Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Fish Harvest

I have a 30 acre lake that just got evaluated by a pond management company. They say I need to harvest 25-30 ponds of bass per acre per year to keep the lake in balance. This seems impossible for me. I may be able to do half of that, but that’s probably all. What are my options?

Not trying to be a smart a$$ but why not get help? I'm sure there would be lots of people that wold love to help you. How about some kids?

I have a trout pond I attempt to harvest all the trout out of once a year. I have a list now of 50 people that want to help!

Thanks for the response. If that's the only way then that's what I'll have to do. The biologist said I need to keep good records of what I'm taking out and I know it get a little difficult to keep records when you open your lake up to a bunch of other people and you're not there.

Cecil man! chill dude!!!

This is the guys first time ever doing this...is there any one else out there to help?

My comments may have been taken the wrong way. As I said I was not trying to be a smart a$#.

Why not only allow fishing when you are there. You should have some friends you can trust to keep good records. I'm sure it can be done.

If you have too many bass there isn't that much harm they can do.

Could adding extra forgae help this? What about an automatic feeder?

I had a lak once that was over crowded with little Bass put I ended up selling it.

lets reason this out
you need to catch 750-900 pounds of bass
thats about 1500 - 1800 9" bass
or 750 - 900 12" bass
or 375 - 450 15" bass
that is alot, I would have a couple friends over and have a bass feed. Have you looked into seining?

How does one sein a 30 acre lake? :rolleyes:

Noles,
Other than LMB what else is in the lake?
A gill net with openings too small for larger bass would prob. do it but there may be better/easier ways.
I assume you are in the south. location will make a difference in recommendations.
The seining idea is not a bad one if there is a suitable area.
Ask your state wildlife comm. if they have any ideas.
The National Wild Turkey Fed. http://www.nwtf.org/ holds kids (jakes) and women (women in the outdoors) events which may be of intrest. Talk to your local NWTF chapter. The events are very well managed with fishing a big hit with the kids & women. You will have control over what they take out of your lake.
Ric

Seems to me gill nets are not that effective on largemouth bass. In the little time I worked for my state fish & game department (here in Indiana it's called DNR) most of the bass shyed away from gill nets. But then the water was fairly clear do that may have made a difference.

Do you guys in the south have a different experience?

Gill nets would work poorly for bass. While being a good idea a seine would be nearly impossible one little snag and it is over plus you would stress all the other fish while trying to net the bass. The best way is rod and reel and hiring someone to shock them out. Where are you located? The company you used before or some one here may help if they are close.

I think the POnd consultants may have meant 30 lbs/acre this year. AFter that you can scale back. I make the same recommendations quite often. The pondowners that have 30 acre lakes usually have some buddies. They don't like it b/c it becomes work but the policy is if you come fishing you have to kepp all bass less than 14 inches and must write down harvest and bigger returned bass in a log book. I would just invite friends and family I trust b/c otherwise some folks would take out your bigger bass.

One other thing is to increase the food for the bass. Stokcing intermediate bluegill, threadfin shad, fertilize and start a supplemental feeding program will help put on weight but a high number of bass will still have to be removed.
Good luck!

Noles58, I think that if you can do 1/2 the work already, you're not that far off from balancing it out. I would think that if you stocked some catfish and kept from harvesting large adult bluegill, trophy bass are right around the corner. I would not open up the fishing outside family and friends, you're only asking for trouble. It's better to have too many fish, than not enough !

What would the cats do? how would they help? What kind of cats? Blues? Flats? Channels?

Thanks guys for the help. I am new at this, but I'm learning every day. I just acquired this lake a month ago and had it evaluated by South Eastern Pond Management. They send me the site report to remove the fish and I won’t to follow it as closely as I can. Just got a little scared that if I didn’t remove 750-900 pounds of bass a year the lake would be out of balance.

The question was asked, "Where the lake is, and what's in it?”
The lake is in South Georgia and it has copper nose, bluegill, shell cracker and LM bass.

Well hopefully I and some friends can get some of these little bass out so I can start growing trophy bass. Your comments are much appreciated.

By introducing catfish, it would displace the numbers of bass, possibly fewer will spawn. 30 acres is a LOT of water to manage, I think it would help will the cull limit and provide an additional species to fish for. Channels are my favorite, personally I think they taste better !

You know, I think I'd have it shocked. The idea of opening the gates to a bunch of people sounds kind of foreign to me. It's hard to control released fish that might die anyway and people. If you wanted to fish a body of water that has had heavy fishing pressure, you could go to the local lake. You might even make a deal with whoever does it to sell the shocked fish as stockers. You just might have a gold mine on your hands.

