Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations catching my own adult lm bass??

i am just a couple weeks away from owning my first pond!! this pond is 2 years old, but has been kept from filling completely. there has been about 5-6 ft of water in about 3/4 acre and the total pond is 2.7 acres. some dummy thought he would help the property owner by stocking some fish from a nearby reservoir, problem is, he stocked some crappie. i have no idea how many fish are in there, but i have seen 2 crappie about 6-7" long.
here are my questions. i am considering stocking varying sizes of bluegill and redear ranging from 1-7". then later this summer or fall stocking catfish around 6-8". both would be purchased from a local hatchery. my biggest problem is that i am an avid bass fisherman, and i don't want to wait 4-5 years here in indiana to catch 14" largemouth. so i would like to stock all adult largemouth from surrounding lakes that would be a minimum of 14". i have not seen a question like this before, but what are the pros and cons of stocking adult lmb from my surrounding lakes and reservoirs?? i am sure that disease is an issue, but i am looking at the risk versus the REWARD! i just hate to wait years to catch a nice largemouth when i know i can stock these by myself for no cost (cause i'll be fishing anyway) and then i could have immediate results. the adult largemouth would also control or WIPE out my crappie population. everyone chime in please.

I feel the key to stocking adult bass is having a well developed bluegill redear population first. So, yes stock these and then wait until you see several offspring of these stocked then you would be ok to stock the bass. I would recommend stocking larger bluegill bigger than 4 inches since you have noticed crappie. If you have seen a few I'm sure more are there. ALso you mentioned catfish. I would only suggest channel cats and at a low number if you want to manage for bass. ALso do not stock more than 25 bass/acre. This will help the bass growth. THis is a general answer but hope it helps shed some light. Good luck!

I have stocked quite a few lakes and ponds with adult bass. Stocking adult bass at a rate over 20 fish per acre will result in an extremely bass heavy population in about 2 years. Of course these are Georgia ponds and not Indiana. You may have better results up there. I would recommend cutting that rate in half. 12 bass per acre. If you are unhappy with results you can always add more.

I'm not sure about the carring capacity for a pond up there. here in an unfertilized pond its about 100 pounds per acre. For arguments sake lets say your pond will carry 200 pounds per acre. that means your pond will hold 200 pounds of fish. it doesnt matter if its 200-one pound fish or one 200 pound fish, that is all the pond will hold. Now you stock 12 bass per acre and want them to grow. You will need 120 pounds of forage for those 12 fish to grow one pound. They will consume just over half the forage in the pond that year to grow one pound.

Now consider stocking at a rate of 25 fish per acre. It will take 250 pounds of forage for your fish to grow. The problem is you dont have 250 pounds of fish in the pond. Thats assuming your carrying capacity is 200 pounds per acre. Stocking 25 adult bass per acre into an unfertilized pond here in Georgia will result in skinny bass. My advice if you want good bass growth is to take it slow, add a few bass at a time and see what happens. they will help you control crappie and other unwanted fish. this method will also keep you from having to remove several hundered small stunted bass.

Why not do it right the first time, instead of wishing you did later. If you side with those who feel crappie are a very bad thing in ponds and don't care to make the effort to try to manage them then let's start fresh. If the pond can be drained then do so, or if it can't then chemicly treat the water to kill all the existing fish.

Now you're off to a fresh start and KNOW for sure what is in this pond. Start out by stocking some fatheads, golden shiners, and gills, and perhaps some shell crackers. That'll build the forage base you want for the bigger bass. Let'em grow and breed threw the summer and then stock you're adult bass at suggesting ADULT fish stocking numbers. If you do a search on the web you'll find some information on stocking numbers per acre for adult fish of all types. I'd also suggest stocking some "adult" (read big enough to breed but not big enough to eat a bunch of flatheads) bluegill along with the bluegill fry. That'll ensure you good numbers of gills this summer in addition to what you stocked, along with some fish big enough to avoid heavy bass pressure.

I agree with Shan, your pond does not have adequate forage for adult bass. Remember where the adult bass are coming from and what made them the current size; not a pond empty of forage. There is not a lot of talk about stocking adult bass here because it is not a real wise thing to do without experience.

If you put in adult bass you should add about 7 to 10 pounds of forage (such as bgill) for every bass. Less forage poundage than this and they will not grow much and be more susseptable to disease due to skinny body condition. So why stock adults if they won't grow and are sickly??

