Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Smallmouth in Texas water

What happens if you stock smallmouth in texas ponds. Lusk says the water is too hot, does it kill them or what?

One of the first Pond Boss magazines I ever saw showed a grower that grew them out for sale and he said contrary to popular belief they did O.K. in the wamer water. Anyone remember reading that?

Here I go talking about things I don't know about, but here goes anyway...

I would think that smallmouth might do well in Texas waters if they had one of the following two criteria.

1. A deeper body of water, in which the oxygen can be found several feet down, such as a situation where the water is clear, and some oxygen producing plants and algae survive in the deeper, cooler waters.

2. Ponds supplemented with well water to keep the pond cooler in areas that the smallmouth have access to.

I would think that smallmouth do poorly in Texas ponds that put the fish in a situation where the only oxygenated water was very warm to hot, such as a shallow water body, or one in which the overall pond temps get hot for extended periods of time.

I think Bob actually has some smallies at his place. Am I wrong about this?

I have no idea about SMB in ponds but do know quite a bit about them in Texas reservoirs.

The present Texas state record for small mouth bass is held by Lake Meredith in the Texas panhandle – one of the hottest, driest, desolate places in the country – so rule out hot water.

The Oklahoma state record is held by Lake Texoma, which I know a lot about, and it has sometimes low and hot water.

The most important element present are steep rocky wind blown points and bluffs near deep water – seldom clear water – they didn’t name the Red River by accident.

I don’t fish for small mouth bass, but frequently catch them along with LMB and sometimes Spotted Bass in the spring, when fishing Lake Texoma for striped bass.

I would question stocking SMB in Texas ponds unless deep cooler water with rocky shoreline, which is somewhat questionable conditions for pond building.

I would be interested to hear about Mr. Lusk’s SMB pond.

I prefer Striped bass over SMB – they fight harder and grow much larger – the reason I stock Hybrid Striped Bass in our ponds.

My 2 cents worth.
George Glazener
N.E. Texas 1/4 acre and 2 acre ponds