Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations I want to catch fish!!!

I bought a used 15 acre pond last winter. It is about 40 years old and has had virtually no management since it was originally stocked years ago. The fishing has been excellentat times.Some days you will regularly catch lmb (so far largest has been 16 inch)eatin' sized crappie darn near jump into the boat, and small bg won't leave you alone. Relatives of the original owner tell me that there used to be nice cc in this lake but none have been caught in a few years.
Other times we have gone to fish with aspirations in the clouds but our hopes go down the drain (or overflow pipe in this case) getting nary a bite.
So far this year I have added 300 res, 100 lmb and 200 cc. My plans are to add more lmb and black crappie later this year, as well as some blue cats and hsb if I can find them. I am in the process of adding a dock, and will add a feeder when it is done.
When I first got the pond and started asking questions, I was often asked, "What are you goals for the pond". After a few months of experience, I guess I would say my goal is to catch fish.When I take my kids, grandkids, friends etc, out there, I want them to catch something. Within reason of course, bullheads and carp need not apply.
What is your advice?

Keep it simple.

Use a bobber with nightcrawlers or minnows.

I've gotten skunked doing that, though recently part of the problem was really muddy water do to 4.5 inches of rain in 90 minutes.
I guess my question was more geared toward what fish to stock, because even before all of the rain we had some very unproductive days.

Have you thought about getting some aquatic vegetation established?

Clearer water does help with catching fish.

We have plenty of aquatic vegetation. The pond is probably clearer than average for ponds around here.

Do you have a boat to fish from?

As far as stocking goes I would add more LMB in the 8-10" range and work on being bass heavy for a while. Lots of hungry little bass should be easy to catch.

You might also want to think about improving spawning structure around the pond by adding pea gravel, the corners of the dam should be a good place for this.

Other than FA what kind of vegetation is present?

You may have too many bluegill. Small bluegill not leaving you alone, combined with sometimes nothing biting, sounds to me like symptoms of a lake full of stunted bluegill. Do you ever catch bluegill over seven or eight inches? If not, there's a very good chance there are too many in the pond. Are the bluegill you catch thin with eyes and heads that seem too big for their bodies? If so, they're badly stunted, meaning they've exceeded the carrying capacity of the pond and nothing is going to grow much short of a few bass that will end up being the last bass generation if the problem isn't resolved. If that's the case, Shorty's suggestion to load up on bass would be the solution. But you would need far more than what you're planning on adding - you should think of stocking more like thirty to forty 4-6" bass, or 8-10" if you can afford it, per acre. But this would depend on how many bass you have presently. If the lake is overrun with bluegill, you likely have not too awful many bass, as they can't spawn very successfully for the bluegill eating the eggs and then the fry. But it's impossible to know without seeing your lake firsthand. Electrofishing it would be ideal, as you would learn exactly what's in there, what numbers and sizes; but if that's not an option, you can still get a good idea of what's in the lake - you just need to find an expert fisherman to come fish it for a couple hours. It sounds like there is a population imbalance in your lake; it would be key to improving the lake to know whether this is the case, and just in general what you have in there. Once that's done...

If your water is clear, I'm guessing you're not fertilizing? The lake will carry far more fish, and bigger fish, if it's properly fertilized during the warm months (March to October in TN, probably April to September in NE). And, sorry to disagree on this point with Shorty, but clear water almost always equals tougher fish to catch, simply because they can see really clearly the long piece of unnatural-looking string attached to the also unnatural-looking sharp thing protruding from the bait you're trying to get them to eat (and of course it's worse if you're trying to fool them into eating something that's not really food at all but a clever imitation of such). So, simply fertilizing, assuming a balanced population, will yield much bigger fish, and also fish that bite better because your fishing line and hook aren't quite so obvious. Not to mention, healthy fish bite better than starved fish. Lastly, one feeder for a fifteen-acre lake is at a bare minimum about four too few; if you really want to maximize your fish's appetite and growth and numbers, you could go as high as one feeder per acre, and program each feeder to feed two or three times a day. Your bluegill will go from runts to overmuscled freaks that look like they might bodyslam you for daring to hook them. And the bass will grow because the bluegill will spawn more due to their food source increasing exponentially, thus the bass will have many more bluegill fingerlings to maraud.

Regarding the catching itself, it sounds like you may need to refine your techniques. There's a world of difference between drowning bait with a bobber, and using precision techniques that catch fish when the worm-drowners can't get a nibble. Go with ultralight or light-action tackle; eventually when your bass get big you may want to purchase heavier rods just for them, but the size bass you have now are easily handled with this. Use six or eight-pound test (or even four, if you're fishing for bluegill or crappie); just doing this can make the difference some days - or most days in clear water - between catching a cooler-full and staring at a bobber that spends the day motionless because you're using ten or fourteen or twenty-pound test. (I've seen it many times - just the difference between six and ten can be unbelievable, until you witness it for yourself.) Use small, light-wire hooks, no bigger than size six, preferably eight or ten; with these hooks you can catch anything from a bluegill to a ten-pound catfish on light line, and they'll keep your bait livelier than a heavy hook, and when you hang up they'll often bend before your line breaks so you don't have to re-rig. Use either the smallest balsa pencil float - not a plastic bobber, way too much resistance which often causes fish to let go of your bait before you ever know they're there - or no float at all if the fish are very shallow, and as little weight as you can get by with and still make a reasonable cast - it's best to use no weight at all. Fix your float a foot or so shallower than the depth of the water you're fishing; if you're fishing deep water, use a slip bobber to make casting easier. Hook a red wriggler or nightcrawler once, just once, through the head, so it can wriggle freely and thereby attract more fish. This setup will catch bluegill, bass, and catfish, and some crappie as well though minnows and jigs are better for crappie. But you should be able to catch bluegill, and young bass once the population is where it should be, anytime with this rig; on bad days you'll still catch enough for a mess, and on good days you can catch enough for a fish fry for the whole neighborhood. And to catch larger bass or crappie, simply substitute a minnow for the worm.