Eastlnad, this is interesting, what do you mean by displacement? Would the cats eat the small bass and get his numbers down? And what is cull limit? You also say go with only channels is this because of the feeding habits of the other two species?

your pond wont be "out of balance" if you dont remove the bass. your bass simply wont be growing at proper rates. If you remove 1 bass from the pond you are helping, if only slightly. Usually bass in crowded situations are pretty easy to catch, you may be surprised how many you can catch in a year.

Eastland states to add catfish. I fail to see how that would help. If you have too many bass (predators) why are you adding more predators? Removing some bass will allow the forage base to increase. Baby catfish are slow swimmers. Most, if not all of them get eaten if your bass are overcrowded. In my overcrowded bass pond, I set out a trotline and caught 8 catfish. None were under 7 pounds. There were no small ones. The bass were eating any babies that were born. (I do have out pipe for the catfish to nest in.)

Catfish have to grow for two years before they spawn. They prefer to eat dead or wounded things that cant get away. I do not see how they would significantly reduce your bass population.

I would think that you could find a couple of dedicated fishermen, who are responsible enough to maintain records of what they take out of your lake. I know that I would love to find someone willing to allow me to fish on their 30 acre private lake. I would be willing to obey their rules and wishes for the privelege.

David,

I shock bass up and sell them as stockers. this is rarely a profitable venture. In certain situations I can catch enough bass to make my day profitable. Do the math. you can sell bass for about $8 per pound on the average. you need gas for a boat, generator, and a truck. You have to travel to and from the pond with the bass and you have travel costs to and from all the ponds you stock. you need oxygen to keep them alive from pond to pond. you also need help on the shocking boat that takes $. In your average bass heavy pond you can probably catch 50 bass in a couple of hours.(if you have a good net man). but you can only remove bass in the slot. Just because you catch 40 bass per hour does not mean you can sell all of them. Even if you can where is the pond located. If you have to travel 200 miles to the other pond there is usually not enough hours in the day to shock them up and then deliver them the same day, unless you can catch 100 pounds of bass in 1.5-2 hours. otherwise you need a large tank (700-900 gal) that you can hold bass in so you can shock for a few days and stock pile bass then go and deliver them. this time of year its risky to hold bass in a tank or cage for over 1 day.

In general, the land owner of the bass heavy pond should expect a deduction on his shocking survey for giving the consultant his bass. On occasion the survey will be free to the pond owner (if enough bass are caught) but I would not plan on retiring off the profits from selling your bass. I made and extra 8K or so last year selling bass, and I worked my butt off doing it. I also drove about 60,000 miles last year. I have 300 acres of bass heavy water to work off of.

goldmine? I think not

Nick you once again you beat me to my comments. Channel catfish will not displace bass, it will only make the situation worse with excess predators. Sorry Big-Pond I know you wanted to hear otherwise.

Also as I said best to get trusted frineds or hire someone like me, Shan or SE POnd Mgmt. to shock them out. Sometimes as Dave and Shan mentioned the bass can be sold and reduce the shocking cost for the removal.

Shan I agree with you to a point, you surely can not make a living selling the bass, but it adds to my profit and lessens the cost to the client wanting to get rid of the bass anyway. My problem is selling them. Several years ago I could not get enough bass. Now I have tons of lakes with too many bass and no one to sell them to. I currently have 200 in my holding pond waiting to be sold that I gave money to the pondowner in hopes of selling. When I do sell them though it is a win win.

Guy's I understand the concern of allowing strangers to fish our pond's & I won't do that in my pond. However I believe in letting certian people, especially kids fish. I don't think knoles will be able to manage his 30ac lake by himself. He could hire a pond manager to shock & remove fish every year & I don't have a problem with that .. it's his to do with as he wants. Professional managment will still be needed off & on with that large a pond if you want trophy bass.
However there's nothing more satisfying than watching youngsters thrilled at catching a 8 - 10 inch bass! And they will be learning about pond management!

noles I suggested the NWTF Jakes event because it is controlled, with instructors that you can inform to only fish for small bass, once a year or only once if you desire, they won't be comming back to fish on their own & how many times do we get the opportunity to be the one that made so many kids so happy for a day?
Ric

Shan, Point well taken.

Dave

Hey Greg...no problem my man you always tell it like it is, I like that, ... One of these days I'll have my lake built, and when I do.......

ok, I feel like I'm failing school here...help me out ! I don't understand a couple points here. First carrying capacity : isn't the general rule that you can only have x number of fish ? If you had 1/4 catfish, doesn't that only leave 3/4 of your predators bass ? Wouldn't you then have to cull 25% less bass over time ? Second, displacement : as the catfish grow, wouldn't that cause excess predators, in turn putting pressure on smaller fish. (we've all caught catfish on lures one time or another...right ?) Since Bass only spawn once a year, it seems logical that excess predators in the 5 pound range would be beneficial for a season or two. in conclusion, is there no way to naturally balance out a bass pond without culling ?