I am a member of a hunting club which has a 20 acre pond in southern Mississippi. We catch big bream in the spring and small bass year round but usually not more than about 10 bass per person per trip and sometimes just a few depending on conditions. The bass are thin and mostly 1/2-1lb. The biggest my son or I have caught after dozens of outing is about 2.5 lbs. no small bream caught-all big. White perch added 8 years ago. They get up to about 2 pounds. Rarely catch more than about a dozen per trip white perch.

It has been fertilized yearly for 5-10 years by another member. I’m not sure what product he has used. The members would like larger bass primarily. I am told they caught 5 lb bass in the pond regularly about 10 years ago.

The ideas for improving the catch without breaking the bank have been:
1. Add baitfish. Considering fathead minnows, small bluegill crawfish. Leaning towards fathead minnows 1000 per acre each spring.
2. Add cover-looking at Christmas trees or PVC pipe trees.
3. Adding lime.
4. Fertilizer.

Some have said it’s prolly overpopulated and to keep 50 bass per acre per year under 14”.
Others have said white perch are eating all the eggs and small bluegill and food and may not be overpopulated with bass but just don’t have enough food.

One person said shock pond but that will cost 3k I’m told. Another said kill all the fish and start over but no white perch.

The club has approved 1-4 yearly with a budget of about $2000/year.

Do you all think I can make progress with 1-4 above?

Thanks.

Catch all the small bass you can and feed the BG a high protein (40+%) feed if you don't have the budget for shocking, maybe add more structure..... have water checked and go from there, add lime
Fatheads will be a snack
Shiners can survive predation better than fatheads.
If legal stock tilapia-good forage

So shiners better than fathead minnows?

Feeders, lime and test water

Add structure

Any other thoughts from anyone?

Thanks!

Best thing you can do is remove bass to balance the prey/predator ratio. Depending on the size of your bass the shiners may be a quick snack also. Tilapia are a good option because the adults will be large enough to survive predation and they reproduce in a similar to bluegill. That's why they are popular here if legal. Depending on your year-round water temperature, you may get the majority of a year out of them.

10 years ago, the bass and forage fish will most likely sized correctly as the bass grew but this shifted over time as bass reproduced and consumed larger prey.

Removing bass/crappie and adding structure only cost time or very little money depending on structure you choose. That alone would generally make a bigger impact than the other choices you listed.

DISCLAIMER
I am not an expert

white perch? Crappie? Just want to be clear...

we have 2 lbs white and black crappie/perch/sac a lait
small bass
big bluegill

trying to grow larger bass

thanks for the advice

i don't think the club will let me add tilapia but i can add shiners, minnow or small BG
i can add feeders
i can make reccs to remove a certain poundage of bass(30lbs/acre?) or crappie per year

the question they are asking me is how do you know bass are overpopulated as many of them struggle to catch many bass
they don't want to shock at this time

the bass are 12-15" and skinny

they are either overpopulated to don't have enough food b/c the crappie are eating it all-right? thanks

Read up on how to do a relative weight study on the bass which can indicate if you have too many - or at least not enough for them to eat:

https://appliedecology.cals.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/ANR-1193.pdf

My guess is a horde of small bass are eating the young-of-year fish. But take out too many bass and you might have a horde of small crappie to contend with.

Still, taking out 50 small bass per acre on a 20 acre lake is 1,000 fish which would be a chore. Start now and keep records on the relative weights over the summer - which should start increasing.

You have a classic out of balance predator/prey relationship. It takes either starting over or time and effort. Fish it hard and never return a bass to the water.

It’s kinda like having too many cows for the forage (grass) base. To thrive, that bass needs to eat 10 pounds of bg to gain 1 pound. Until you eliminate enough predators, the prey base can’t revive itself. It’s neither quick nor easy.

If it were me, I would get a pro to test and create a game plan. Greg Grimes of Ball Ground Georgia would be my pick.

Jkschwab1, welcome to the forum.

