Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Trophy Bass pond/E Texas

In another thread here a paper was posted from Joe T Lock. In his Cadillac plan concerning Trophy Bass ponds in E Texas. He recommends advanced fingerling lmb for the first stocking and then supplemental stocking 100 more lmb fingerlings per acre the following first spring of a new pond and then follow up with an additional 100 per acre every three yrs. If you had a pond with a heavy stocking of bg and low expected recruitment of lmb and you wanted a trophy lmb pond, is it possible to get survivability of those additional lmb fingerling? I may be in this situation this coming June with little to no reproduction and this may be a path. But, I was wondering what if any would survive? And would netting off an area work for supplement stocking? Considering the Texas Legacy lmb are cannibals(like most) and would feed on each other, even though fhms were added, how many would survive for releasing into pond as advanced size in say 60 to 90 days? Anyone have any experience with this?

That sounds very unreliable to me. I have never seen anyone suggest stocking so many LMB.

Tracy, I doubt that many would survive predation from each other.

Thanks guys, kinda what I have come to understand, little no survival of the fingerlings. So what are your thoughts on Florida's grown out to maybe 10" in cages? Can it be done. Would they just cannibalize to where maybe only a couple survive out of 100 fingerlings?

That would increase the survival rate but I know very little about cage raised fish. No matter what; they would still have to escape larger bass if any were in the pond when they were released. And, it is my understanding, not experience, that caged raised fish seem to get various kinds of diseases due to limited activity.

About 20 years ago, I bought some bass minnows that were 1 to 1.5 inches from a hatchery. They were cheap because the seller said he had to move them due to predation. I put them in a clear spot in my creek. I was watching 2 of them that were side by side. Then there was one with the tail sticking out of the others mouth. I figure both died.

I saw a YouTube video of Greg Grimes stocking a bunch of 1 to 2 pound bass that he raised so I know it can be done. But, I figure he had a small pond that he added a lot of forage to on a regular basis.

It would be an inexpensive project so go for it.

Thanks Dave, I am in a wait and see mode for now but looking into the future, just in case. The Texas Lonestar Legacy lmb are doing pretty good wright now. And Todd Overton really helped me out last year when my lmb fingerling survival was so low. Forage cnbg are most everywhere in the pond, a lot of the 4 to 6" sized along with some much bigger. This may help to reduce an over population of spawned lmb. But if there is no spawning survival of lmb fry this year, at some point I would think there would be in future years, or maybe not and as the lmb grow bigger and older, where is their backup or second string to send into the game? And with low lmb numbers per acre, which is what one wants in a trophy lmb pond, each year the lmb numbers will be reduced, I would think. A grow out pond is in the future, maybe this summer if everything works out. It might also be interesting to see if I can raise some caged Legacy lmb. Maybe floating one along side of the pier.

LMB fingerlings can survive. I will post a couple threads below on habituation that will help. The problem with sup stocking of LMB fingerlings is the huge variability of survival to age 1. That alone can cause major problems with population balance over time. Wide swings in BG and LMB numbers from to many of one to , to many of the other. IMO you will have better luck adding 10 inch LMB in limited numbers.

See links in this thread.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.ph...true#Post169568

ewest, I could see where addition of lmb fingerlings or yoy into a pond with pre existing lmb might be an unknown outcome. Habitation would be a better way for survival based on your info. Thanks for the info. It would be a far better way over what I read on Mr. Lock's paper. So this June I will sein up a few areas in the pond and look for new lmb fingerlings. Since I don't have a forage or grow out pond "Yet" I might lean toward adding some of Todds legacy fingerlings to a netted off corner of the pond and add a 100, feed them fhms and see what happens. I can already see and GBH on the bank of the netted area, and then the pond lmb feeding on them when released. Might be a tough life for those new lmb additions, but the ones that survive might just be a tough, hard fighting double digit LL LMB

My company manages quite a few trophy bass lakes. Success is a function of proper habitat for all size and age classes of all species of fish...bluegills, bass, minnows, threadfin shad, tilapia and others. If you have habitat for small fish, you have an opportunity.
Recruitment isn't nearly as important as your originally stocked bass. If you are serious about trophy bass and are thinking about recruitment, it isn't enough to simply stock fingerlings, or advanced fingerlings, or even bass which weigh a pound.
You have lots to consider. First, do you have the food chain in the pond to support new fish? Food chain requirements change as a fish ages. Consider that only 50% of your stocked recruitment class may have the propensity to grow to trophy sizes. Those are the females. Of those females, only 20-30% have the temperament, with the propensity. Of those 20-30%, how many will actually have the opportunity?
So, if you truly want to grow trophy bass, protect the best of the best of the originally stocked fish, cull the non-producers, recruit only the best of the best females and you'll have success, in 8-10 years.
You mentioned netting off an area of the pond. That could work, as long as there's enough food inside the net to give your baby bass a chance to grow more quickly than they would outside the net. Remember this, it takes ten pounds of forage fish for a bass to gain a pound. Another idea is to provide lots of dense cover peripherally and stock your baby bass there, and wish them luck.

Bob, Thanks for your input here. You might remember our meeting up at Brian's (Highflyer) place a short while back. We also met up at the last PBC. It was a pleasure to meet many people there like Ewest along with others from the forum here. Brian is a good guy for many reasons.

I laugh at myself when you mention Habitat. Being a long time bass fisherman, I had fun building structure in this small 3.5 acre pond. A 100 yd road bed, underwater points and channels etc. And then I added cover of all types, making it hook snagging areas in some places. And the forage is there for now along with seasonal additions of more forage. As I look it for now, maybe I worry to much when it comes to lmb not spawning (no spawn their first yr). I have seen other fish fry survive. So for now it's wait and see. And Thank you again for starting this forum. It's a great place with good and knowledgeable people to help us through our pond goals.

I'm with Bob on the food chain aspect of the pond. If you raise them in cages, they will have to be feed trained. No way can you feed them enough live food. Too many problems with keeping the live food in the cage.... Small netting clogs fast with algae so you'd have to be continually scrubbing the cage, disturbing the fish and stressing them.

Once you release the feed trained LMB into the pond, I would continue to feed them, but not as much as you did in the cage unless you have other feed trained fish in the pond. They WILL revert to natural feed, but at least here the feed trained bass stay on feed from year to year.