Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Feeding Hybrid Bass

First time posting a question. I recently built a 2 acre pond fed by a small spring. Stocked BG, CC, redear, and fathead minnow in December 2005, then hybrid bass in June of this year. I hand-feed the BG and CC every day. The bass are about 7 - 9", but seem to be pretty thin. I have another pond (very small - 40' in diameter) and was wondering if it makes sense to use this small pond to raise fathead minnows for supplemental feeding for the bass. I was thinking of catching some of the large fatheads on my flyrod they placing them in the small pond to reproduce. Would I have to feed the small minnows? Am I wasting my time - any ideas?

Hello arkyfisherman,

The idea of a forage pond is very sound. Some who have done it stress that you must be prepared to remove the forage on a regular basis, otherwise the forage fish can easily overpopulate without the presence of a predator fish.

One method to remove large amounts of forage fish (for placement in your bigger pond) is using a sein net. Certain pond configurations are more conducive to using a sein net. For instance, if you have a lot of structure in the forage pond, it can be more difficult to pull a sein net.

Also, it is usually easier to run a sein net if you have help.

Good luck and welcome.

Smooth bottoms with gentle slopes are very condusive to easy seining.

Other harvest options for forage ponds include traps and cast nets.

As Sunil mentioned, experienced forage pond users (and ex-users) emphasize the need to work at removing the forage fish regularly in bulk.

Perhaps every forage pond should come with a fall-back plan on stocking predator species if you get tired of removing small fish frequently - but I don't think this would be too hard to do.

Oh, are these Hybrid Striped Bass? If so, I'm a little surprised they're not taking pellets with the CC and BG. If that's the case, give us the details on what, when, how, and how much you feed - perhaps the HSB experts can suggest a feeding modification that will get your bass fat and sassy without extra forage.

Sorry, I am talking about Florida Hybrid Bass. Yes, the side slopes of the proposed forage pond are fairly gentle for seining. I was thinking that if I could raise fatheads in the pond until they get big and slow, that it would provide the bass with some nice meals.

Or would there be a better forage fish to raise?

Thanks for all the great advise.