Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Great fishing weekend!

Thought I would post a couple pics of this past weekend. Besides getting a lot of work done, my son and I managed to get in a little fishing. Father / son quality time ya know.

LMB seemed a little thin, but by and large in good health. Bass pond is down about three ft. (see waterline on dead trees). That is about 55% of our total water volume. Pond has a max depth of 13 ft.

HSB (Condello strain) average 10 – 12 inches and very aggressive! These fish are a blast to catch and should only get better. This pond has me somewhat concerned as it is down about 4 ½ ft. or 65 % of the water volume is gone. We need rain badly out here in Wyobraska!

LMB 8/12/06


HSB 8/12/06

Hooded sweatshirt (Carhart?) in August? Put that on in So. Tx. and you'll be in the hospital for heat stroke! Even dry, you live in "GOD'S" country!

Great pics Ed. How long was the LMB?

Must feel great to see your next generation enjoying your waters.

Ed that is a fat little HSB. It looks kind of like a LMB stomach.

Ed -- I actually was relieved to see that you were "only" three feet down. Talked to my brother on Sunday, and he said the Lusk area had really been dry.

Nice photos.

Those HSB are going to be scary by next fall.

LMB
17 inch 2# 9 oz.
18 inch 3# 1 oz.
18.5 inch 3# 1 oz.

Probably a little thin according to WR tables.
Really don't know why. Water has receded from the cattails leaving bluegills more exposed to predation? Maybe we still have tooooo many bass in the pond.

Ed

I love the coloring of that LMB.

Also, the percentages of water lost based off of how much feet of elevation lost that you provided are super important for us Pond Bossers to realize.

Can the presence of a large number HSB have negative effect LMB Wr's?

Shorty,

I am sure HSB would have a negative effect on LMB length and weight ratios if they occupied the same pond. We stocked the HSB with YP on the same drainage but downstream of the LMB pond.


This lower pond was supposed to be HSB and YP only, but some LMB's and BG's escaped from upstream and are somewhat of a challenge now.........to say the least.

Family and friends enjoy throwing small LMB's on the bank by the hundreds from this pond.

Ed

Ahh....to many LMB, not enough forage to go around, something I understand perfectly. Keep thinning that over abundant size class(es) of LMB down. We did that June at our pond and our remaining LMB already look like they have put on their fall wieght, they are extremely fat and healthy for this time of year.

Shorty,

The key to your question might be what constitutes "large numbers of HSB" in relation to numbers of LMB. In our pond that has both HSB and LMB, we haven't noticed any degradation of LMB relative weights. However, the HSB aren't stocked in what I would call large numbers in comparison to LMB.

Forage type and availability would influence the answer to your question also, it would seem. Abundant open water forage from different sources vs small numbers of BG would effect a mixed pond environment of HSB and LMB, I would theorize. Also, artificial feeding would be another important factor as HSB are very efficient users of artificial feed.

Seems like there are enough variables at play to where a general answer with 100% certainty isn't likely.

Didn't someone post the results of a controlled study on this question some time back...EWEST perhaps?

Ed -- I wonder if the largemouth overabundance in the lower pond may change once those hybrids get to a larger size. I used to be an overly strong proponent of very simple predator-prey combinations (like one predator and one prey). However, my Pond Boss exposure has led me to attempts to be more innovative, especially when pondowners are truly interested. I guess my point is simply that the lower pond may still come around in another year or two. I'm basing that on some of our ponds that have a combination of walleye, largemouths, and/or smallmouths, with more than one panfish species. Now, if you could just get some moisture into the ponds....

I agree with Dave and ML that it can work well in the right circumstances especially in managed ponds with feeding or supp. forage. Try this prior thread.

http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=000450;p=1