Being in the middle of a drought here, my pond has shrank quite a bit, to almost nothing. But I found out last weekend while throwing a large cast net, that I have several 3,4, and 5 lbs bass living in a very small area. Without rain, they are surely to die when the summer heat hits, and even if they survive, I'm worried about trying to establish the rebuilt pond with forage fish with those big guys (and gals) around. Should I A) let nature take its course, B) try to transplant into other ponds, or C) keep throwing the net and have a fish fry!?

Thanks,
Shawn

Shawn, I believe I would transplant them. Like you, I have no faith in rain.

My experience with pond and creek holes drying up is that the eating size fish (large bream, catfish, bass) begin to disappear when the water level reaches the 1.5' - 2' levels. Right before water depth approaches those levels you should be harvesting them or transferring to another pond, etc. If you don't get them, something else will. Below 12", all sizes of fish starts disappearing.

Update---Same pond, new problem.

Here is the after construction picture:
Note the very small amount of water left at teh bottom of the picture. Now the pond is nearly full (trying to schedule a flight to get a new picture) and the bass have spread out. I never did get to transfer any fish.

New problem is that now I have a dozen or two large bass and very little forage. After only a few casts, I had several bass just pounce on my big spinnerbait. The one I landed (trying to get my two year old to land one, lost several) was around 18 inches long, but skinny, probably about 4-5 lbs. I've been putting larger BG in the pond when I can catch them from another pond (6+ inches), but I'm considering stocking from a fish farm. Am I going to waste my money? I can lose a few, but would hate to lose most new fish. The finished pond is 3-4 acres big, so I have relatively few bass per acre, but they are HUNGRY! How can I make a supplemental stocking effective? There is a lot of cover with the flooded weeds as well as a few brushpiles.

Thanks!

Shawn,

I'll say a couple of things that I would do....but most folks on here probably would not do.

First, I get some 8 to 10 inch or larger Tilapia in there as fast as I could. They will begin reproducing immediately and provide forage until fall...and maybe by then you will get the rains you need. Second, I would do everything I could to save the last of those LMB and use them as the base for the pond when the rains come. Those fish are survivors and worth doing whatever you have to do to protect some of them and keep them alive.

Now, you will hear naysayers say that stocking Tilapia will add to your problems, but I don't believe that. The Tilapia will be the last fish standing if/when the pond runs dry and their numbers will be controlled by the LMB as long as the LMB survive. Tilapia can tolerate incredibly poor water quality.

I don't envy your situation...if it were me, I'd stock the Tilapia ASAP and remove and protect as many of the LMB as I could. Good luck!!!

Thanks, ML. I wonder if I can find some tilapia this late in the year.

Removing the bass is no longer an issue, as I only lack about a foot of water until overflow. We have had one of the wettest springs on record, but oddly enough it did not fill my big pond, as there are 4 other bodies of water in line for the runoff. We seemed to get the rain an inch or two every week, which allowed the water to seep into the ground. Great for crops, not so great for the pond, but I can at least weather a year or two more of drought at this rate.

Anyone know of a source of large tilapia in North-Central OK this late?

I'm certainly no expert but what about Golden Shiners or Threadfin Shad or some cheap forage fish like that?

If cost is not much of a concern how about stocking a bunch of 2-3 inch BG to provide immediate forage and then the with combination of your larger BG and the newly added BG you could establish an on going forage base.

I like ML's idea of Tilapia also, unfortunately for Calif that isn't an option.

Either way I agree with ML - save the bass!

Beautiful pond by the way. I can hardly wait to see photos of it full!

Do you have various sizes of BG and LMB in the pond ?

To feed the LMB you need fish the size they can eat now (3-5in). So any fish you buy to feed them now will be eaten thus the $ spent . Large BG or large tilapia will produce forage for smaller LMB but their yoy ,for now, will not be big enough to feed the big LMB.

If they are that hungry try to see if they will eat pellets. It is worth a try. A mix of sizes of tilapia and some BG would work but some $ worth are going to be eaten.

Right now all I know of is the 6 in+ BG I have put in. I assume most if not all of the others were eaten at low pool. There are not many small bass; again, hunger took over.

I'll try the pellets, good idea.

If I buy a few hundred BG, should I throw in a few lbs of FH in order to try to give the BG a head start, or some other minnow for that matter? I don't, however, want to cause problems I'll have to fix later.

EWEST,

Do you have actual experience that shows LMB will not eat small Tilapia? I have first-hand evidence to the contrary. Maybe its another regional thing.

A hungry LMB in my area will eat whatever is available and whatever it can get in its mouth. Has anyone ever caught a 5 pound LMB on a one inch FH? I have numerous times. The LMB does not, in my experience, measure the prey to be sure it is 3 to 5 inches before consuming it. Further, the Tilapia offspring, those that are not eaten by the large LMB, will quickly reach those sizes anyway, much quicker than BG can even think about.

In order for those LMB to gain any weight, they will eventually need larger prey to feed on, but they will sustain/survive very nicely on Tilapia this season and your BG will not be hammered nearly as much and hence can also re-establish themselves. By the end of summer, you will see Tilapia in the size range that will actually add weight to the LMB, rather than just sustain them now. They are so prolific that even in a pond such as yours, some will sneak through to grow to larger sizes. That's my logic, for what its worth.

ML, I think his logic is that with those big numbers LMB present, it will be hard for Tilapia to produce enough forage in the shorter season, not that they won't do their darnedest. I think as long as I put enough tilapia in, they should at least sustain, if not grow, the bass. Now I just have to find an economical source.