Two years can produce 15" bass from fingerlings in IN if done correctly. Larger sizes in two years if you start with 7-10" subadults and feed pellets.

If you use bgill as forage they should be about 3 to 4 times shorter than each bass. For instance one 15" bass needs 7 pounds of bgill 3.5" to 5"long. 17" bass needs bgill 4"-5.5" long. 7 pounds of forage per bass will not produce optimum growth and leave adequate numbers of bgill for next years spawning and forage production in future years. But it will "get the bass by" and in fairly good condition to go thru winter 2003-2004.
If you stock adults you have your "work cut out" and a busy summer ahead. Any idea how many 3"-5" bgill there are in 10 pounds?

Shan's last two sentences are very good advice and spoken from experience. IN is not all that different from GA, mostly longer growing season in GA.

Did I not say 25 or less? If you maximize the potential of the pond with fertilizing, supplemental feeding, coppernose bluegill, threadfin shad, bass haarvest and have only bass as predators you will have no trouble at all putting weight on 25 bass stocked per acre!

Critter and Bill make an excellent point. starting over with bass fry is the best idea. Many of my clients here will not consider killing all the fish and starting over. I guess I'm used to a sort of politically correct form of pond management. starting over will be the most cost effective way to fix this pond, will produce the best results and will give an opportunity to rid such a small pond of crappie.

Bill, I just spoke with one client recently. stocked his new pond with 1-6 inch bluegill early in the spring. In June, I stocked 40 bass fingerlings per acre. By the following June the bass were 15 inches, gotta love warm winters in Georgia.

Greg, you did say 25 or less and I should have been more clear with my post. I ment 12 fish per acre or less. I have worked on several ponds all over the state that have been stocked with adult bass at a rate of 20-25 fish per acre. That seems to be the rate at which most fish dealers recommend (or at least the rate at which most dealers seem to make the most money). Fertilizer and additional forage stocking did not help, bass still experienced poor growth or no growth over the next 3-4 years. Actually the ponds that were fertilized were far more difficult to correct than the unfertilized ponds. I agree with the fact the pond can be corrected with adult bass. Based on my experience any stocking rate over 12 fish per acre is too high. and most people dont have the money for a load of shad and several thousand additional bluegill. you made no mention of additional stocking in you first post.

I also feel you need to make sure the adult fish you stock come from known and different genitic backgrounds. I have several ponds with pure Florida strain fish and I prefer to stock at least one Florida per acre when stocking adult bass. It takes so few bass to correct most problmes that inbreading could be a concern in the long run.

Shan you wrote..."Based on my experience any stocking rate over 12 fish per acre is too high."
Backup a min...Your website says 50 bass/acre. WHat gives? I'm sure you mean fingelrings, but what happens when they growup? Craig was stocking just adults and with all the proper management I mentioned stocking 25 is in line. I compeletly disagree with your thinking on this one! Bill and Dave was that better.

50 bass per acre is recommended by the state DNR that is why its on my website. that is also a stocking rate for fingerling fish. this discussion is directed on stocking adult bass meaning bass that are already large enough to spawn. The problem I observed was not with the initial stocking of fish, it was with the reproduction of those fish and the fact that 25 bass per acre will decimate a bluegill population made up of bluegill all the same size. the bass spawns following the stocking of adult fish were huge. (that is why I made reference to 2 years down the road) I'm not saying that a pond cant support 50 bass per acre. I'm saying that stocking 25 adult bass per acre will wipe out the forage base and will spawn themselves into a corner the following year. I think my post was clear on that point.

this is not a line of thinking, I'm not dealing in theory here. I am stating my opinion based on what I have observed after stocking adult bass.

I think C.Nuckols' problem will be in geting enough forage in the 2.5 ac to feed adult bass. He probably won't spend the money to chemically renovate the pond. If he manages it carefully, keeps enough forage in there, and has a little luck with minimal crappie spawning he might get a half-way decent fishery inspite of the crappie. With crappie in there his bass will never reach full potential. As Greg said, I would also ditch the idea of catfish or at least real low numbers. Cats will probably feed somewhat on bass plus others. Just what he needs is another predator in there on top of bass and crappie.

I am no Pro pondmeister, but if I wanted large lmb soon the first thing I would do is get rid of those Crappie.

Years ago there were in the pond I now own, and it took years for them to be gone (maybe 20 years). I'd get rid of them and start over.

Bing

Are catfish considered a predator and should I take them out of my pond if I REALLY only fish it for bass?

YES!