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There's an old pond recipe that says, after the 2nd year of stocking, remove every bass shorter than 14 inches. You can't catch them all and it's hard to catch enough to help. However, it does need to be done. Yesterday, I tossed two 4 inch bass and three 7 to 12 inch ones up on the bank.

And, I released one that would go about 3 pounds. I released it by tying a lousy knot and only getting it to the bank. DAMN!!! However, it would have gone back in anyway.


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.

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What effect could the pond's size fluctuation have on the practice of removing all that are less than 14"? Right now, I'm looking out at a 7 acre pond. By September, I wouldn't be surprised if it's 2 acres, maybe less. If it stayed the same size all of the time, I think it would be a lot easier to deal with knowing what I had to work with. Is there a point I could reach where I should stop removing smaller fish? I was thinking of catching them, cleaning and selling at the farmers market or to a local ethnic grocery store but from reading the state's fishing regulations I'm sure either of those would be illegal. Would stocking them into another pond be a bad idea if I could find someone nearby who may want or need them?

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I plan for the minimum pond size in regards to fish population. That way I don't have an overpopulation when the water level drops.


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3/4 to 1 1/4 ac pond LMB, SMB, PS, BG, RES, CC, YP, Bardello BG, (RBT & Blue Tilapia - seasonal).
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The best idea is to think you have a 2 acre pond that sometimes swells up to 7 acres. Manage for 2 acres or face a potential die off.


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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That makes sense, it would've been nice to be able to sample the pond better when it wasn't full to know what I was working with but I'll just have to make do with what's there now. Right now I'm going to continue adding adult sunfish. Should I add as many as possible and assume that if I put in too many that the bass will just have a feast when the pond goes down again, or is there a number I should shoot for? Once I decide what to do with bass that are taken out I'll begin removing them. I don't really want to just toss them but if that's what needs to be done I guess there will be some happy raccoons and possums around.

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The answer to your question is... Who knows! Without a serious fish survey, it is all conjecture.

This June, purchase a 50'x4'-6' seine and run it in a suitable area of your pond. See what comes up... That will tell you a lot about where your pond is fish community wise. An electroshock survey would also be invaluable.

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How about one of those cast nets, I've never used one, are they hard to master?



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They aren't easy, but they aren't impossible... Hard to find one with mesh small enough to capture the smaller size fish.

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I can't seem to get the hang of using one, but I'm bringing it along to the Conference to get someone to show me how. Someone there has gotta know how to use one!

I agree, the seine or e-shock is the only way to get a good sample.


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I used to be able to throw one but I'm not that great anymore. When trying a 6 ft radius one, I can throw an almost perfect upside down taco shell every time. I recently bought a small 4 ft one and can, for awhile, do OK with it. However, as it gets wet and algae and mud get on it, that sucker keeps getting heavier and I can't toss it as far. Yeah, I know I'm old and out of shape.

Scott, I can show you how to do it and the technique but that's about all. It's all about how you roll your right hand.


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.

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Come on, I know there has to be at least one pond psychic in the crowd! I would love to be able to do an electroshock survey but that's not really in the budget right now and I'm pretty sure the owner doesn't have enough interest to pay for it. I will try to give the seine idea a shot once it gets warmer out, sounds like something my daughter might enjoy helping with as well. I did walk around the pond this morning after feeding the trout and saw 3 schools of what had to be 50+ 1" BG in the shallows.

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google calusa cast nets. They have a video on how to throw a cast net, and it works for me. Lots of different weights/ sq ft and mesh sizes. I have a 10 footer I can throw pretty decent. One good throw loads up the livewell with bait. (In the salt, illegal in the fresh) If you really want to man up buy a 12 footer mullet net ( heaviest wt/sq foot) It is all about technique, practice, and using a quality net.


Thats 10 foot radius
I hear Sunil can Bench press it and then throw it 300 yds in a perfect circle


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10 ft was a long time ago for me.

But, I agree about technique. It also helps to keep in practice.


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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I'll look into a cast net as well. How well do they do in the wind? It's almost always windy here. I've walked around the pond a couple times each of the past few days and the shore seems to be loaded with 1/2-1 1/2" sunfish. I put out the minnow trap today and caught a dozen in it after it sitting about 6 hours. All were BG except this one, can anyone ID it?



Also found 3 BG floating around the edges of the pond that were around 4" and one around 1". It was in the mid 80s and they were all in the shallows Monday then it got down into the 30s the last two nights which I'm guessing wasn't easy on them. I don't think it's a water quality issue as the trout seem to be fine.

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It would seem you RBS are reproducing as that is an RBS... Congrats!

