Pulled this poor guy out of the pond on Labor Day.


Obviously, with this kind of issue, I'm worried that throwing in a bunch of stocker BG are going to end up being largely an expensive snack. Do I need to up my order to cover this anticipated loss?

Background: pond nearly went dry last year and had it worked on. Only the bigger bass survived, and when it filled up again, no forage. Here is what the pond looks like today.



Thanks for the help.

Goodness gracious Shawn it looks like you've got a situation on your hands. Maybe having such hungry bass creates an opportunity to train them on the new giant bass food from Purina.

Pond is looking good, Shawn. I'm still trying to figure out what kind of animal it is shaped like.

GW may have a point - some of the hungry bass that go after BG eating pellets end up eating the pellets instead.

If I were in your shoes I'd be trying to thin out the thinned-down bass while adding BG.

Shawn have you caught (seen) other LMB from the pond and are they all in that condition ? Do you have access to the other small ponds in the pic to use as a growout location ?

I would like to know as well, to me that fish looks like it may have swallowed a hook as some point in the last month or two. It's body condition may be the result of fishing accident rather than a poor forage base. So, do other LMB look like that too? or was it just this one single fish?

Perhaps a large tailed fox or a skunk?

We have caught a few other bass and, thankfully, they are not in as bad condition. Not exactly fat and sassy, but nowhere near this bad.

As this pond is nearly 4 acres, the number of bass I have is not excessive, as there are only as many that could have survived this:



Yes, I do have access to the other ponds as growouts. There is actually another pond not shown in the picture that is mine and the smaller in the picture I have access to. I've also caught about a dozen large BG from my smaller pond and transplanted in the bigger pond.

Another problem (as seen in the "today" pic) is that I have a ton of submerged vegatation and FA. Next year will definately include some grass carp and tilapia. I also have a TON of snails, so RE will also be thrown in the mix, but all this is food for another topic.

I think I found out the problem. I wish now that I had disected the fish to be for sure. If you haven't seen it, check out Bob's post here:
http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=98053#Post98053