Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations When to start harvesting LMB and BG

I stocked my 1.25 acre pond in southern Louisiana this March and have had good results so far. I caught and released 6 LMB in Mid November in the 12-14 inch range and all but one over 110% on the growth chart. The one skinny fish was at 95%. I just today (Christmas Day) caught and released 3 BG to see how they are doing. They were 7, 8, and 8.25 inches and weighed 7,8, and 9 oz respectively. Everything seems to be growing very well. My question is when should I start harvesting to prevent stunting. My goal is to have a pond that produces easy to catch BG and LMB for my grandkids. Size is not as important but would love to have a few bass in the 4-5 pound range. Also, once I start harvesting, how much of each (BG, and LMB) should I be keeping.

Barry, normally LMB harvesting begins year 3 after stocking. BG harvest is rarely recommended, as the usual problem is too many LMB and too few BG for them to eat.

Of course, this doesn't mean you can't harvest and eat BG, just be reasonable about it.

The second and third years after stocking are the most exciting. The carrying capacity of the pond has not been met and the bass grow like crazy and are all fat and shaped like footballs and they take artificial bait readily because most of them have never been caught before. There are tons of bluegill, all be it small, and the pond is in an explosive growth that you will not see again. Then about the third year, it all slows down and begins to assume a more stable and “normal” state. At that point, carrying capacity is nearly achieved and to achieve the goals you stated, you need to start taking your smaller bass out in order to let the bigger fish have enough to eat. Aggressive harvest of smaller bass is needed. This will be much harder than you imagine. Once a bass has been caught a time or two, it will learn not to bite. All of a sudden those afternoons when you went out to your pond and would easily catch fish will be more difficult. The general rule of thumb is to harvest 30-50 pounds of bass per acre per year under 16”. In other words, release all fish over 16” and harvest all others until the number of pounds as outlined above has been met. If you catch a beautiful, fat and sassy 14” fish that has a WR of 120, of course throw it back, but get rid of that 30-50 lbs per acre, and do this every year. As far as the bluegill go, it’s a little easier. Catch a bunch of them and figure out what is the largest class size you have. These are your original stockers. Throw all of them back. Don’t keep any of them, but keep any of the others that are smaller that you wish to keep (within reason). If you leave those large stockers behind, you won’t hurt your bluegill population much by taking smaller fish. After several years, if you start to see the WR of your bass go down, then you know you need to take more bass per year out. The vast majority of us fail to keep up with taking enough bass out per year and then they become stunted. Good luck, and enjoy your pond!

Wow. I can walk around my pond and see dozens of bass and some bluegill. If I wait 3 years to harvest any, I’m scared they will be overpopulated and already stunted. I’ve seen some information that says take out as much as 10 times the BG to LMB. If I do that I would have to take several hundred pounds of BG to meet the 30-50 pounds of bass. Now you are saying take little to no BG? I realize the bass will only spawn in the spring but BG spawn more often. I can see multiple sizes on BG from tiny fry to full grown so I know they are already spawning. If I don’t take any can the bass keep them from overpopulating?

Here's a math question for you. A bass needs to eat 10# of fish to gain one pound of weight. For the number of bass you stocked, how many pounds of bluegills do they need to eat annually?

If you want to try to figure out how many fish that is, here's some numbers for you.

Bluegill
1"-3" fish weigh 4#-15# per 1,000 fish
3"-4" fish weigh 16#-30# per 1,000 fish
4"-5.5# fish weigh 30#-99# per 1,000 fish

Generally good info above. It however depends on your pond as every pond is different. In S LA carrying capacity can be reached in as little as 18 mths. It is important for you to be able to survey your pond - by seine , catch data and visually and if needed a electroshock survey. The good news is a 1.25 acre pond can be brought back into balance easily. However it can also become unbalanced quickly by negative harvest results.

Link about balance determination and methods including seine survey - see pgs. 15 - 19.



https://www.mdwfp.com/media/1722/mississippi_pond_mgmt_revised_feb_2016.pdf

I understand the 10 pounds of bait to 1 pound of weight ratio. However I do not think that may not be holding true in my pond. I'm guessing it is mainly because I do feed twice a day.

