Hello all. My small pond has BG, LMB, and TURTLES. The BG were put in by a neighbor who caught them from a farm pond (which was done whilst I was away, and I wish it had not been done...)

The bass I purchased and installed to predate on the copiously copulating BG. Put in only four, and of that I think two survived and are now decent size..probably 16". They got busy; lots more bass at this point, and the BG appear to be under control.

Here's the interesting part: I feed the fish and the turtles. BG love to eat, and they're entertaining. Only one of the large bass will eat. The other one, however, is nothing but a bully. He -I assume it's a he, could have it backward- shows up like clockwork, circles the feeding area obsessively, and literally attacks the "customers". I've seen him send BG and small pond sliders flying through the air. It's as if he does not want those fish/turtles to eat, yet he never eats a bite himself. Even chases off the "partner" bass that does eat.

Anyway, this is an every day deal, and has caused the BG to be very timid about eating. (This fish has earned the nickname "The Basshole".) It's curious behavior to observe, and I wonder why just this one bass is such a jerk.

The fish is doing what LMB do...capitalizing on the moment.

Some individual fish are overly territorial and greedy. Often those fish are fast growers. It should be easy to remove the bully bass by placing a 2"-3" BG on a hook and dropping it in the feeding area. When the bass grabs the bait give it time to swallow the BG.

I would mention to the fish stocking neighbor how much it will cost to kill off the pond to remove the self imposed bucket stocked fish. Politely ask if he would like to pay several hundred dollars for the cost of pond renovation? Even though you probably will not renovate, IMO it is good to point out to him the implications of his neighborly "good deed" especially when not invited to bucket stock.

I agree with Bill hat removing that one LMB would be a good idea.

I do want to caution all that on a larger scale removing the most aggressive or fastest growing fish is not a good idea unless you have a specific mgt plan for that goal. That course of action can cause both fishing and genetic problems over time.

Thanks for the responses. Mr. Basshole might be going to a new home soon.

@ Bill Cody, yep. We told the stocking neighbor "DON'T DO THAT". But they're in there now, and I have a responsibility to look after them. We weren't going to stock until we were 100% sure the pond would hold water. It doesn't. I sure wish I'd known about PB before the ~guy~ dug me a cow pond. As so many here stress, there is a science to successful pond building. But thanks to you and your aeration instruction, the quality of what water is there is fantastic!
Next I'll be working with teehjaeh on (hopefully) fixing the seepage issue.

Now. I just today saw that I've had a fairly recent LMB hatch. 3" fry on everything. I thought they didn't spawn this time of year. Will bass eat their own? The low water level is exposing a bass population that is already pretty surprising. Is my next problem going to be LMB overpopulation? Do I need a hungry catfish in there?

Next question, off topic for this area, but does anyone know of a reputable pond builder in extreme southern Indiana? New neighbor across the road is going to have a large pond excavated, and we don't want him to let his home builder talk him into turning his septic installer-type guy loose on it. We've seen quite enough of the fruits of that particular brand of pond making.....

Heartlander,
Can't help with pond builder but the 3" LMB are the YOY(young of year) that spawned earlier in the year when water temps hi around 65 deg. In south Mississippi, the LMB spawn is usually in late Feb. or early march but I'd assume it is in April or May in Indiana.