If there's no budget for electroshocking or supplemental stockings, then how about fishing derby's for the hunting club members and their families? Prizes could be as simple as off season cases of shotgun shells.

Seeing results may take a while, and properly adjusting fish numbers in ponds your size could take several years to correct. Think siege, not battle.

No matter what you call it, the management process is never ending.

I'd rather spend two years' budget on a professional consultation and electroshocking than add a single baitfish to that pond.

Have the lake professionally evaluated and then make a plan. Don't buy fish, or try to scatter shoot your way to success. It may cost as much as a year's budget for that analysis, but it will give you the direction you need. If you don't have the money, ask the club to make a one-time cash call and get it. Otherwise, you'll spend the budget with no measurable results. Fathead minnows are wasting money. Buying bluegill may be unnecessary. If you can get a reasonable analysis, you can make a plan to best suit the lake with your budget.

I have an old college buddy who's family/business owns considerable acreage with a number of ponds/small lakes. They manage their waters to entertain business clients, friends and family. I have fished there as a guest several times annually over the past 35 years. With the exception of one lake managed for big copper nose bluegill, all the others are managed for big bass. My buddy has caught and released more 10-12 lb bass of anyone I know. He basically has one rule; remove "all" crappie caught, any eaten' size bluegill, all chain pickerel, and bass under three pounds. We release all red-ear sunfish. He allows a person to keep a large bass for a mount. Now, I've been banging around in ponds since the late 1950s and have not fished any waters better than the ones they manage. I may have a small bias as my personal best largemouth bass[13lb 12oz] was taken in one of their ponds on February 23, 1989, as well as my PB bluegill[1.25 lb.] on a fly rod. The 13-12 is shown below.

Most of their ponds/small lakes maintain a good forage base of bluegill and wild golden shiners. Because these waters are fed by streams, it is a constant chore to remove competing species, but on the positive side, the streams continue to provide a dependable supply of golden shiners.

Their simple management plan may not be good for all waters, but it has worked well for these folks.



Two weeks ago I spent four days bowhunting hogs with a group of friends on some of their property, and helped them obtain fish for a large fish fry. We removed and filleted around 150 or so black crappie, 50 or so bass and a dozen bluegill, as well as releasing a number of bass up to 6.5 Lbs. We were fishing mostly light tackle geared for crappie, our primary target to remove. Here's what part of our first day's catch look like.

thanks for all the advice! that 13lb bass is amazing!
i am going to price the expert opinion option
meanwhile, get some crappie and small bass out of there

great site

ill keep checking for any more comments

thx again

i contacted Grimes outfit. they are putting together a proposal. It turns out he has a client an hour or so north of the pond. If i can make the numbers work i am going to go that direction.

That's great news - I couldn't imagine managing a 20 acre pond without a steady budget. It is hard enough with a 1 acre pond and limited funds!

Jkschwab1

Where in Southern Mississippi?

This is the best snap of a fat bass I've seen in quite some time. The contrast between the fat bass and the falling snow is great! What a photo op!

We are between Woodville and Natchez west of
Hwy 61

Confirmed visit with grimes company for shocking and evaluation

Must be around Port Gibson/Lorman area. Some of the best deer hunting in the state. I grew up in Amite County.

One more question just to get opinions-in a 20 acre pond is it possible to have decent bass and breast alongside black crappie as we r trying to do?

When you get Grimes in there for shocking and evaluation be sure to ask him the benefit to adding hybrid striped bass to help manage the LMB. He may also suggest threadfin shad which would for your area, size pond and fertilization in my opinion be better than minnows or golden shiners.

North MS is iffy for TFS survival in ponds. Central MS is a likely die-off (mostly partial) for TFS once in 5 years and south MS is ok for TFS survival in ponds. Large lakes and very big ponds (10 plus acres and deep) will have much better TFS survival over-winter.

Natchez area should be ok for TFS. Are you in the hills between Natchez and Woodville or in the MS River delta (flood prone).