Hey all, Amazing site.I am a toltal pond management newbiew. Coastal southerncal Fallbrook. A 10 acre, 2 acre and 1 acre pond. 10 is at the top of the hill then the 2 and then the 1. Last year we had record rainfall. All the ponds had huge spawns. Now it seems the LMB are getting smaller. Biggest fish prior to last year was mabey 5 lb used to get lots of 2-4lb but not so much anymore. There are some bluegill in there and some cats. Any baitfish I have ever seen have been really small. We would like to fatten the bass up and get our fisherey pumping out some 10 pounders. Any advice.
Thanks
s-n-f, a few general comments in lieu of further info. from you.
Are you culling/removing LMB? Many of us do not do as much culling as we should, then we start to get stunted LMB populations.
How would you describe the health of your forage base (Bluegill, fatheads, shiners, other minnows)?
Really small baitfish can be an indication of freshly hatched fish, meaning that you have a reproductive brood stock of fish.
If you have not been regularly removing LMB, your problem (if any) could be simple.
In a 10 acre pond (jealous here), you might want to start with removing something like (50) fish per acre, or 500 fish total, that are, say, between 8-14" long.
Again, this is all based on the brief info. you've listed.
Welcome aboard, and subscribe the magazine, and buy the books.
Thanks,,
Well I guess I dont really know how the forage is. I know there are bluegill, I have seen them spawning over the years. The bass will hit a bluegill bait. Dont think There are any shad,or shiners in there.i have seen Just tiny minnows in the summer months. Now the bass are healthy looking. I know they are eating the babybass. And probably crawdads.I was going to start loading it up with crawdads. Then I found this site and thought i would try to figure it out. We generally dont cull. A couple people come and pull a couple fish here and there, but we are mainly catch and release.Oh the pond is spring fed, gets pretty big algea blooms i the warmer months. Fish are aggressive but not too easy to catch. 500 fish sure seems like alot.50 seems like alot. I will measure out the acreage to have a more precise cull rate. I would hate to to pull too many and screw things up. What about feeds? Thanks
s-n-f, feeding is good & helpful for bluegill to stay healthy and vibrantly reproduce. I believe that some LMB will also take feed, but this needs verified. It may be that LMB will only take feed if they were raised on feed.
Again, both you and I are probably going at this with limited information, so it may not be a bad idea to make some efforts to get a better idea of the overall fish population.
1) An electroshock survey is maybe one of the best methods (done by a reputable pond consultant). I don't know where to point you for that in CA.
2) Net surveys (cast nets or seines) are very helpful. Through this, you may only see the forage fish, and not the predators.
3) When you throw feed out, many times you can see what different type of fish come to the feed.
Regarding culling, it probably needs to be done with some effort and record keeping. Culling should also be done with your pond goals in mind. If you want huge bass, then you would want to cull more fish so the existing bass would have more food, as an example.
Thanks for the reply,
Let the culling begin. Out here in california there are very limited resources for pond management. As of now there really isnt anywhere to buy live minnows, or shad, All the lakes out here have fish delivered from texas. So we are not sure what to do about that. But the culling starts. Should I leave all the bluegill?
Thanks
I would definitely leave the bluegill alone. They can spawn multiple times per year and are a continuing source of protien. A bass converts forage at a 1 to 10 ratio. It takes 10 pounds of forage to put 1 pound on a bass. Thus, in a balanced pond, you should have about 10 pounds of forage to every pound of predator. Let the culling begin.
I know very little about Ca. ponding. Why are there no fish suppliers closer than Texas? Is the land too valuable for other uses? Maybe water usage too restrictive?
The main reason is that wqe live in a desert i guess. Not many ponds. Most lakes are resevoirs.
Alot of fish suppliers are out of business, or only raise talapia, or trout in the hills. I may have found a lake owner who will let me pick up shad or whatever he stocks with next time there is a delivery but it is 21/2 hours away. I am still looking. Do People ship minnows and other overnite delivery? With any success.
Surfnfish, you can but shad from Turners in Escondido. .50c each, bring you wallet. I,
'm near by in Murrieta, can we come cull and start stocking my new pond?