Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations What would you do first

...if you were taking ownership of a pretty, 2.5-acre pond that you knew had some LMB in it but you-didn't-know-what else? Would you have it "shocked" right away to get a census or would you just fish it for a few months to try to get an idea?

I would like to manage the pond to take about 75# of bass/yr and 150#/yr of bream from it. Can I just proceed with fertilizing, etc. without knowing a lot about the fish population?

Take your time, fish it, enjoy it and get to know it completely.

It will help you decide what will bring you the most enjoyment down the road.

Then go from there.

( just one man's opinion)

I totally agree, no hurry, fish it then fix what needs fixing if anything. Keep us posted


Pat

+1

DanL, I'd seriously consider getting the water analyzed before fertilizing. In particular, you need alkalinity and pH numbers. If they aren't right, your fertilizer would be wasted money. Worse, it might even cause an explosion of unwanted vegetation in the pond.

This happened on my favorite fishing pond in Texas. The lady owner knew her water was acidic, but didn't want to put ag lime on the bottom to correct the situation. Instead, she just fertilized.

Result: Water hyacinths bloomed and grew like crazy. Instead of covering 5 percent of the pond, they hit 50 percent plus. Eventually she got rid of them, but it was a major struggle.

Thanks for the replies.

I suspect the ph will be low, but will test. What effect will liming have on the fish already living in the pond?

Welcome to the forum Dan! I'll echo what LL and Pat said...fish it, learn it and if anything is not to your liking, find a fix. "Fixing" things before you even know what is needed could lead to some big, expensive disasters, fast.

I'll also add to what anthropic mentioned in a water analysis in getting the chemistry, with one big addendum...take pH samples from a mixture of the surrounding watershed soils rather than just the water. pH in the water can change several points during the day as plants oxygenate and respire. If your water has a solid calcium caused alkalinity and hardness, pH will be "buffered" and much more stable throughout any given day.

A common misperception in using a shock boat to survey or sample a pond is that it stuns all the fish. Some species are more susceptible to shocking than others, plus the conductivity of your individual pond plays a huge role on how effective a shock survey can be. Angling, observation, experience and traps are all part of a more accurate pond survey.

With 2.5 acres, and assuming you want either larger or at least nice sized bass and bluegill, I would think once you know a fairly good baseline of your fish health and populations, you will probably want to reverse the weights of the fish removed annually.

In particular, target all species and sizes of fish when angling. Use worms, and minnows along with different types and sizes of artificial baits. Log length and weight of every fish caught and trapped. For a common example, if you are catching lots of skinny LMB in the 10-14" range and almost no BG in the 3-5" range, it indicates a heavily overpopulated LMB situation. That condition is usually great if you want few, but really large BG to be your goal, and horrible if you want several large plus a few lunker bass to catch.

The BEST advice I can offer a new pond owner is to NOT just jump in and do something to improve one unwanted condition, or you will often create a dozen unintended, even worse conditions to "correct" next due to the original "fix". Just as anthropic noted on adding fertilizer....it could cause an explosive planktonic algae bloom, and after a few cloudy days, you have a pond full of dead fish due to massive oxygen depletion due to the dead planktonic algae bloom your "fix" caused....

Adding to what others have said, fish it and keep a log of the results. That log will be your best friend.

Great stuff, folks. Thanks.

I knew I'd found the right place the first time I read this forum.

In agreement with advice above. Additional comments. Buy some fish traps and use them both baited and unbaited. As with fishing, record on paper every fish caught; if nothing else the lengths. Data will provide lots of good information. When fishing as Rainman mentioned, use several different angling types of baits from live baits to artificial lures. It is also a good idea to note how long you fished each time. This gives you a good idea of CPUE (catch per unit effort) and these data will give an idea if 'catchability' is changing along with average fish sizes caught when using each angling method or lure type.

Keep track of when and how much water is flowing out of the pond. This indicates the retention time of the pond and how well fertilization and chemical additions will last in the pond.

Monitor the water clarity monthly with a homemade secchi disk.
Note the readings in your pond log.
http://www.noble.org/ag/wildlife/secchidisk/
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Divide the 20 cm (7"-8" dia) acrylic disk into quadrants using masking tape. Spray paint alternating
quadrants black and white, so that you have a disk that is similar to that pictured above in the link.
Let the paint dry. Apply a second coat of paint if necessary.
For layman use the disk can be all white such as a plastic Cool Whip lid.
2. Drill a hole of 3/8’ through the center of the
acrylic disk and the galvanized steel disk.
3. Assemble disks with eyebolt (5/16” in
diameter). Use flat washers between disk and
nut, and between steel plate and locking washer.
Use 5/16” nuts at the top of the eyebolt and to
bolt the steel plate on the underside of the
acrylic disk.
4. Attach a cord, rope or pole calibrated by 0.5
meter or 6" increments to the secchi-disk cord to use in the
lake. For continually low clarity ponds the disk can be attached to the bottom of a old broom stick that has 1" marks.