I stocked 150 LMB and about 1600 BG and RES in March. The bass are growing at an alarming rate. I have caught and released 6-10 bass that were all (but 1) above 110% on the growth chart. They are averaging 13-14 inches long and up to 1 pound 15 oz. I seem to still have a healthy population of BG an RES and are catching them quite easily on warm days. If 100 of the bass survived that would mean it would have taken 1000 pounds of BG and RES to get them to 1 pound. The average bass I have caught is well beyond that weight. I don't think I have that amount in my pound this quickly from starting in March with 1-2 inch fingerlings. The feeder throws each morning and evening for 8 seconds. The fish (both LMB and BG) eat it very quickly - lasting no more than 2-3 minutes. That is obviously helping with growth rates. I can see several tiny fish around the edges of the pond that leads me to believe the BG are spawning and keeping up with the demand but not sure about that. I guess I will have to wait and see how things progress.

Wow EWEST and Thanks for the information. It appears more in line with what I have found in my pond. I have never heard how quickly my pond can reach its carrying capacity but 18 months sounds more in-line with what I am seeing. The document you suggested is very informative and seems to be on target to what I am experiencing. It states that I should take about 35 pounds of bream a year per acre (my pond is 1.25 acres) to maintain a proper balance. There is so much information out there it is hard to filter through it. I guess I have to find what seems to match my pond and go with it. This document seems to be just that. I should be able to monitor and record all fish caught and I will also start to seine my pond next summer to further evaluate the ponds health.

Thanks again!

I don’t think I’ve ever culled a bluegill.

I've culled CNBG, but they were in our 6-9" slot.

Dave and Al's post above are a great example of what I was talking about. Some ponds need BG harvest others do not - it just depends on the water and goals.

We are located in North Louisiana and our pond is a little over an acre and was stocked end of February 2016. In June this year [2019] we caught and released a 1 pound 12.5 oz copper nose and another 1 pound 12.5 oz copper nose a month later. Both of these fish exceed the current Private Pond record in Louisiana by less than an ounce depending upon the accuracy of our scale. We are waiting for a 2 pounder before entering a fish. I am confident we have them already and that one will be caught by April. You can read the history of our pond in the pond renovation section under "Grandmother's Old Pond." Our plan from the beginning was growing "big" bluegills. It is quite simple.

1. There is no fishing for bluegill unless I'm there to supervise and handle the larger gills for measuring and weighing.
2. All those fishing must have a license in case a record fish is caught.
3. We remove most bluegill between 6 and 8 inches and most females. Any bluegill deep hooked is removed. All bass 16 inches and larger are removed. We have caught bass over 4 pounds and probably have some over 5 pounds. We have removed around 25 pounds of bluegill each of the past two years.
4. I provide barbless hooks and the only live bait we use is crickets because we deep hook too many using worms. Barbless flies are the only artificials used for bluegills.
5. Our pond gets runoff from the adjoining property which is used grazing cows and is spring fed. I introduce a "pond cleaner" every month to combat excess nitrogen and remove muck. Our pond is unique that by summer end the spring flow cannot keep the pond full and the water level may drop as much as 24 inches. The dropping water level exposes bluegill fry and small gills to roving packs of small bass. By this time the pond cleaner and some manual emergent weed control has resulted in a very clean pond. So far our population of small bass have been able to keep the small gills in check.
6. I have one solar powered feeder located half way between the upper end and dam. I determine how much to feed by observing the amount consumed in 10 minutes. During the warmer months I feed three times a day and currently am feeding once a day at noon. I use Aquamax 500 and 600 mixed.
7. We don't fish during the hot months as we don't want to stress the larger gills.
8. We spend considerable time on the property and its a constant battle to maintain the pond but the rewards are worth it. I rarely fish and my largest caught and released is 1 pound and 5.5 ounces on a fly. All the family that have fished during our gatherings have caught and released larger with many over 1 pound 8 ounces with the exception of one niece.

chunting - good management strategy that you have. Pond Boss Mag should interview you for a pond success story. Editor is always looking for story ideas. It would help if you have some good pictures to accompany the article.

Wow thanks chunting My goals are different from yours but I really like your basic rules to meet your goals. I think my pond is progressing towards my goals but information like yours helps me see it can be done.

Try to post a pic or 2 of the large CNBG.

In response to chunting, that is an awesome strategy to produce some giant CNBG, however the rules are a bit too much for enjoying a BOW the way I do, that would be a super strategy for a second pond probably but I would be handcuffed too much by the restrictions, I waited too long for my own pond to enjoy everyday.
But thats the beauty of this great world we live in, thats obviously what you enjoy and more power to you, You definitely have some amazing results from your efforts. Good luck on that record!