Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations 2 acre pond

I have obtained permission to manage one of my families small ponds.I started monitoring the population last year, but unfortunately a crash from my hard drive destroyed the data I had collected. The two rod and reel sampling events took place at the later half of last summer. From what I remember of my evaluation, I only had n=40 LMB in the calculation. Only 2 fish where over 15", 15.75" and 20". Both of the larger fish had excellent relative weights both slightly over 100. The majority of the population fell between the 12-14" range and overall they had below average relative weights (75-80). All BG n=15 where over 6" and had high relative weights. Green sunfish and White crappie also made there way into the GSF N=20 and WC N=5. All the WC and GSF appeared to have good relative weights, however I didn't calculate it.

The pond has coontail and longleaf pond weed during the summer and vegetative cover over around 20% of the pond. The shorline is composed of limestone and sandstone and the bank angle ranges from 2-1 to 3-1 over a majority of the pond. Both Secchi disc readings were around 5'. The area in brown is composed of stump fields, the area in blue represents normal pool, and the red circles are beaver dams The pond has a max depth of 18' and 30% of the pond is deeper than 15'
The pond is about 3' low right now.
After talking with the landowner.
The pond historically produced 3-4# LMB regularly, but now its only producing a fish that size once a summer. The landowner wants to keep the crappie and wants to be able to catch more descent sized LMB.
I'm thinking a balanced bass bluegill population, but I have no way to effectively seine the shoreline. The best method I have for sampling is Rod and Reel.
The bass fisherman side of me wants to manage this pond to be a trophy or memorable bass fishery, but I don't think I can manipulate the pond to that degree with the tools and limited $ that I have. What would you do with this pond to make it a better bass fishery for larger fish?

Welcome to the forum!

To improve the fishery, I'd start by getting some cover near the BG spawning areas that is relatively dense so the YOY Bg have a place to escape predation. I'd also start by removing 30# of LMB per acre of the LMB that are under WR.

Getting a bloom going in the pond will be hard with the aquatic plants growing.

Work on getting rid of the beaver if possible.

What size is the pond? Duh! If I'd just look at the title of the thread....... If you don't know, go here

Thanks for the welcome!
Sweet, I'm on the right track
I culled out 15#'s of LMB with poor Wr throughout the course of the fall and winter. I also "humanely" euthanized one of the beavers, but there are still a few more to get rid of.
I feel like there is alot of pressure on the YOY BLG with several species of predators able to forage on them. I wasn't sure if the coontail supplied them with adequate cover, and the slope of the banks runs strait off into 6 ft of water in most places preventing me from seining effectively.

I've been tossing around the idea of catching a several dozen small BG 3-4" from a nearby creek and sacrificing them to the LMB gods. Does this sound like a good idea for supplemental forage or is there a better option?

Would wooden pallets tied down with concrete blocks be enough to give the YOY bluegill a safe haven?

Are you sure these fish from the local creek are in fact BG and not another species, like GSF?

My experience is wooden pallets don't provide very good cover for YOY fish.

Could you wrap some sort of netting around the pallets to stop lareger fish from getting inside?

I've done a few fish collections over the years on Oklahoma's lakes and streams. Always surprises me just how often the sunfish hybridize.

I would consider putting in a Redear or two. What would you guys suggest as a safe zone for the little guys?

There is no such thing as a safe zone in a pond unless you have a blocking net. And that doesn't always work. Out of balance ponds don't easily fix.

How many crappie are you seeing? They may be the biggest problem when it comes to lack of forage.

I harvested 20 10" individuals 2 years ago. Now they are far less abundant. one or two a day If I target them.