I have a pond that's around an acre in size. We (family) dug the pond about 20 years ago. We've NEVER stocked the pond. We've had friends who have put a couple bass and bream in over the years from local fishing trips, but never officially stocked it. We've always caught some pretty nice fish (both) over the years. You really only catch a few bass each time, but the few are normally pretty nice. As far as the bream go, you can catch them pretty much all day most of the time. Now that I own and live on the property I wanna really manage the pond properly for my kids, friends, family, etc. My neighbor has a pond and feeds pretty regularly, to the point that when you walk up to the bank, the bream swarm like piranha! As soon as you drop your bait in the water the attack it! Really cool, especially for the kids. Now to my question(s):

-1. I want to start feeding but I have been told to be very careful, that sometimes the fish can start to only want the fish food and won't bite on other bait. Is this true/false?

-2. People that fished it in the past never really took fish out (bass), and I've also been told that I need to start culling the fish, or taking out the smaller ones. How do I determine which to keep and which to leave in?

-3. I know the pics with the grass should probably go in the "fertilizing" section of the forums, but just in case, how do I get rid of that green slimy mess that you have to pull off your bait every cast!!?? lol

Any help/suggestions/advice would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks in advance! I'll continue to post my progress (if I can make any) in the forum as time goes on. I just really want to get the pond right, and improve things if possible, for years to come.

9/7/09

4/11/10

8/16/09

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4/11/10

(Neighbor's Pond w/ Bream)

Bobby, welcome to the forum! Great first post since we really like pictures around here. I'm not an expert, but one should be along shortly. I can weigh in a little bit on your feed question. If your fish are constantly full from possibly overfeeding then they may be more difficult to catch, but they'll still attack lures. Also, a bait to consider if trying to catch feed-trained fish would be Stubby Steve's. Resembles fish food and never comes off a hook. Good stuff.

Your culling strategy will by determined by your goals. Big bass, big bluegill, basic balance? Answer that and the experts will be able to tell you how to obtain that.

paraphrasing dr condello...the general rule is once you pick the types of fish you want to grow, make sure they have more food than they can eat.

tell more about yer goals for the pond.

THANKS for the quick answers!! Well as far as goals, I really just want to be able to go back there and catch a nice balance. Sure, of course I want the Big Bass more than anything, but I also want the kids to be able to catch bream all day too haha. I'm not real sure the best way to decide what I should do. I don't necessarily want to catch 1 lb. bass all day long, to me catching a few really nice bass are much more fun than a ton of little bass, and that's pretty much how the pond is now (a couple nice bass here and there), I just worry that now I live on the property, it will be getting fished alot more than it used to so I wanna make sure I do it right. As far as the bream go, I guess like I said, I just want the kids to be able to sit on the bank and sling a cork out there and catch a handful of bream from time to time too. Hope that helps! Thanks again for any advice, I'll take all I can get!

Feeding helps the bluegill which the bass feed on. Bluegill seldom get lockjaw.

Your fish look healthy and well fed. The rule of thumb is to take out every bass 13 inches and under. Don't worry. You won't catch them all or even enough.

The green slimy stuff is filamentous algae. You can spray with Cutrine to kill it.

Nice pond, nice fish!

If you want to get more technical in the "management" aspect, look in the archives for a chart on relative weights. Get a good accurate scale (that'll measure in ounces) a ruler and a log book. Anything that doesn't meet at least 100% WR (relative weight) cull out. The only caveat is to watch it right after LMB spawning. I dont' know if a spawned out female would be under 100% WR if she's healthy. Experts???