Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Losing my big bass, to many small ones now

Due to the ease of trespassers fishing my pond, I have lost a lot of my large bass. The 8-10" are increasing in quantity and getting very skinny. I have not been able to catch much over that in quite a while. I am trying to fix the trespass problem(enough threads on that already), but I am thinking something less pallatable may be in order to control the LMB to some extent. I would love to put a few chain pickerel in if anyone knows where to find some? I think some HSB are in order for the main pond area since it is deeper and more open. I don't like transfering wild caught fish, but it sounds like that would be my only option with the chain pickerel. It looks like I will need to get a survey done to see how hard the bait fish have been hit by the large numbers of little LMB.

Jeff,

If if your bass are skinny that means you have too many. Adding a few predator fish isn't going to do anything to the abundant 8 to 10 inch fish. The average pickerel eats smaller fish anyway and the last thing you need is more predator fish.

You need to remove 8 to 10 inch fish until your relative weights increase.

I have already started tossing the little skinny fish in the woods the last 2 times out, but it is going to take a lot more fishing to fix this. Barely any meat on a skinny 8" LMB to bother cleaning them.

From the man that literally wrote the book. See this thread.

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=2207&Number=23960#Post23960


Dick Anderson



Keep taking <12 in bass until the number 8-12 equals number 12-15. Ideal pond structure is 40% 8-12, 40% 12-15 and 20% 15+

Not enough food of the correct size to go around = skinny fish. More predators of the same size will compound the problem.

It's hard to tell fish what to and what not to eat. Man is better at doing that.

Like others have said, fish 'em out before trying to add forage or you will be throwing a lot of $$ away.