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Memphis Net and Twine is an option, Bass Pro and Cabela's usually carry them in the 50'x4' size as well.

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Good to hear it's a RBS, I think I may have some more of these. The small wet weather stream that feeds the pond has a bridge crossing and I've spotted some sunfish about the same size as this one under it the past couple days. I've never heard of BG looking for moving water so I'm guessing these could be RBS as well, I may move the minnow trap up there once the rain disappears this weekend and see if I can't catch a few of them.

This stream also has me wondering about another possibility for additional forage fish. Pretty much any stream around here contain creek chubs. I've looked back through the posts on here for info on them and the main reason they don't work in ponds is lack of flowing water. This stream has been running since the first heavy rain back in March and is probably deep enough for chubs to go into it. Or, if gravel was added at the mouth to the lake, could it possibly work as a spawning ground for chubs? It seems that they'll hit just about any bait you throw in the water once June rolls around so I would bet that they would learn to take feed easily. Worth considering or bad idea?

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Stocking creek chubs won't hurt, but I doubt they would last long under predation from LMB. Unless they take refuge in the creek itself. They are just so fusiform, even a 12" creek chub could be eaten by a 14" LMB...

In VA, good species to consider are bluntnose minnows, spotfin shiners and banded killifish. If the stream can be ascended by fish, other species may be usable if they can reproduce in that stream. Most stream dwelling species are not good forage option as they don't survive predation well which is why they inhabit small streams that lack larger predators.

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Well, if a 14 inch bass could take a 12 in chub I agree that there probably isn't much point in adding them. They probably could take refuge in the stream in the spring but it wouldn't offer them year round protection. I may stock some anyway just to see what happens, if they get eaten they get eaten. Would 100 or so be a decent amount to try or should I try more?

What I had considered doing was building a small weir across the mouth of the stream using railroad ties, then cutting a couple of wide notches halfway down into the top one to allow the water to flow straight into the lake with some current instead of having a waterfall effect. After this was done, I thought adding a pebble bed maybe a foot deep from the base of the weir maybe 20-30 feet out into the lake that could be used as a spawning bed as it would have water flowing over it. The water depth would be about 1-3' deep in this area. With RBS in the lake, I may still do this as I would think it may be beneficial to their spawn as they're primarily found in streams.

For the forage fish you listed, I'm guessing they'd all have to be collected in the wild? What advantages do bluntnose minnows and spotfin shiners offer over fathead minnows and silver shiners?

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Yes, both species have to be collected fro the wild.

Bluntnose minnows reach slightly larger sizes than FHM and are a bit more tolerant of predation. Spotfin shiners are even more predation tolerant, but unlike GSH, they only top out around 4" so they don't get to sizes too big for predators to eat. They also don't compete as much for food sources with sunfish as GSH do.

As far as your plans for the stream, it is an awful lot of work for little to no return IMO. If you got a burning desire to experiment, go for it but it's not needed. In all likelihood, your creek chubs will be eaten in short order no matter how many you stock. 20, 200 or 2000...

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Do you think the setup I mentioned would benefit the RBS at all, as far as creating a flowing water situation for them to spawn in? I think I have seen bluntnose minnows in a few streams around here based on the pictures I've found of them.

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I don't think the effort would be worth it to help your RBS. Bluntnose can be easily confused with a number of other species, but if you catch a few and post pics I can help you with ID.

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OK, if that won't help the RBS or help establish chubs then I won't waste my time with it. When the pond drops this summer I will talk to the landowner about adding some simple structure to the pond as pretty much all that's in there now is the spillway and some branches that have washed in during heavy rains. Maybe a couple of logs on cinderblocks and a few block or rock piles. The past few days have been a lot warmer and the LMB and BG have moved into the shallower water. Lots of BG can be seen around the edges of the pond and some are taking floating pellets. I fished for them the other day and was catching one every two or three casts in the 3-5 inch range. I caught one that was a little bigger than the average and also another RBS. For some reason the LMB are hanging out under the bridge at the mouth of the stream. It's probably 4 feet wide and maybe two feet deep there and the current isn't really strong but it's noticable. I've walked over the bridge a couple of times and had 15-20 LMB swim out from under it. I wouldn't be surprised at maybe 2 or 3 but I haven't found a reason that many would be stacked up in flowing water unless maybe they're preparing to spawn there? I always took LMB as a calm water fish though so I'm not sure.

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The water maybe warmer than the main pond which could be attracting them... Most likely though they are taking advantage of the current bringing them food. I've seen that in several ponds that have in flows like that. The LMB stack up there to feed on all the tasties that get washed down stream to them.

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