Send a private message to Esshup. I used his recipe. He can give you some details and he also sells the corresponding products

Thank you!

So I should cull all fish with poor RWs (or those that don't pass the eyeball test)? What is the total weight of LMB that I should pull per year to stay ahead of them?

Cull from the size group that is over the limits set by Anderson (crowded group) first and take out all that seem in less than ideal condition. Then cull a few from the other class sizes and make all of those be fish in poor condition. I can use the eyeball test to pick them out. With a little experience the eyeball test is close to what RW will show.

I would shoot for 20 lbs per acre while watching RW and condition to adjust that number.

The old rule of thumb is to cull anything that is 13 inches and under. Of course, some will just look like they are over achievers. I keep those.

Thanks, Dave.

I would love to add some RES to the pond. The fish we ate were pretty grub-infested. Maybe I could cage some next spring and feed them out?

Also, should I consider adding BG now that the LMB seem to have been knocked down?

The bass may seem to have been knocked down but there will be plenty left to eat stocker sized BG. If I were going to try to raise fish in cages, I would try both BG and RES.

I would first try to buy 5 inch+ RES if I could find them. Unless the RES are feed trained I would skip the cages (would try a blocking net that allows the RES to forage on natural food). I would habituate any fish that was not big enough to avoid predation for at least 3 hours before releasing it into the pond free-for-all either in a blocking net or cage.

Thanks, guys. How many of each?

Cool thread. I am impressed with how quickly the ecosystem responds to the fish removal.

Is there any CC left? No data on these?

I am interested to see how spring '14 looks!

Re: catfish

I haven't caught a single one, but then again I haven't tried very hard to catch them. I have only gone fishing for catfish once since I started this thread, and even then I only used stinkbait. I might try again in the spring with chicken liver or any of the other techniques listed above.

Take a 30-year-old pond, add the coldest winter in 50 years and extended snow cover. Let sit for 6 weeks.

We have escaped the long winter without a major fish kill!! The visible victims include a thirty-year-old, 38.5" carp, three LMB, and two BG. Not nearly as bad as I'd feared.

Just curious Bocomo, did you keep the snow off the ice in "AREAS" several times this winter? I did but older fish stress out easily also.

We did not do anything to help out. The area is constantly windy and so had snow-free ice until we had a warm day immediately after the snowstorm. From 2/7 to 3/12 or so the pond was frozen over and under heavy snow cover.

I shoveled areas off my pond maybe 4 to 5 times this winter. Haven't found a dead fish yet. But I'm going to try a 50 yard field goal with one of these geese if I can get someone to hold it for me .

Where's Lucy???

On the bench... Never knew kicking field goals was so hard on your back .

I just found this thread. Bocomo, we don't live very far from you. We are just off 63 north of Columba (Sturgeon outskirts). Do you have any problems with pondweed in your pond? We are not too concerned with our fish but we are concerned that pondweed has decided to call our pond home.

Hi there, neighbor.

We do get some APW in July-August after the filamentous algae dies back a bit. It hasn't been a nuisance to date. If yours is a problem, I'm sure Pond Bossers could dig up a recommended product and application method.

You guys were talking about ways to get some holes in your ice. This could be especially useful for ice that you can't walk on and you could add some rockpiles to your pond and have a ton of fun at the same time.

Its just a thought LOL.

I have gone to this event in Delaware a few times and its pretty amazing! Just use big rocks instead of pumpkins!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC6RJxFEMfY

LOL

That thing is awesome! File under "Hold My Beer"

We had a big party at the farmhouse over Memorial Day Weekend. I finally got a chance to put a few fish in the boat. We culled 6# of fish, all of which were under 14".

The RW is about the same as Fall 2013, which isn't too bad considering all of the fish in this year's survey are post-spawn.

What's a good RW to cull? Keep in mind that we don't supplement with feed. Right now we're culling everything under 14" but we don't have a good feel for RW cutoff. Should we take everything 75% RW or lower?

Nice pictures.

We will cull every bass with RW 100% and lower. Right now the lowest LMB RW is 110% so no removal has been necessary.

What are your goals for your LMB? I would think anything 90% RW and under would be a candidate for removal.

We are prioritizing large LMB. I was a bit worried about removing fish immediately post-spawn. How much weight does a fish typically lose during that period?