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Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 3
Fingerling
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Fingerling
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 3 |
I have a 3 acre pond with lmb and bg in it. I think it is bass heavy with most bass being around 8-12 inches and a few in the 5 pound range. I just recently go into trying to manage the pond after getting tired of catching small bass all the time. I want to really get the weight up on these bass and hopefully create some trophies. BTW this pond is in Va. Anyways i'm thinking of starting a fertilizing program in the spring and I want to know how I can build a forage base other than the bg I already have and what forage to use. I have looked into FHM and GSH, but from reading posts on here it sounds hard to get a good base with lmb already in the pond. It is anywhere from 8in to 5 ft deep, clear water, and it gets a lot of grass in it during the summer. any help would be great like I said I am new to this. thanks
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 7,099 Likes: 23
Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame Lunker
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Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame Lunker
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 7,099 Likes: 23 |
Welcome to the forum!
Wow, 3 acres and only 5 feet deep? Any way to drain, deepen and renovate?
I'm not the most knowledgable here on balance correction, but I am sure you will need to remove a bunch of LMB. Since the pond is mature, I doubt adding more fish will help as it is bound to be at it's capacity already. Fertilizing in the spring may help reduse the grass in depths of 3 feet or more, but it sounds like that may not be a very large area. Others will be along to ask specific questions and offer much more direct help.
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Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 13,762 Likes: 302
Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame 2014 Lunker
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Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame 2014 Lunker
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 13,762 Likes: 302 |
Like Rainman said, Welcome to Pond Boss.
His comments sound right on to me. The first step would be removing a lot of LMB. Many times this is done with a slot limit for culling. You might want to consider removing any LMB that is 11" or shorter, or something like that.
Sometimes a good starting point is to remove 50 lbs. of LMB per acre. You could start w/ trying to cull 150 lmb or 50 lmb/acre and see where that gets you.
Bluegill are the backbone of the LMB foodchain, so you might not want to remove any of them for now.
Having a lot of weeds facilitates two things among others:
1) Allows more YOY fish to survive which helps overpopulating and undernourishment of predator fish.
2) Makes it harder for the predators (LMB in this case) to easily find their food.
Once you get the LMB overpopulation under control, Yellow Perch might be a possible self-sustainable addition to help boost forage.
Grass carp might be a consideration to help control the weeds. Many experts say you only want 20-30% weed growth.
Excerpt from Robert Crais' "The Monkey's Raincoat:" "She took another microscopic bite of her sandwich, then pushed it away. Maybe she absorbed nutrients from her surroundings."
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Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 71
Lunker
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Lunker
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 71 |
If you can get adult golden shiners in right before they start spawning, with all the grass some fry would probably survive. When was the last time the pond was stocked? To raise big bass you need to make sure you don't have hybrid bluegill. Im in SWVA by the way and would be happy to remove some bass
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Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 28,565 Likes: 850
Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
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Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 28,565 Likes: 850 |
I second (3rd?) the comments about removing LMB. Unless you have unlimited pockets there is no way that you could put enough forage in the pond to get the LMB up to weight. Another thing, once the fish are stunted, they will NEVER get as big as they would have if not stunted.
FWIW, it takes 10# of forage to put 1# on ONE LMB.
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Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 10,458 Likes: 2
Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame Lunker
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Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame Lunker
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 10,458 Likes: 2 |
Welcome to Pond Boss from a fellow Virginian...
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 15
Lunker
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Lunker
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 15 |
Just a question, whats wrong with hybrid bluegill?
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Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 21,507 Likes: 269
Moderator Hall of Fame 2014 Lunker
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Moderator Hall of Fame 2014 Lunker
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 21,507 Likes: 269 |
HBG do not produce good amounts of offspring for forage. Their offspring are a high % male ( 65 - 99 %). They have an application for ponds but not as forage production.
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 16,058 Likes: 278
Moderator Lunker
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Moderator Lunker
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 16,058 Likes: 278 |
How much is a lot of grass? What kind of vegetation is it?
It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.
Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.
Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
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