Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations So Many Options

A little Background, I have a 1.25 acre pond, it is runoff fed, built on the side of a hill so three sides of it are essentially a dam. It is thirteen feet deep at the deepest and is relatively clear with a lot of plant growth ( 60-70% ) in the summer. Unfortunately I suspect it to be overpopulated by stunted largemouth. This is about the worst scenario I could have in a pond ( I would prefer muddy and full of 1# carp over tiny bass if that tells you anything). I have been attempting to get the bass under control by harvesting about 150 small ones over the last three years and also stocking adult sunfish ( longear, green, bluegill ). All this has done was get me some giant sunfish and little else. The root of the problem was when the pond was first stocked by the prior owner the only forage stocked was hybrid bluegill. There are also some giant 20+ pound channel cats in there that I suspect are eating a lot of the sunfish. So I decided the only logical thing to do now is just add anything and everything and see what comes out of it. I highly doubt anything trophy sized will be produced but who knows. So far here is what
I know is in there. Bluegill, longear sunfish, green sunfish, white bass, smallmouth, drum, largemouth, crappie, redhorse suckers, channel catfish and grass carp. I am planning on continuing to stock sunfish as adding more smallmouth and white bass as well as trying some spotted bass. Adding some common carp may also happen eventually. What are all of your thoughts and recommendations on what will happen? I attached a few pictures of some of whats in there right now.

Unless you've got no interest in raising trophy bluegill, you've already got the beginnings of a great BG fishery. I wish I had that pond!!

Trophy bluegills are nice but I don't eat fish much so I don't really have a use for them. I would rather go out and be able to catch 30 6 inch bluegill than 3 giant ones.

With "some" 20 pound CC (meaning what exactly...maybe 20 or 3?), I'd say that any stocking quantities need to be pretty high. Those CC will make feed of any normal stocking quantities if you have more than a few of those big CC.

I'd also say that your overpopulated and possibly stunted LMB are the CC's main forage. If you start taking those out in larger numbers than you have been, then the CC's will start to focus on the BG and you lose what so many of us are dreaming of...a great BG fishery.

I have not heard you say what you really want. If you want CC, then I'd start ladder stocking larger specimens and add BG (or not...it depends). If you want LMB, get the CC out over the course of the next few years, stock up on BG (not HBG), and cull the LMB out quite a bit. If you want a variety...I think you have that and you'll just have to take good records of fish caught, let PB know, and adjust as you go the best you can.

All of the pics of your fish look healthy, It may just be a matter of taking out the right ones to reduce the biomass in the pond so that others can prosper.

Study up on Relative Weights where you measure the length and weight of the fish you catch, compare it to a standard fish size chart. This method will help you determine which size class of fish is doing well or needs some food and/or culling. It's a very good tool should you decide to make the extra effort. I have not been doing much of it, but my pond is very young (on it's second year). It sounds like your pond would be prime for that study.

If you manage for big BG, you could be catching 30 8" BG in a couple of years. Your predator base is already established with all those stunted bass. If you start feeding a good, high protein pellet, removing every female you catch and returning every male to the pond, you'll be surprised how many nice BG your pond can produce. They just need tending to. Chances are, you'll even start seeing a few quality LMB as well. But you'll need to remove any bass over 14" to protect your larger BG until they get big enough to not become food.

My pond is little and has everything in it except a bunch of small bass and in two years I have several BG over 7". I'd be happy to take a bunch of those little bass off your hands.

Oh....and keep every crappie you catch!!

What I would like is a catfish free pond with smallmouth and largemouth over two pounds available to catch. I would assume the smallmouth will not reproduce with the largemouth preasent so I would have to stock however many I want in there. I keep every catfish I catch just to get them out. There are 2 or 3 big ones left that I see when I feed them in the summer. Bluegill are not a primary focus for me as I know you cant have a trophy bluegill and bass fishery.

Why carp and white bass?

I was thinking carp to get rid of the weeds, it gets so much weed growth in the summer that it gets nearly unfishable from the shore. As of right now the only carp in there are a few grass carp I purchased a few years ago which have done literally nothing, so out of desperation to kill the weeds I was thinking common carp might work better. The white bass I threw in to see how they would do in a pond just because there is almost no information on them and I was interested in how they would do. There is only 5 of them though.

I think you'll find stocking both LMB and SMB is going to be disappointing on the SMB side. The LMB are going to muscle them out. I may be wrong.

I suspect you are right, I highly doubt they will spawn successfully and I will have to manage the smallmouth as a put and take fishery.