Pond Boss Forums Thread Like Summary - How many LMB to remove?

Hi. I have a 2.5 acre pond in upstate South Carolina (average depth of around 8') and after surveying about 220 bass over past couple years, my relative weight on average is 76% and the average length of fish caught is 10", so I'm assuming I have an overpopulation of bass. I've only caught one bass over 13" in 3 years. I've been trying to remove bass by catching and have tracked all of them removed. So far, in 2024, I've removed about 150 bass (all that same 9-12" size and 76% relative weight). My question is: at what point should I stop removing bass and then wait some time to see if relative weights improve? Or, should I just remove as many as possible and restock with new genetics at some point?

My pond fertility is likely low as the water is clear. I have bottom diffused aeration. I added lime two years ago but never really got a good bloom Alkalinity is around 30. I could add more lime, but I think I have a fairly high water turnover, especially in spring when the rains come. I was thinking to wait until things heat up and the pond level starts to drop before considering more lime and potentially fertilizer - that way the lime/fertilizer is less likely to drain out of the pond. I've never fertilized before due to all the caution people give about it - so not sure I want to go there yet. I stocked several thousand bluegill and red ear a couple years ago and feed those daily with pellets.

Thanks for any help offered!

Dave

Sure, but from a severely stunted pond, removing 30 or even 40 pounds of LMB per acre isn't too many. Heck even removing 100% of them, then restocking LMB the following year after the forage fish had a chance to bounce back wouldn't be that big of a deal, but you will never catch them all.

Foozie, I'd remove enough bass to reach between 100# and 120# of bass removed this year. I would not add any forage to the pond until you have reached that goal.

To grow bigger bass, you want the bass to Bluegill ratio to be 1:25 to 1:30. That is with the bluegill of all different sizes.