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I have an 8 acre pond with 1500 LMB also with blue gill. It's been stocked for about a year and we are catching 1lbs bass now. When do we start taking them out and how many a year? They will be finishing their first spawn soon.

Also can a pond this large support black crappie and channel cats?

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Thats a pretty aggressive stocking of LMB but if you have certain goals may be just what you need. If you want high catch rates and lots of 1-2lb bass I think your on track, if you want a Trophy Bass Pond, IMO you have some harvesting to do. Tell us what you would want in an Ideal world from your pond.

also tell us about the forage and size number, do you have BG? minnows? Shad?

Last edited by jakeb; 04/15/10 01:50 PM.

Get out and fish.
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2500 BG no minnows, but it has a lot of sun perch and crawfish. We want to catch trophy bass but we also like eat them. How many should be taken out in one year?

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Next question what is a trophy bass to you? 5lb 8lb 10lb 15lb?


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cbk4lsu Offline OP
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anything over 7lbs

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In a purely balanced pond, you usually shoot for about 100 pounds of predators per acre with about a sustainable 10 to 1 ratio of bluegill to bass. I personally consider that light. That predator number includes the bigger bluegill.

For a trophy pond (What's that to you?) it is generally recommended to stock about 50 bass per acre with a minimum of 1,000 BG per acre. In the face of heavy LMB predation, it is sometimes advised to stock 2,000 BG per acre. The bluegill should be stocked at least 6 months prior to the harvesters(LMB) getting to them.

Your numbers are 312.5 BG and 187.5 LMB per acre. I'd get out the filet knife.


It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.

Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.

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did you have your BG in the pond for a few months before the bass? or did they all get dumped in at the same time? Also when you stocked did it already have an existing population of bass?

Standard stocking for a bg/bass pond for average fish is 10:1 usually 1000bg to 100 bass for every acre. So as you can see your numbers are not even close. For big bass it is often suggested to stock 2000 bg to 100 bass (20:1) or even 50 bass (40:1).

Personally I would think you are lucky to be getting 1lb bass after a year with your stocking rate. Next time you catch a bass, take his length and weight (grams if you can) and that will tell you how your fish are doing, called a relative weight or Wr, its how far above or below the average your fish are. You are in a great climate to grow some big fish if your willing to work a little. Not to mention you have a good size pond.

If you are serious about managing your pond and growing big fish, I would suggest the purchase of Bob Lusk's Raising Trophy Bass book from this website, I did and have read it many times. It can explain the process much better than I ever could. Also do some research on this website there is alot of info and different approaches to meeting your goal. Some people like tilapia, some like just BG. The question of whether or not to add Gizzard Shad in the 4-5+ years of your pond is highly debated, and all dependent on the status of your pond at that time and your goals.

when it comes to telling you have many to harvest I think there are two approaches,
leave things alone until your relative weights for a certain size class of fish get low then take action, or you can harvest anything that looks slim until fish start to get fatter.

It it were me and I wanted to grow 7lb bass I would harvest at least 500 bass, and find out if I have any baby BG growing up or if they are all eaten.

I am NOT an expert, someone will come along and ask more questions and give a better answer, but if thats what you stocked in a fresh pond, I would think they will mostly agree with me.

Its a very complex process and the more information you have the better plan of attack you can make.


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This is a new pond and they were all dumped in at the same time. It was a dirt pit that is pretty deep(20 - 30 ft), with a lot of willow tree brush in the middle. This is also a pond that about 6 houses will share. We are tring to meet everyones goals, and develops rule/reg for this pond.

You guys are making good point, keep the suggestions coming, also any thoughts on the black crappie and channel cats in this pond.

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channel cats are fine, but some think they become hard to catch as they get larger. Also any predator that is taking up biomass is taking away from the bass, but if your trying to make everyone happy I would add some. I do think you should get some of the bass out first. ON crappie most think the pond should be 25-100 acres before they are considered. It can be done in a pond that size with management.

No need to add anymore predators until you decide to do with what you have currently. There are a few other issues with catfish like they can make the water a little muddy at times. Crappie are hard to manage for a couple reasons, they spawn before bass so the young of year (yoy) crappie get a head start on yoy bass, and even get big enough to eat the yoy bass. Also crappie have an unpredictable spawn, sometimes they spawn in huge numbers and have lots of yoy sometimes hardly anything.

Think of all your forage fish as a pie, and then all your predators as people that want a slice, to grow big fish you either need more pie or less people to split it with, make sense? In your case I would suggest more pie and less people!

Last edited by jakeb; 04/15/10 04:03 PM.

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Like dave said, usually we advise at least 2-3 months of just BG and minnows before the bass ever get there, this allows them to reproduce and increase numbers. While 6 is even better, its just people dont have the patience for that.

Also you say the brush is in the middle, do you mean at the deepest point? Also does it have lots of shallow water say less than 3-4 feet? or does it drop off rather quick to high depths? 6+feet?


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For people reading this, remember, the stocking of BG before bass is for southern ponds... So if you are a pond owner from north of the Mason-Dixon Line, stocking is done the complete opposite.

I am in agreement with the others, you have got to remove a lot of bass and in a hurry. Your initial stocking numbers were extremely high, even for a trophy bluegill pond. My concern is a biomass crash! Are you feeding or using aeration? If the bass were feed trained, you may have a bit more room to work with. I'd round up all the home owners on the lake and this spring I'd catch as many bass as you could. There is a high likelihood they are going to pull off a spawn this spring if they haven't already. That is when you're really going to have way too many bass.

As others have said, I'd hold off on stocking any other predators until you have the bass issue managed. Channel cats are not an issue if that is what you all want. However, the crappies can cause serious management issues. Looks at recent threads on here reference crappies and make up your mind if you really want to go down that road.

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The brush is in the middle, the deepest point. The depth is a gradual drop off for about 15 ft of 3 to 6 ft then it drops off a lot.

I really like to catch and eat crappie but it sounds like this could be a bad idea. As for as catfish we didn't put them in because of the muddy water issues, but I think catfish are good to keep everyones belly full and happy.
Will lime help keep the water clear with catfish in a pond?

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catfish should not cause many water issues when they are not the primary fish in the pond. And like I say you can do crappie but its not easy, unless you want a lot of 3-4 inch crappie. Also I doubt any fish will be at the deepest point of the pond during any of the summer months unless you have areation.


Get out and fish.

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