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I agree! I'd like to see Brettsker catch some of those smallies!

When would I be looking for SMB spawning activity?
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Through last year, the Polyvinylphibian saucers were impossible to see due to shoreline vegetation and their depths vs water clarity. The loads of stone under the dock (Sunil prompt) should be excellent for Smallie voyeurism. The load of stone at the other end of the pond along the shoreline might be "viewable" also.

I think the water temps will need to be getting to the upper 50's before a spawn happens, but you might start to see smallies selecting bed sites sooner.

Do you have a bait store nearby to LNP?

We've got to get some minnow fishing done for YP and SMB.

When the water consistently holds in the upper 50's you'll see males starting to act "nestish".

Someone correct me if I'm wrong about those smallie spawn temps.

Can't correct someone if they're right silly!

Sunil is definitely right silly.

I hadn't seen your post CB! Thanks.

Sunil, do your SMB naturally reproduce in your pond?

Yes, they do. It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling deep down.

HAHA, did you build nests for them or were they able to get it on, with what nature naturally gave them?

...like Sunil would manually induce SMB reproduction. There's a mental picture for ya.

Now I need brainwashing.

I've done a lot of structure work over the years, and a good amount with manual placement of rocks. Talk about a labor of love shucking stone. I feel with rock, you can never do enough though.

The places I've seen smallies spawn have not been the areas I've made though. There are a lot of rockish areas and the one area where I saw a few different locations of smallies on bed were on a kind of thin rock ledge, maybe a 1' to 2.5' lip that runs along a long edge of my pond. The depth of that lip runs from 6" to 2' depending on the level of the pond. In the spring it's usually 1.5' to 2' deep. It is all over hung with brush and not easy to stand by on land due to a steep grade.

It's the shoreline behind me and to the left.


One year, I saw two smallies maybe 17-19" long on a bed together with a longer LMB in the bed right in between them; they were all squeezed onto this ledge. A few bluegill kept darting in from the adjacent deep water and and swiping eggs from the nest.

Actually, that shoreline behind me in the pic is not really representative. Where I've seen these beds, you couldn't even be on shore due to too much thick brush.

Sounds like a unique pond you have... So you have both LMB and SMB in there and both are holding their numbers?

SMB spawning occurs in water that is 16-22°C (60-68 F). Just a few degrees cooler than LMB (but you noted that when you said " I saw two smallies maybe 17-19" long on a bed together with a longer LMB in the bed right in between them").
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It's really too soon to tell if the SMB and LMB are both thriving together.

We're in our 11th year of owning this pond which had existing populations of LMB, Bluegill, Black Crappie, Yellow Perch, Bullheads, and other rough fish like white suckers.

I believe the pond had a 'natural balance' until I started messing with it about 6 years ago (after finding Pond Boss!).

Now we have:
1) LMB
2) SMB
3) HSB
4) BG
5) BC
6) YP
7) Walleye
8) CC (although I haven't ever caught or seen one)
9) Bullheads
10) Trout (some may have held over; RB, Brook, & Brown)
11) Rock Bass
12) Grass Carp (maybe)
** Still have rough fish like suckers plus fatheads & shiners.

I might be forgetting some also.

I think the biggest fish in there now are the SMB and the HSB, and maybe some lunker/lurker type CC.

Largest LMB I've ever seen caught was 22" and that was maybe 8-10 years back.

I don't believe that I have overpopulations of LMB.

Dang Sunil, you have got the pond you and I would like... Ya never know what is gonna be on the end of your line!

You must have a pretty substantial feeder creek if you are getting white suckers to reproduce in your pond... White suckers are an excellent forage fish, the walleye will really like them. Keystone has just about any kinda fish you could want, so I am sure John gets you what you want.

With as forested as the shoreline around your pond seems to be and particularly if you have a spring fed stream feeding it and some decent depth to your pond, there is a good chance some trout may hold over. Brook trout might struggle, but rainbows have a good chance and the browns have a great chance.

I have to believe there are some CC in there. Particularly if you stocked them at a larger size to begin with. One day a 25 lbs albino CC is gonna end up on the end of your line!

Any thoughts on RES for the pond? You're a bit north, but I think they would still do well. There is a farm pond I used to fish in Blair County which is just north of Somerset that has a healthy population of RES.

Another forage fish you might wanna consider is banded killifish. I know Keystone sells them. They are much more predator resistant as compared to FHM. Another fish is closely related to FHM and is called a bluntnose minnow. They look very similar but IMO they survive predation much better. They are probably the most common species of fish in the eastern United States. They will do quite well in your lake. The problem is, there aren't any local commercial sources for them. However, they're all over the creek behind out hunting cabin and many of the streams and lakes down here in VA.

When I say Bluegill, I mean all bluegill-type fish. For instance, I know we have pumpkinseed.

We get water from springs, run-off, and a strong flowing year-round creek, so the waters stay a little cooler, but not so cold that you can't swim in the summer.

When you are swimming, you'll pass through ribbons of cold water.

Yeah, I would almost bet your pond would hold at least brown trout. Trout just don't compete well with bass and the like in ponds.

Pumpkinseeds are pretty, RES will usually out compete them.

You must have one heck of an emergency spillway and over flow system with a year round creek feeding the pond.

Do you have problems with the locals poaching the pond with you not living there?

Poaching, yes, we have issues. It seems everytime you get the locals in check, a new crop shoots up. These days, the hunting-poaching might be worse than the fishing.

The water inflow set up is unusual. There is a creek adjacent to the longside of the pond separated by an abandoned RR track berm.

We have a damn on the creek and just upstream of the damn, in the pool created by the damn, there is a 4' culvert that goes under the RR berm directly into our pond.

Further downstream in the creek, there's another smaller culvert that is the outflow.

Water level is controlled by the height of the damn which is a sandbag contraption.

Sounds interesting... How many acres of land do you own? My father and I have a never ending battle keeping trespassers off our 50. I can't even imagine what it would be like with a nice fishing pond on it. I don't think the locals figured out we stock trout...

75 acres which includes the 6-7 acre BOW.

Sounds like you found a little heaven on earth! Does anyone in your family hunt or do you just like to watch the wildlife and not eat it? HAHA