Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations First Pond- Need Advice

My wife and I bought a small farm with a 1.5-2 acre pond late last summer. The pond is probably 50 years old or so from what we have heard from people around here. Apparently it used to be a popular swimming hole. I spent a good amount of time fishing last summer and found the following:

-Lots of 8-10" LMB that are pretty skinny. Never caught any larger bass and only 1 bass that was 4-5".

-Decent population of healthy looking BG in the 6-9" range, but never caught any young fish.

-I have been told that the pond has large crappie, but only caught one around 11" or so. I didn't ever try with minnows and the weather was hot, so I wouldn't be surprised if there are more.

Right now my thoughts are that the stunted bass are eating all of the smaller bg and crappie (and young bass) which probably explains why the crappie are not overpopulated. I also don't think the pond is very fertile, as there are no weeds or moss. and not that many bugs like I see at other ponds around here. What would you guys recommend as far as management and stocking goes?

Thanks,

Pete

Your situation is fairly normal. Generally the more bass you remove the smaller and more abundant the BG become and the bass tend to become larger. Your pond is ideal for producing large BG and crappie. Larger bass require management for a lot fewer bass and abundant smaller panfish. There is a happy medium in-between these two basic management goals and it is called a general fishing pond i.e. a blend of all sizes of all species.

Lack of plant life suggests that the previous owner may have used a lot of algacides & herbicides to clean up the pond for prospective buyers. In time expect all sorts of plants to recolonize especially if the water is fairly clear visibility 3-4ft.

I don't think the owner ever did anything to control weeds/vegetation as the pond was in the middle of a large overgrown pasture and couldn't even be seen for all of the weeds and briars. The pond visibility is not that awful but is probably only 1-2 feet. I believe the soil is very clay like.

Setting up a feeder and feeding the fish might do a lot of good. Especially if the pond is low fertility anyway.

I feed 2-4# per acre in my 3 acre pond (depending on time of year and water temperature) when water temperature gets above 50 and my BG have really grown fast. My pond is pretty high fertility.

Maybe a combination of removing a bunch of stunted bass and feeding would turn the pond around quicker.

How long does it take for the fish to get used to the feeder? Also, is there any easy way to check my ponds fertility?

FHM and BG will get used to being fed pretty quick. Maybe within a couple weeks. Start out hand feeding or very short burst with the feeder multiple times a day. I don't use a feeder, just hand feed, but may get one some day.

You can take a water sample to determine some things about fertility, but in my instance I know it is because have plenty of FA growing and regularly have less than a couple feet visibility because of algae blooms. This fall my water got clear, but all summer had a nice green cast from algae bloom.

The experts on here can give you help with the fertility and feeding. I've only been feeding fish a year now, but had no problem getting the FHM and BG interested in fish food.

If you want to feed the fish pellets hand feed until you see that they are eating the pellets. It is often tricky to get the fish to learn to eat pellets. Some of this depends on how much natural foods are in the system and how crowded (hungry) the fish are. Often lower quality catfish-fish foods are not 'well received' by non-pellet trained fish. The flavor and texture is foreign to them and not well accepted.

Adding fish food will increase the nutrient concentration in the pond and plants usually FAlgae (moss) will flourish.

Thanks for the help guys. I think I will start feeding this spring. During the summer there was no moss in the pond whatsoever. I just went fishing since the ice has melted off and it looks like there is some moss growing on the bottom now. Is that normal/good? I would have thought that the moss would be more likely to grow in warmer weather.

It being good or bad is a matter of opinion and one's outlook. Some is usually beneficial; too much is usually considered a nuisance. FA competes with phytoplankton. Abundant FA absorbs nutrients and dissolved chemicals usually resulting in clearer and cleaner pond water. Growing it is purifying the pond water and decomposing it is polluting the pond water.

There are a few if not several species of cold water moss aka FA that thrive in cool or cold water as long as there is enough light for photosynthesis (plant activity). The FA can start growing almost always attached to a substrate, often the bottom, in the fall. Then it becomes dormant or even sometimes thrives during winter. When water starts to warm in spring it flourishes to the point of creating big mats or long growths, eventually breaking loose from the substrate and floating to the surface. There it often resides until a rain and/or a wind storm breaks it apart and it sinks to the bottom to decompose and recycle.

How many bass would I need to remove to bring the pond closer to balance? I realize with crappie present it complicates the situation.

Remove roughly 30 pounds per surface acre (all sizes combined weight).

I had fresh green growth of FA in the bottom of the pond through the first part of December. The water had cleared up to as clear as I have ever seen it. Probably 3 or 4 feet of visibility. So what Bill Cody said above made a lot of sense to me.

Some I pulled out with a rake last summer had lots and lots of critters growing in it. So in the absence of other pond weeds it does provide some food and cover for what my BG like to eat. But when it gets too thick and aggressive it is a mess and an eye sore.

It got to floating mats and looking terrible last summer, but we had very low water conditions due to drought. Will see what happens this spring.

Thanks for info guys. With the low rw of the bass, 30 lbs. is going to take a lot of fish. If I do take out 30# of bass, is my crappie population going to explode?

Crappie numbers especially smaller ones could become noticeably more abundant with too few LMB. Since you are in IL and it allows stocking of hybrid striped bass, I would add 15-25 of them (7"-10") as you approach the goal of removing 30# of the LMB. Try to add the HSB in fall or spring prior to the spawn period of crappie. HSB are efficient predators of small young open water crappie soon after they hatch. This double attack of predators of crappie will better help keep the crappie in 'control'