Thanks for the replies to my post.This post contains so much great information!
A little history of my pond.My pond is in southern Indiana,it it three acres in size and was at full pool on June 6th 2015.approximately two acres are less than 7ft deep.The deepest area is the borrow pit which is right at twenty foot deep I have three shallow coves,an island and a lot of shoreline.The pond is 520ft long.I have American pondweed and yellow water primrose covering 50%-60% of the shoreline.I have added pea gravel to a couple of areas for spawning.My fish stocking is as follows:
June 2015: 12 lbs GSH and 5 lbs FHM
October 2015: 1200 3" BG and 800 3" RES
April 2016: 300 5" LMB
October 2016: 100 5" HSB ( I have not seen one since that day)
October 2017: 9 10" triploid grass carp and 5 10" paddlefish
I have some male and female BG that are 8" to 9" long.I have a decent amount of YOY BG ranging from 2" to 4". I caught a RES in July of 2017 that was 11" long and weighed 13.6 ounces but most of the RES I catch are 6"-8" long. I usually catch LMB in the 3 lb range. I have never caught a HSB .
MY top priority ,after it being a swimming pond,is for the pond to have a good catch rate.It is a great day when my two boys have 6 friends come over for a cookout and everyone catches 15-20 fish in a couple of hours.Catching a 2.5 lb LMB is fun for teenagers on a Zebco 33. My second goal is to have some nice sized fillet ready BG.I am trying to determine a slot limit for good eating while allowing my larger BG to spawn ( I would love to have some 1 lb BG).My third goal is to have some LMB in the 3 lb to 5 lb.. okay maybe 6lb range.I know catching a 9 lb LMB would be awesome but I would rather have a higher catch rate. Fourth goal is to catch some HSB before they go belly up.I know this sounds like a tall order but I know pond management is full of trade offs and compromise.With my goals in mind I plan on culling 6-8" BG and RES,all LMB under 14" and larger LMB with a RW less than 90%.IS this a good start or should I automatically remove 30 per acre of my original stockers? I do want to avoid skinny stunted bass.
Bill I think you summed up my situation fairly well. I am at a wall.This is a fairly new pond and I am very new at the whole pond management thing. I know years 4-7 are my best opportunity to have a great pond. I have became a pond nerd and tend to worry more about my fish than if my socks match anymore!The Pond Boss forum and magazine has provided a wealth of information and saved me thousands of dollars.Rex, I never would of thought that a 1 lb LMB could eat a 9" GSH. Thanks guys for all the valuable information! I follow the forum daily but seldom make a post.I will update this post as I observe changes in my pond.
