Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Fish Plan for Spring Winter 2011, thoughts

As some of you know in spring of 2009 I drained and mucked out one of my ponds located in central PA. Stocked it with 20lbs of FHM and about 400 BG 2-6inch averege few 8+. In Spring 2010 I had a thick forage base and alot of pond weed grew in quick. Trust me the FHM did not mind cause you can walk on them now. Summer this year I added about 40 6-12 LMB about a 12 14-20inch LMB and about 6 from 21-26inches and 5 grass carp 12inches. This winter I was thinking of adding YP from one of my other ponds to add alittle variety to my bass feeding forage, the water in PA is in the low 40's so I am thinking if I add them over winter they can breed before the bass can whack them. After spring spawn I plan on pulling out about 50-60% of all bass under 12inches. My thought is since the bass I stocked with came from 5 differnt ponds my family owns this will give my YOY and wide variety of genetics, then cull the bass under 12 to let the YOY to get the pond a nice mix of genetics. I can add BG all summer if I notice the BG population is getting damaged. I would like to mix the genes of all 5 ponds. I have NO problem with having the guys over every summer to have a fish and fry day to keep the numbers under controll. Thoughts?

How big is the pond? The YP will have to be pretty big to avoid predation. How many and what size were you planning on stocking? What are your goals for the pond?

My pond is little over half an acre. I can get YP in the 8-12, thinking if I get about 2 dozen in there this winter it would be nice. Well I want to grow and catch big bass. I know every year I am probably gona have to keep there numbers around 50. I just wanna keep the big boys growing. This summer im sure some of the 8-12's I put in last year got a bit bigger. You think I should remove everything 12 and under this summer to let the YOY grow? I know I stocked it heavy this first year I was looking for genetic diversity for one and two I thought I would have lossed more in transfer... That didnt happen.

Well, I may be way off base here, but I think it's a good recipe for a stunted LMB pond.

I really think you have to take out a whole lot of LMB, and not just the <12" ones, and here's why.

We've (the forum - it's in the archives) discussed carrying capacity of ponds before, and if a pond is aerated and the fish are on a feeding program, IIRC the number was 500# of fish per surface acre of water. You said you have a pond that is 1/2 acre, so we're talking about 250# of fish. Even less if it isn't aerated, somewhere around 300# per acre. For now, lets assume that your pond is aerated and you have the fish on a feeding schedule.

If we take the number and size of LMB that you put in your pond, go to the WR chart and do the math, on an average it comes out to about 100# of LMB in your pond. So, that leaves 150# of forage fish to swim around in your pond without worrying about a fish kill due to low DO in hard times.

It's also been discussed that it takes 10# of forage fish to put 1# of weight on one LMB. You see where this is going?

So, unless you plan on stocking a LOT of forage every month, I think the LMB will be eating themselves out of house and home just to survive, let alone put on weight.

Also, with the 21"-26" LMB that you stocked in your pond, I doubt that the 5 grass carp that you stocked are alive. Going by the WR chart, those LMB should weigh between 5 and 10 pounds each. Where did you catch a 10# LMB that far north?

The YP that you stock could very easily become dinner as well.

Personally, I'd buy a fish tagging kit from Greg Grimes with numbered floy tags. Every LMB that I caught and wanted to keep in the pond, I would tag and record it's weight & length before releasing it back into the pond. That way I could keep track of the WR of the LMB and stop a problem before it gets too far out of hand.

While the FHM are great for the small LMB and medium to large BG to snack on, the larger LMB expend too much energy chasing them down vs. the energy that they get from eating them. I'd try to reduce the amount of LMB in your pond down to 25# to 30# total.

Thanks Essup, my family has a pond in Hershey about 7 acres that has some monsters in it. Got some pics in the show off your catch. I will knock the numbers back hard this summer maybe everything under 15 I catch. My friend has a pond about a acre that used to be loaded with BG and Black Crappie he stocked 20 LMB about 20inches 5 years ago. Thats one of the most fun ponds I fish. Every time we catch monster bass. But if its under 12 his rule is we pull it out. Seems to work cause his bass are not getting smaller by any means. I never see BG in it either guess they are there. Would you recomend adding maybe another 400 BG ? I dont feed but I do aerate the pond with a large fountain sprayer that pumps water from a well. It used to be a golf course pond. Pond is also spring feed.

I'd fish for the BG just to try to get a feel for what size the LMB are eating.

With the LMB in the pond, I wonder how many of the BG are still left. 1,000 BG per acre is about right, so if yours haven't become dinner, I wouldn't add another 400.

Cody, I agree with Scott/Esshup that it seems like you may have a really heavy load of LMB in that 1/2 acre pond without a lot of supplemental work on feeding, aerating, and aggressively managing. I know that some have had great success raising lots of big quality fish in small BOWs, but it seems to be more the exception than the rule.

Bruce Condello posted recently about a trip he made somewhere in the southwest to a forum member's place and he posted a number of pics of an absolutely tremendous variety of big fish from what I think may be a 1/2 acre pond if I'm not totally mistaken. That's proof you can do it, but I suspect you would need a very carefully designed management plan to achieve those kinds of results.

Todd, you could say that AaronM does spend a wee bit of time managing his pond. If you pay attention to detail, get the infrastructure built correctly the first time and don't take shortcuts, phenominal things can occur.

Garnish with copious amounts of cash.

I guess that's the sort of green that's best to have when dealing with ponds!