Hi I live on lake in Panama city Fl and have fished it for years now . In the last few months i have been bass fishing alot and have noticed that all the bass i catch are all around 12 inches caught 20 one day and not a one would have been a keeper by legal limits . The BG numbers are very high with plenty of small ones for the bass to forage on and a good number of big 1LB+ bg in there as well. my question is could the number of BG be causing the bass not to grow? Or could the bass numbers be to high . I haven't noticed any of the big headed bass with slender bodies . the bigger bass that have been caught were 3+ lb but they are few and far between . on any day i can see 50 or more small bass around the lake . my main goal is to have bigger bass caught more often . there are some chain pickerel and decent catfish in there also. as for the size of the lake i am not too sure. it gets 20' deep in spots with the average being around 15' . you can check it out on google earth look up 7330 lake joanna dr panama city fl it has a little island in the middle of the lake . any questions you may have to help me achieve my goal is welcomed thank you
Sounds like your bass are over crowded and you need to remove a large number to improve the forage base.
Throw every 12 inch bass you catch on the bank, or transfer to another pond that needs them. I have a 2.5 acre pond on my place and have been doing just this for 3 years. I am finally seeing bigger bass in my pond, as well as bass of all different sizes, from 6 inches on up, this is what you want. When I bought the place I caught a 12 inch bass on every cast, with very little size variation. Remember, a pond or lake will only support so many pounds of fish, so you can have many little ones, several medium size, or a few big ones. I believe that a 10 pound bass needs 1 acre of water. Ponds that aren't managed or fished soon end up this way.
ok thank you for your input . my next question would be how many should I remove and is it possible to remove too many bass? and should i remove some of the other fish as well or leave them. i have always heard to kill chain pickerel but they put up a fun fight which is what i want should i remove them from the lake or are they not as bad as i have always been told .
You have no chance of removing too many bass. They get hook shy AKA conditioned. Use live bait if you can. "Too small to keep" ruins private ponds.
ok thank you there are alot of mosquito minnows about 3 to 4 inches long I'll try to net and use. i just got back from fishing and caught 15 bass all of course 10 to 13" long saw one about 25 inches but had no girth to him real slender .
The runt bass are eating the BG forage before they get large enough to make a meal for the larger ones.
Old stats: A/each bass needs 10 lbs of forage to gain one pound. Think of how many 4 to 5 inch bluegills that is. The forage needs to be 1/4 to 1/3 the predators size. It's a matter of energy expended vs calories received.
If you enjoy catching the CP, then don't remove them. Just keep in mind they will directly compete with bass for food. However, they also help control bass numbers by preying on smaller bass. You will never catch enough bass in a lake/pond the size you are talking about to even consider taking too many... If anything, you should enlist several friends to help you out!
alright then thank you very much for your answers. I know a few friends who would be more than happy to help out.