Hi every body. A pond came with the house I just bough. The pond is about 1.25 acres and mostly 3-5 ft deep and was almost 100% covered with spatterdock(I have cleared maybe 15%. I was looking for some recommendations to increase my blue gill size and quantity. Catch like 3 an hour none over 8 inches. I'll attach my fish log(sort of ). Thanks for any recommendations. I currently feed 1/2 lb of cat fish chow per day.(the Shiners seem to eat it)

were in FL are you.

Any chance to be able to drain it and dig out to add depth?

that spatterdock looks challanging. Perhaps some of our experts can let you know if Grass carp might help just it to help control it.

What are you goals for th pond?

Wow you got a little bit of everything in there! I would get rid of every crappie you catch! Your pond is way to small for crappie. Every bass you catch take RW's and compare them to the chart to see how they are doing.

First off are you allowd GC in your area that has to be the first thing you check on. Lets assume you are.

Not sure if GC even like Spatterdock or not?? Maybe someone else here can let us know that. I do know for how covered your pond is you will need about 15 or so of them. I was reccomneded 8 for my 1 acre pond and I was not covered near as bad as you are. You can always get rid of them later once you have it under control. I bet your pond is deeper than you think but it's been filling up with all them weeds for years so your depth is not where it should be.

Remember what ever you do take baby steps in doing it and it's not gonna all be done quick. Patience is key in pond management that's for sure!!

Good luck and keep us posted,
RC

Classic CNBG from their original home!

Really, the only way to clear up the spatterdock/yellow pond lily is to nuke it with some sort of herbicide. Manual work on that much would kill a man! HAHA Grass carp wouldn't control it either. Even if stocked in insanely high numbers. A friend is partial owner of a lake that looks just that yours with spatterdock covering 80%+ of it. Sure makes it tough to fish...

Hoplo are neat fish, but about worthless for the most part. I've run into them when seining and fishing down in Martin County, FL where my aunt and uncle live.

I would look at draining the pond and digging it out and starting over... If the budget it there. You will be happy with the results.

Thanks for the input. No funds available to drain. I hit it with Herbicide 4 weeks ago. Made it weak enough to pull out is all its done so far. I am working on clearing some areas for fish, killing all hoplo, bowfin and crappie + feeding 1/2 lb a day. I used the mapping tool and it turned out to be only .92 acres. The bass look really healthy to me, but I do not catch any smaller ones and the CNBG also look healthy, but seem to max out at 8" and very few of those. Would like to seem some 10"+ CNBG

I am in Zephyrhills, Fl. Only way I would be able to dig is if we had a drought. I have raised the Dam at the outflow to hopefully add 12"-18" once the rainy season hits. I had lost about 8" in the last month.

Goals are for bigger blue gills. Bass are just a bonus. Really surprised at the 20" my buddy pulled out. Looked almost 5lbs to me

DGuy,


Here is one other small tip for ya. That LMB your buddy is holding on to does look decent, but unless you want it's jaw broking he does not need to be holding it the way he is. Holding a LMB that size from the lower lip perfectly straight up and down is fine but when you start to hold him out sideways you need to support there belly with your other hand or you can actually break their jaw and not even know your doing it. I would be more careful how you handle those nice biggens!!

RC