other than me. But if I could tell him what he needed to tell people to pull out of it I know he would.
This will allow you to measure the pond:
http://acme.com/planimeter/
Apparently my judgement is waaaaaay off.. 7.05 acres is what planimeter came up with. but alot has changed since the picture was taken in '06, the pond has gotten bigger as trees have been falling in alot lately and the hills as well. it has gotten a good bit bigger. so we will just say that its 8 acres to be on the safe side.
Planimeter is like having a ruler in the picture with the fish. It helps keep everyone honest.
It is a GREAT tool to have at your disposal! (Planimeter)