Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding What to feed

My friend has a 4-5 acre pond. It seems to be spring fed because the water level never fluctuates. He has used a granular product to control vegetation in early summer the last 2 years, and it seems to work well. The water is fairly clear- I can see a chrome lure 3-5 feet deep in most areas. I think it contains only largemouth, channel cats and bluegill. The bass are very healthy looking, but most seem to have small bodies relative to their head and mouth. The pond is located in north Texas and I am curious as to what kinds of forage would be appropriate and where to get them. Any help would be appreciated.

Artie

If the water is that clear you might want to consider a fertilization program...But remember, if you start fertalizing, YOU CAN'T QUIT. You need to decide on how much work you are willing to do. You will get out of it what you put into it. Fertalization will create a Plancton bloom, which in turn is good for your forage base. Then after Fertalization, a good stock of threadfin shad will help forage the bass population.

You might want to consider doing some heavy harvesting on your Bass population for starters. All the 'smaller bass' keep, but the larger ones throw back.

Like I said before, all this takes time and effort, and you have to decide if it's worth it.

Anyone know where to buy threadfin shad in north TX? Should I just go to Ray Hubbard and net some? I'm pretty confidant that I can get them to the pond in good condition, but will they survive the transplant?

Artie

Shad are VERY delicate, and die real easy. Plus from what you have described your water conditions, they would not last long. You really need to have some sort of ferialization program in place before you strat stocking threadfins. Plus it sound that you might some what bass heavy might want to do some Bass harvesting...

Put the boat in this afternoon and looked around a bit. The water is actually clearer than I first said. I could see at least 6 feet down. I caught a few bass and they weren't as stunted as I thought. I guess after fishing lake Fork for years, anything that doesn't have a small head looks stunted. I actually caught 3 fish that were at least 3 pounds, and looking around I saw a lot of 2-3 inch bream- mostly bluegills but also some redears. Maybe I overreacted. I have caught some nice fish (over 5#) in there. Should we feed it?

Artie

Artie, I don't know about clear 4-5 acre ponds but the pros on this site recommened blue gills as the preferred forage base - some choose coppernose and others native stock .

I would think you would need a good feeding program for best gill numbers.

Our 2 acre, three year old N.E. Texas pond has a prolific population of blue gills of all sizes, fed by automatic feeder with high protein fish pellets.

Healthy LMB but no Lake Fork....!

Artie, if the water is that clear it has no way to support the forage fish that you need. You can look around the web and find articles and pictures of the cycle of life in a pond. It never changes. The best reference is Bob Lusk's "Raising Trophy Bass" book. Well worth the $. The bottom line is that water that is clear to 6 ft. has no ecosystem to support the cycle of life needed for a healthy environment.

Do some studying and reading. Then look at the water quality and fertilize appropriately. Then add the forage base.