Restoring balance in approx 3 acre pond - 03/14/11 12:32 AM
I just joined up and this is my first post. I am blessed to have about a 3 acre (surface area) pond in south east GA. Pond is about 4 years old and was originally stocked with 3000 mixed panfish (bg,hb,res), 300 lmb, and 30 sterile grass eating carp. As of last summer panfish were doing well with several weighing a full pound. Bass are plentiful but have not caught or seen any over about 12 inch and about 1.25 lb.
Problem: The carp are huge. Have seen some that apppear to be 36 inch +. The grass or any other vegetation is non existant. Even though I have fertilized regularly each summer. I feed pellets year round but heavy in the summer and light in cold months. The carp suck it up like a squad of vaccuum cleaners. I bought the recommended (by the seller) number of each species originally. I am afraid that I am seriously overstocked on the carp.
If any of you experienced folks can confirm my deduction do you have any suggestions on how to economically remove the appropriate number of carp without draining the pond.
Please forgive the length of this post but I wanted to give a good snapshot of where I'm at to start up. Thanks for any assistance any of you may provide.
Problem: The carp are huge. Have seen some that apppear to be 36 inch +. The grass or any other vegetation is non existant. Even though I have fertilized regularly each summer. I feed pellets year round but heavy in the summer and light in cold months. The carp suck it up like a squad of vaccuum cleaners. I bought the recommended (by the seller) number of each species originally. I am afraid that I am seriously overstocked on the carp.
If any of you experienced folks can confirm my deduction do you have any suggestions on how to economically remove the appropriate number of carp without draining the pond.
Please forgive the length of this post but I wanted to give a good snapshot of where I'm at to start up. Thanks for any assistance any of you may provide.