Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations New to pond ownership and want advise.

Hello all,

My fiance and I recently bought our dream home. There is a pond on the property (described in my signature below). I have limited knowledge about what's in the pond. My neighbor, who is the previous owner's bro-in-law, says that they have put some bass in it 2+ years ago. I know that there are at least 6 nice sized catfish, because I bought some aquamax to find out if they would come up to feed. There is a huge koi in there too, it seems he hangs out with the catfish most of the time. The catfish seem to hang out at the end that is shallowest at the rear of the property. When the water was low, you could see what looked like some spawning beds in the shallow area. There are small turtles in there too. I have also seen an abundance of minnow sized fish but haven't identified them yet (working on catching one green/silver with a dark tail). Through fishing, I have only caught one bass that was about 12" long. I'm anxious to get started doing whatever i need to do to stock it correctly. What I hope to accomplish is a pond where I can harvest catfish on a regular basis, kids can catch bream and catfish fairly easily, and adults can catch catfish and bass. I contacted the wildlife and fisheries dept and they are snowed under (from the hurricanes). They suggested I catch and release until April of next year and then contact them then to come out and help piont me in the right direction. Anyone have any suggestions about what my plan of attack should be to accomplish my goals? I intend to continue researching in this forum (which is fantastic) and possibly get some books. But, through experience, i've found that others who are doing the same tend to be the best to learn from. Thanks in advance for any help.

Yama :

You need to assess the pond population. There are a number of ways to start the process. I assume that you will not be able to get help of DNR etc. for a long time. Look at the link below under mgt. It describes fishing and sein methods as a tool. The book also contains good basic pond mgt info. Most states have this type of info online. I did not check La. ewest

http://msucares.com/pubs/publications/p1428.pdf

YamaHemi,

Welcome to the Forum and congrats on your dream home. Your post indicates that you have done and continue to do your homework, but are interested in some actual experiences from Forum members.

That's what I'll take a stab at addressing.

First, find out what you have. You've made a good start already, but didn't mention BG....they are your forage base and are critical to achieving your objectives. Fish for them, observe them and even trap or seine them to get a good feel for their size distribution and numbers.

Regarding your objectives, it may be difficult (not impossible) to have both readily accessible harvestable catfish and a LMB fishery. That would be substantial numbers for a .55 acre pond to support.

Are you into intensive pond management? If so, are you prepared to aerate and artificially feed?

I think doing extensive hands on research on your pond for a time period will be time well spent. You can also use that time to crystallize your own thinking on how much time and money you wish to spend going forward. Stay open minded and be willing to modify your objectives as the pond itself teaches you. I'm a believer in "listening" to our ponds. By that I mean careful observation. Ponds tell us what they need, we just have to be perceptive enough to figure out what they are saying.

Whatever you do, have fun at it! Don't get so caught up in things that you don't stop and enjoy the experience itself.

Okay, just one more thought...the Koi has to go! Actually, if you like them, okay, but understand that there's probably more than one in there and they will muddy your water ( as also do catfish in some cases). Enjoy the journey.

Thanks for the input! I took the advice concerning the seine. I had ready access to a 4'x 10' seine so i did a sampling. I am sure my technique left alot to be desired. I found nothing but fingerlings. There were about 30 bass fingerlings averaging 3", and there were 4 other fingerlings averaging 1 1/2". I know these others as "bream". I took a picture of the largest of the "bream" and one of the average bass. Based on these finding, is there a best move to make at this point other than eliminating the current population and starting over. I'd really like to adjust as opposed to starting over, but will do what is needed. I'll also be doing some more sampling tomorrow afternoon. Thanks again!
I would include the photo, but can't figure out how to insert it. It is either a bluegill or green sunfish based on the pictures i've researched so far.

Yama :

Don't worry your limited sein results are normal for a bass crowded pond. You almost never get adult fish in this sein method. Much of that is described in the online pond mgt. info in my post above along with options. In a pond this size you have options other than starting over. One may be as simple as adding adult BG and RE to add to your forage base breeding stock and taking out some LMB. Not enough info yet to be sure. What about fishing results? Did you do multiple sein hauls around the pond? ewest

ps : the good news is you have breeding " bream" and LMB populations in your pond.

As far as fishing results, not good so far. I've caught one LMB about 10" long on my 3rd cast the first time i fished it. I've not caught one since, but attributed that to time of day/not biting/not finding the right artificial bait yet. I've gotten a variety of different things to start trying out (including some stuff for the bream) and will be recording everything from this point forward. I am also planning on doing some more passes with the seine. I have to admit though, i thought i would have caught more LMB before now, but that's how it goes with fishing (gotta find what they want when they want it)right?

YH,

Don't know if this was mentioned earlier, but in addition to length try to get a reasonably accurate measure of weight. There is a good "metric" that is used often to evaluate the health/condition of your fish and its called "relative weight". It is expressed as a % and is obtained by comparing your bass length/weights to a national standard for bass length/weights. That metric will help you and Forum folks to advise you on possible management steps.

Get as many "samples" as you can and enjoy the "sampling" err fishing.