Just noticed Shorty was referring to "clearer" water, i.e. not muddy, in which case he's 100% right.

Does your pond stay muddy a significant portion of the time? If so, plants can definitely help with that. Alum can help as well - lots of posts on that here on the board.

Okay, too late at night, just noticed you said your pond stays clear. You need to fertilize, once you know what your population situation is. Fertilize and add at least four more feeders, preferably eight or ten. More feeders will also give you a magic bullet if all else fails when fishing - hit that good ol' "test" button for a few seconds and you've got yourself an instant feeding frenzy.

Dang, 8-10 feeders? I'd have to take out a second mortgage!

Aquapro makes a feeder that comes with a solar panel battery charger and 6-volt battery for $89 - just installed one yesterday. I know Bruce uses them as well.

NE waters are typically very fertile due to all the farming that goes on, in fact, it is against state law to directly apply fertilizer to bodies of water here.

It's generally not a good idea to fertilize a Nebraska pond.

Have you checked Wr on the the fish your catching? How do the different species compare with the charts? Are there a lot of bluegill in the 5-7" range?

What's your best guess to the percentage of the pond has vegetation?

IME, clear water in an unpressured lake will yield excellent catch rates. Clear water in a pressured lake...just the opposite. The rule of thumb is 16"-20" visibility for "good" clarity and the pond should have a greenish tint most of the time. It probably won't be constant and will vary depending on the time of year and weather.

Sorry Shorty, I took too long to post.

I'm not worried about fertility. Like it was said this pond is in an ag zone and there's plenty of NPK around.
I think that we are a little bg heavy also, which is why I think that adding lmb, hsb and blue cats might help.
I know one feeder for 15 acres is a spit in the bucket, but it's a start. My hope is to at least attract fish to one area of the pond.
We have tried all kinds of bait, lures and techniques but at times nothing will bite. Are there any other species I should think about adding, that might give us some action when the lmb, bg and bc are taking the day off?

There are three main considerations regarding difficulty of fish to catch. One is water clarity, which it sounds like you can't do a lot about, though the prohibition against fertilizing seems odd to me - in the photos of Bruce's ponds I've seen they definitely look fertilized, as in intentionally.

The second factor is location. Even in small ponds, but definitely in a larger one like yours, fish change addresses according to the time of year; in early spring, for instance, bluegill will often be in deeper water, ten feet or more, depending on the average depth of the pond; as spawning time nears they move shallow; then after the spawn they look for flats in three to six feet of water that are close to deeper water. A spot that produced well in April, may be devoid of fish a month later, and the spots that produced while they were bedding may or may not have any fish in the middle of the summer. It's key to not stay in one spot long; if you don't catch a fish within five or ten minutes of your first cast in a spot, move on - they're not there.

Third is presentation. What size line do you use? I've seen days with bluegill and bass both - and lots of them, not just a few - when a couple sizes difference in line test meant the difference between a fish almost every cast, and no fish whatsoever. And, using small, light-wire hooks and sensitive floats can also make all the difference. If I had a dollar for all the times I wore the fish out while fishermen on both sides of me stared at me with scowls while watching their ignored large bobbers and heavy line and big hooks, I could probably buy a pond.

One more thing. If you really want to catch fish, use live bait. Those "better than live bait" substitutes may be okay in a pinch when you can't get the real thing, but they don't come close to matching said real thing. And along those lines, even how you hook a red wriggler or nightcrawler can make all the difference; if you thread it, you take away most of the enticing action and make it look like something fish aren't used to seeing, i.e. suspicious and fake; if you hook it Fishing Facts Nightcrawler Secrets-style, once through the nose, it looks real and natural and oh-so-seductive to fish. Years ago this was one of the hallmark techniques of what was at the time the top fishing magazine going. Light line, small light-wire hooks, little or preferably no weight, lively bait hooked naturally. Very simple but deadly effective. I'd wager a lot of money that if you employ this technique, and cultivate the habit of moving as quickly as a tournament bass fisherman if the fish don't bite, you'll never get skunked on your pond again. I can't remember ever getting skunked on a pond or small lake using bait, short of fishing in the middle of December or January when fish in this area of the country just don't bite unless it's thirty degrees warmer than normal and has been for a couple days. But presentation and location are key. One last thought: if your lake is pretty clear, the fish may be staying deeper than where you're fishing. Just a thought.

I also had a hard time catching bass and 2 weeks ago we went out to fish for catfish in the middle of the day. We caught some perch and cut them up, put on a bobber and set the hook 4 feet from bobber. We caught 3 #5 bass, 1 #6 bass and 1 catfish. Ive never caught LMB like that before. Crazy