Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations when and what to cull?

if starting out with a new properly stocked pond? when do you need to first start removing fish, what size and how many of each?

bg and lmb

There is no set when and how many... Each pond is different. Usually LMB can be culled by year 4 or 5. Tracking relative weights and doing seine studies is imperative to understand your fish population and know what species to remove and how many of them to remove.

I never cull BG. To me, the big ones are the breeders and the smaller ones are forage. Lots of people disagree with my thought on this.

I generally recommend Ray Scotts idea of culling every LMB under 13 inches that you catch after the second year.

so after 2 full years of growth the bass should be longer than 13"??

If you have enough forage for the LMB, you should have many over 13" at the true two year mark (someone correct me if I'm wrong).

If you achieved this, then the ones under 13" are the slackers or underperformers. If the goal is for larger bass, then you might want to cull these.

You are also culling to prevent overpopulation of bass.

Scott, mine are that big after one year.
I'm in the same canoe as you, wanting to keep everything in check, no overpopulating, no heavy bio-load. The old timers think we are funny, worrying day-to-day about what mother nature has been handling for thousands of years...


Jeff-

I have been using the same approach with my pond. I hope I'm not setting myself up for a problem since I'm further north. I have heard that northern ponds tend to get overpopulated with BG. I've thought about starting to cull a certain size of BG, But I'm not sure yet. They all still look pretty healthy so I think for now I'll just leave the BG alone and keep culling LMB.

I guess it's time to start taking creel surveys of BG. I already take creel surveys of my LMB.

Northern ponds do tend to have BG's stunt... Even here in VA which isn't what I would consider northern, they stunt regularly.

Scott we have clients culling by fall year after stocking. In other words bass stocked next month...client would begin to cull small 2010 spawned bass. This is a fairly low number and then 2011 begin to harvest at a much higher rate. It all depends too on stocking program, our "new" way is high bluegill and low bass so much less culling involved first two years because hope to have not reached carrying capacity if all goes as planned. This way they are pulling year two bass and not the first year that should be doing awesome if well stocked.

Sunil is right as well, if you catch year one bass and some are slackers I say pull em out. I also agree with DD, if goal is good bass fishing pull bass do not worry about bluegill. It might be true in northern ponds but it is one in 200 ponds we shock where it is bluegill stunted where there is bass presnet. It does happen quite frequently after a fishkill with pratically no bass in the pond.

Good points so far.

A few guidelines to consider keeping in mind the "it depends rule".

In new ponds first year growth is very fast in both BG and LMB. In the following years it slows as carrying capacity is reached. This is WRT the pond population not one individual fish.

I do not harvest my brood stock (the original stockers) but only their offspring. When goals and conditions warrant harvest out of the offspring harvest some average fish but not the best conditioned fish.

As a general matter fish growth in LMB and BG is slower the further north the pond. LMB and BG live longer the further north. This effects harvest timing. This of course depends on the pond and other factors (lots of food vs. little food) etc.

Fertility and feeding effect growth and reproduction. So cull #s should be dependant on carrying capacity and population structure as they relate to your goals.

Natural morts can be very high and should be figured into the decision. For example partial fish kills , spawning success , unwanted harvesters ( trespassers both man and beast - unwanted neighbors, cormorants , otters etc).

Best advice is learn how to evaluate your fish populations through seine survey , creel/catch info , visual and traps. If needed get the pond evaluated by a fisheries scientist. Here is the archive on population analysis. http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92492#Post92492

i have fished ponds throughout the years that would be just full of little fish..that is my worry for my pond. mine is only about 3/4 acre and my goal is to be able to catch good eating size fish..i dont expect any whopper lmb..would be nice to catch big bg though..

i stocked 2-3" bg last fall. right now i can see all different size bg..i stocked from 2 different suppliers. one was a fish truck from arkansas..supposedly they were coppernose..they all looked the same size (300)...

the other stocking was from a local that sold me 750..they were 40%bg, 40% cnbg, and 20% res......i am not sure how true those numbers are..looked like the size varied also...the guy from the state said i shouldnt stock at that time of year..he said they might over populate due to late fall spawning..i think he might have been right, because i have a bunch of all different size bg now..

I doubt that they have over spawned. Maybe they have just followed their nature. If you put some LMB in, they probably won't stay overpopulated.

Scott are there any LMB in there yet ? If so how many , when and what size ?

Is there a bloom and or feeding?

as you all might recall, i have thousands of goldfish in my pond..once i noticed all the goldfish i went ahead and put 14 bass in there from a local pond-last fall..in february i stocked about 70 f1 bass..they were about 6 inches.......
pond is fertilized with pretty good color now..
fish are feeding great..even the lmb are taking pellets.

My thought is you are good to go. You will have plenty of LMB to crop the BG. Do you still see the goldfish in the same #s ?

there is still a lot of goldfish..i take a cane pole from time to time and catch them using bread. it is pretty easy to catch 30-40 in an hour..i always remove them..i wish i knew someone that would like to come catch them for their pond or to take fishing.. i have heard they are good catfish and striper bait. i dont really see any small ones anymore, which is a good sign. most of these are 5"+....they are still spawning like crazy though..every morning they are rolling around the pond edge...

The LMB will take care of most of the GF over time.

Ewest: This link -- http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92492#Post92492

Is a great magazine article in itself. A collection of posts like this is a great way to really get into depth of a subject like this. You should charge a fee for something like this.

Bing

Thanks Bing . I do get compensated by having friends here like you. That is better than cash. BTW it looks like , from Bob's pics, that you guys have all this down to an art. Great pond !!!

Scott, how big are the biggest bass in your pond now? I am sure when they get to a size that they can swallow a 6" goldfish, as Eric said, the goldfish will be gone...

the 70 that i bought were about 6".........i had already put 14 bass in from a local pond to try and get a hold on the goldfish. they ranged from 10-16"

Give it time, the bass will thin the goldfish out and you'll end up with some seriously fat bass!