Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Big Bass

Was wondering if someone could tell me how big bass should be. My pond was dug Aug 2004 end of nov. put bluegill and catfish in April of 2005 Put large mouth bass in. Now Aug 2008 Iam catching 12 to 14 inch bass the biggest bass caught so far measured 16 just wondering.How big they should be. Assumeing Ive done things right. Thanks guys for any help.

What size were the LMB when you stocked them? If fingerlings, that sounds like pretty good growth.

bassman do you remember how my of each you put in? About how big is your pond?

That sounds like typical growth, but you could have mostly 16-17 inchers if you would have stocked a few less and harvested every single reproduced bass you ever caught.

When most people stock a pond, they usually stock right at or even above their ideal number of bass for their pond. Then when they originals start making babies, it will get fairly crowded in the pond and they will top out at about 12 inches. (the originals usually make it past the 12" mark, but their babies dont stand a chance unless you take 90% of them out.

My pond is around 1acre back in nov of 2004 put in 500HBG 250 Redears 150 channel cat fish they were fingerlings April 2005 put LMB they were also fingerlings. Hope this helps. Also have adequit cover i fertlize on a regular bases i might not be useing the right fertlize the state biologist told me to use 9-18-9 I live in western Ky. I apply in the spring . Also when everthing was stocked starting feeding Purina Game chow. Hope all this helps. Thanks very much love this site.

Is your Goal to have big LMB? If so you need some forage. The HBG arent going to reproduce enough to sustain LMB growth. I'm suprised the LMB grew as large as they did with only HBG and RES. Generaly HBG are takers not givers in the food chain. The GFC is great keep it up. I would look into stocking more forage such as Standard BG maybe GSH. If your goal is big bass your next question should be how many standard BG and what other forage do I need? I don't know the answer to that question but I'm sure others do. You may even want to keep records of the length and weight of fish caught in you pond to compare them to standard lenght weight scales. This will give you an indication of whether you need more forage or less LMB or both.

Welcome to the forum.

Bassman i know you don't know and i will be super busy with spraying, mowing and cutting down timber on my land in Princeton. However if close by let me know and we give look over the pond for you while there this weekend. I wil nto be back until late september. Call office 770-735-3523 for cell number. I see a few issues witht eh stokcing plan one being HBG they reproduce less than straight BG. Also you did not say how many bass, KY DNR recommendations will cause a bass crowded situation if you followed their advice.