I have ordered 20lbs of GSH for an existing 2 acre pond to get a forage base rejuvinated. The pond is almost void of vegetation due to over crowding of rusty crawfish. I don't believe I have many LMB left due to an unwanted otter visitor from time to time. I have once caught 7-8lb bass from there. I haven't caught much in a while. There are some BG present, but not all that many and none of any size. 3-5 inches.

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The water is coffee brown since I have attempted a dam repair which left the face and surrounding banks bare of vegetation. The repair didnt fix it so any rain fills up to where its pictured only to drain back out down about a foot less than pictured. Any runoff just muddies up the water. Visibility maybe is 6 inches. I am going to re-core the dam this coming summer. I will keep the pond around 10ft deep until it is fixed. It will end up being around 19ft at its deepest point.

My question is should I restock now with a fathead forage base then stock LMB again once repaired? I dont think there is much in there to eat any of my GSH i ordered, but there is no vegetation to help YOY stocking.....yet either. I might be able to switch my order to Fatheads only if I react soon.

Should I use the opportunity to kill all and restock? Rotenone?

I have another .5 acre pond that is about 40 yards from this one. I can use as a holding ground or staging pond. It is a lot greener and looks much more productive, but still lacks the LMB population I want. It does have a decent population of BG that I hand feed.

If you have abundance of rusty crayfish then Bass should have some food to eat for sure. Every single LMB I have cleaned from our lake house in WI has a rusty or two in its stomach. I don't harvest any SMB how ever they often spit them out during landing so they eat them readily too.

I'm afraid if there aren't any LMB to control the rusties they will run away with my my pond drilling holes. So I am now trying to build my LMB population back. Everything I have read says to build a forage base first then add bass.

I don't think Rusties dill holes, But I have been wrong before...

You said an otter ate your fish?
it is unlikely it ate every one of them. Are you sure you don't just have a small population of LMB in the pond?

Anything is possible.

I bought the the property in 2014. There were thousands of holes that were occupied by them. Big ones. REAL BIG ONES!

Visibility is nill to 6 inches. So fishing sucks. It used to be stocked pretty full of adult gizzard shad. I imagine thats how the bass got so big. I havent seen any schools this year.

I believe rusties are the invasive species that dig holes. Could wait for an expert to verify that though.

If that's the case, and you have the option to kill and start over, I'd definitely do that. Clean slate, do what you want from the beginning.

That appears to be some other species of crayfish. It doesn't look like a rusty crayfish in this photo. I bet if you post some other photos some of the crayfish one of the crayfish experts might be able to properly ID it for you so you can better manage around it.

More information on Rusty Crayfish.

https://www.anstaskforce.gov/spoc/rustycrayfish.php

can any one ID this Crayfish?

The post has taken a turn....lol

To stock- if so with what

or to kill all?

More on the color and visibility.

Only reason my vote would be for a start-over, is because you mentioned in your original post that it was an option. Many do not have that option, but wish they did. It's ultimately the best option. Far easier to start from scratch than to manage an existing population.

To answer the main question, I would not worry about the fish population, nor the crayfish population in the pond until you get the water leak problem fixed.

If the main goal of the pond is having a LMB or SMB fishery, then I wouldn't worry at all about the crayfish population. The bass will take care of a lot of them.

With otters, you have a constant worry about them coming back. So, for now or at least for this year I would concentrate on getting the leak fixed, then build up the forage base. I believe that once you have the leak fixed, then get plants growing to minimize run-off into the pond, the pond water will start to clear. If not, then look into aluminum sulfate/hydrated lime to clear the water. The predators you stock will have a field day with the crayfish, no matter what the species.

My property is near Atlanta, Georgia. I have an 8 acre pond. I want to control vegetation using sterile grass carp. What is a good ratio of carp per acre. 50% of this pond is less than 3 feet deep.

Need to identify the weeds. Grass carp don't eat everything.

You are close enough that you might consider reaching out to Greg Grimes at Aquatic Environmental Services.

Contact Info

What kind of crayfish are involved here. I know something of the Rusty Crayfish complex and other species occurring in Kentucky. If you have species ID wrong, then a lot of effort could be wasted on crayfish management and fixing of leaks.