Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations tilapia or no?

Wanted to say Hi to all as I am new to your board. My buddy has a 2 and 1/2 acre pond with lots of cover and little structure, which I am working on (dead tree branches/christmas trees). The pond is approx 35yrs old, about 4ft visibility, stunted bass largest being 3 lbs (very few), really good size bream, and some big crappie. Bass and bream populations have good numbers.

Question: is it a good idea to pull out 20-25 smaller bass (and when), a # of bream, and perhaps stock some tilapia?

I was thinking that if I increase the structure minnows (forage) would have places to hide a bit. Was even thinking of catching some minnows and putting them in the pond, but am leary of this method.

The pond does not have many, if any, weeds or aquatic plants.

Any and all replys would be most helpful.

Pond is in coastal SC, and the pre-spawn is occuring. Some beds visible.

Many thanks, Stephen

Welcome to Pond Boss, Stephen!

Answers will be forthcoming.

Bruce

Howdy, Stephen.

I gather the goal is large bass. I think the level of LMB population reduction you're contemplating is safe. It might require taking more than that out per acre. Got a copy of Lusk's "Raising Trophy Bass" yet?

It will be interesting to see the opinions on stocking Tilapia before a significant bass population reduction occurs. Too many unknowns for this big bream Yankee to hazard a guess.

Welcome Stephen to the PB Forum. Here is a link to an archive thread with links to pond assessments. That should help with determining the status of your fish populations.

http://www.pondboss.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=22;t=000041

Next you should read as much here as possible about the different forage and predator species.

WRT tilapia you should check to see if they are allowed in SC. Then you need to be sure if your water gets cold enough to kill the tilapia off every fall. Once you find out those answers a plan can be developed either using tilapia or not.

thanks for the info everyone. I will read those suggestions you made. I am pretty sure water gets cold enough, but will double check. Thanks for the heads up on checking to see if they are allowed. That totally slipped my mind.

Goal is trophy bass for sure.

Don't forget that taking out small bass will give your crappie an edge. You will have to manage the crappie a little more yourself.

AIT,

I have similar situation with a previously neglected, CC, LMB, BG 2 acre pond.

Last summer, BPB [Before Pond Boss], I put in 50# of FH, and about 1000 2-4" BG. Lots of expensive fish food. No feeder or fertilizer; no harvest. Baby green carp heaven.

Since January, since I've been educated on this forum,I've been aggressively harvesting 8-12" LMB, and have put in 500 6" prespawn BG. I plan on removing about 60 pounds of LMB in all. I will have the pond shocked to better assess fish Wr and numbers next week, as well as assist with harvest, and am then scheduled for a load of TS at the end of the month. I'm planning on adding Tilapia in mid May. Will feed and fertilize as well.

Will keep track of results, and post if you're interested; I'll lose all my tilapia in the fall, and TS survival in Middle TN thru the winter is in doubt some years, so restocking may be necessary.

Yolk....absolutely interested here in el dorado. i vote you start a thread devoted to yer management efforts along with some refresher backgroud info on pond, and i'm sure more than one of us will look forward to it.

BPB/APB

edit.....am i forgetful......welcome to PB AIT!

Thanks, Dave.

I'll start after shocking on 15th-maybe I can figure out how to post some pics by then. I wouldn't want to "accidently innocently" start another maelstrom like Bruce and his "trial" pirates.

thanks again everyone the info is most helpful and I will get started on it right away. Besides, who doesn't love to fish?

Yolk sac- excuse my newbie mentality, but what is FH, TS, and CC? I have also seen RW. ???

I have friends in Nashville and Murfreesboro. You live in a great state if I may so. Never met anyone from Tenn I didn't like. Honest truth.

Thanks AIT, I'll try not to be the first!

Sorry about the abbreviations-it only SOUNDS like I know what I'm doing, remember this is the guy who put 50#s of fatheads in a pond full of 12" bass.

CC-channel cats
FH-fathead minnows
TS-threadfin shad

AIT, do you mean Wr?

That's a measure of the relationship between a fish's length and weight.

100 is considered "normal". Any number greater than that would be a fish in great body condition. A number under 100 would be a fish that is not in optimal condition.

The truth is, there are a lot more fish out there with a Wr under 100, than over 100.

Little known fact:

Wr can also be modified into either scientific notation or a logarthmic format when called upon to describe Condello strain panfish; it's awkward having all those zeros hanging out at the end.

We often use RW and Wr interchangeably for relative weight. See Theo's archive for acronyms.


Commonly Used Acronyms
http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=22;t=000005

incredible listing. This is good stuff you guys are giving me. I have got some fun, I mean work, in front of me. Might to be time to go back to school. Thanks again. I'll be measuring/weighing bass this weekend. Then I will cull.

AIT take a look at this thread wrt your question.

http://www.pondboss.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=20&t=003904

thanks agian fellas for all the help. It's going to be awhile before I can get cracking on this (mother is ill) "create the giant bass" pond, but I will keep you up to date on how it transpires. My plan now is to pull out 80lbs of bream and 25lbs of bass. This fall I will restock ?# of 3-5" bream. May even look into putting some Tiger bass as well.