Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Ranch tank question

ok so I have realized I have lots of questions for 2 different situations lol

its long if you would like to try to give advice but if not my first question is who would I talk 2 in the coleman county area if I wanted sombody who actually knew what they were doing to evaluate a tank and give some advice.


I'll explain the situation. My family has a tank on our ranch west of brownwood texas. ok probably more like a small lake it is probably 350ish yard long(the last 100 yard toward one end is about 1 foot or less deep) the widest point is probably 130 yards(ish) and the tank is roughly teardrop shaped... Any guesses on how big it is?? We Used to catch large mouth, crappie, and catfish(channel and flathead?) along with what we call perch idk if they are blue gill or red eared sunfish. We have caught bass up 2 nine pounds and many from 4-6 pounds a buddy and I bass fished about a month and a half ago and caught 20 fish none under 3 pounds. this tank has been known 2 go low but has never gone dry. These fish have all been FOOTBALLS which I like and is good, we mainly fish for lmb and ocasionaly some of the catfish which seem to be getting fewer and farther between In the past I know the tank has produced large numbers of smaller fish with big heads (the tank also was low at the time) it was realy muddy then with little veggitation. Now the tank is as full as I've ever seen is consitently and almost gin clear with lots of veg.

I would like 2 continue the trend of bigger fish but I worry about 2 things really first is what do I need to do culling wise 2 keep the bass population toward the larger end of the spectrum and keep them growing.

and two is veggitation and clear water ever bad??? the veggiation is AWESOME for the ducks we see but I worry about oxygen levels to fish the think stuff you need a topwater like a frog or a big flipp'n rig 2 punch through the stuff... Idk what the veg is look KINDA like hydrilla but not quite... Mabey coontail???

Ok this

Welcome!

My WAG is 1 3/4 acre. If the fish are fat and happy, then the pond sounds pretty balanced. There is a lot of vegetation due to the clear water (without a certain amount of light it won't take root and grow). The vegetation is feeding on the nutrients in the pond, which is a good thing if you want clear water. The vegetation is providing habitat for the smaller fish to hide in to escape predation, but by the description of the predators, it isn't excessive, although it's a PITA to fish thru.

Pick your poison; Ideally, with 18" to 24" of water clarity, plants won't grow in deeper water. To get that, you'll probably need something to jump start a photoplankton bloom. The downside? Bye,bye clear water.

It sounds like the pond is pretty well balanced. If you can take some close-up pictures of the weeds, someone here probably could identify them. You might be able to treat some of the weeds with a chemical to knock some of them back if you have too many. Don't knock too many of them back because you might have a fish kill due to lowering the ozygen levels in the pond with the decaying weeds.

If you look in the little box in the upper left corner of this page that says "Main Menu", click on Resource Guide, then click on "Fisheries Consulting Service". There should be someone there that would come out. I know for sure that Greg Grimes and Bob Lusk are frequent contributors here (Bob is one of the co-founders of this forum). I'd do that and make some phone calls or e-mails before doing anything on my own with such a great sounding pond (well, tank ).

glad 2 be here lol, thanks

yeah thats kinda what i thought... I just want to head off any possible problems and start 2 learn what 2 do if a problem starts happening

catslayer, welcome, thanks for your interest in Pond Boss. Sounds like you have a lot of questions. I would be happy to help. We are based out of North Texas but travel all over to help people with there ponds and lakes. I will send you a PM with my contact information.

WAG based upon assumptions, fuzzy math, and questionable science...

350 yards = 1,050 feet

130 yards at widest. Lets assume (you know that that does to you and me) that the average width is 1/2 that or 65 yards. 65 x 3 = 195 feet.

1,050 x 195 = 204,750 square feet.

204,750 square feet divided by 43,560 sqft/acre = 4.7 acres.

Therefore I feel that I can reasonable state that your pond is somewhere between zero and 20 acres.

That's why I'm not an accountant, my math sucks! JAHP, I believe your figures over mine after re-running the numbers. I figured it out the same way you did, but something got lost in the translation.

yards to feet.

I remember it this way. Drink a yard of beer and you'll walk like you have three feet.

Besides your calculation was between zero and 20 acres.