Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Number of Fish to Remove Next Year

I stocked 500 BG and 250 Shell Crackers in Mar 2010 and in March of 2011 I stocked 25 LMB and one bag of FHM.

We've not fished at since the stockings.

My question how many LMB and BG to remove from my pond next year? I kinda think that only a few LMB should be removed in 2012, but I'm not sure.

How many of the LMB from the 2012 spawn should be taken or should most of the 2012 spawn be taken?

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=254280#Post254280

After the second year from stocking, cull every bass under 14 inches. Don't worry, you can't catch them all or usually even enough. That's a general rule. I will occasionally spare a particularly healthy one with a high WR.

well said Dave. I think I woudl nto remove until next fall when your spawn is big enough to eat. Also if your goal is bass growth then take few or no bluegill tht is the backbone of bass growth.

So what you are saying is that in the fall of 2012 take all LMB that are 14" or less that we can catch and leave all my bluegills is that correct?

Well are you wanting to grow large bass or large Bluegill?

I would think you would want to wait more than 1 year to start culling since you only stocked 25 LMB to begin with wouldn't you?

Those 25 bass have created a staggering amount of babies. In a one acre pond, the trick is to always try to stay ahead of the bass. It's tough.

This also depends on where you are in the country. For southern ponds yes, for more middle and northern ponds where bass don't grow and reproduce as fast it may be prudent to wait longer...

He doesn't say what size they were when he stocked them. It would be interesting to see what the WE is after 1 year. What would one expect from a healthy SC pond? 6-8" or so?

I cull based on the WE and general looks and fight of the fish is why I was questioning timing of cull is all.

When should one notice LMB babies and start catching some. I stocked my fish back in Dec 2009 and thought I would see a ton of small LMB crusing the banks but have not seen any or caught a LMB in say 5 months.

They just do not bite, or have all vanished.

The fish farm said the were 4" to 6", but most of the LMB were about 4" back in Mar 2011.

We want to have a good balanced fishing pond leaning toward more LMB fishing.

We just did some electrofishing in a clients new"ish" pond today (in coastal SC). We stocked bream last year, fatheads and threadfins this spring, and 3-4" fingerling F1 bass on June 16th...less than 3 months ago. The smallest bass we picked up was 8.5"...the biggest was 11.1". If you have a healthy forage base, I would expect your fish to easily be 13-15" by next fall...with proper food, bass can grow pretty quick down here.

As far as how many to remove, I agree with Dave and Greg...as many of those 2nd generation fish as you can get. Just make sure you are not taking out any of your original stock...especially of your bass are F1s as those will be your fastest growers. Once you start fishing next year, it should be fairly easy to tell if they are originals or not.

Are you say that just based on size alone we'll be able to tell the newly spawned fish from the original fish?

The fish farm made no claim of the LMB being F1s.

IS there a safe DIY to electrofish my pond (note I hate the mix of water and electricity and the resulting curly hair)?

I don't thnink DIY and electrofishing belong in the same sentence unless you own your own shock boat. I can see too many possibilities for funny YouTube videos.

Yep, that is right up there with "Hold my beer and watch this".

Anybody else here ever play around with an old fashioned hand-cranked telephone magneto when they were younger?

Those 5 magnet units could lay the hurt down.

Of course, we only used ours to bring up earthworms/nightcrawlers. It could definitely be a "Hey watch this" scenario.

The old Army TA-1 would tickle you, but the TA-312 witch had two D cell batteries would make the other yell.

I had the same thoughts when I did the initial stocking on my new pond. It was at least a year and I never saw a minnow. I was worried that they had all died but they were there and growing just fine.

You say you caught some 5 months ago? How big were they then?

Sprkplug, I guess you could call what were doing with those things was playing. The Game Warden probably wouldn't have agreed.

"Of course, we only used ours to bring up earthworms/nightcrawlers"

I can honestly say that I never called up any fish on a telephone mag. I will however admit to loaning that same mag to friends, knowing full well of it's intended usage

Guilty by association.

Yes. If you start fishing in the early spring before they spawn, you will be able to tell the size of your original stock bass as they will all be around the same size...probably around 12" (maybe more if you are getting good growth). Then, come late summer into early fall and on you will start catching the little runts from the spring spawn...yank 'em out!

Thanks thats what I really wanted to know.

Well I coaught my first LMB from the 25 I stocked in March of 2011 it is about 16". I didn't get a pic of it since was almost dark.

I think my LMB are spawning right now.

I have been breaking/clipping one fin of the little BG that I'm catching since I need to remove about 15 pounds of BGG this year from what I've been told here does that sound like a good way to help accomplish that goal.

I know that three of my LMB have died here is a pic of one that I found on 26 Mar 2012.

I ate a couple of my BG for the first time last night.

Here the first LMB that my son has caught from our pond, but it's not his first LMB.