Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Can Trophy Bass be raised in a 1 acre pond???

Hey guys, I am in the middle of pond construction right now, It is 140ft wide, 320ft long so right at a acre and is 30ft in most places. My question is can trophy LMB be raised in a 1 acre pond? I plan of course to have plenty of structure and forage for them and lime and fertilize as needed. Just wanting to know if it can be done? thank you for any help given.

Joe

P.S. for pics of my pond here is a link to the thread
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=425602#Post425602

Dinsmoreoutdoors,

Wow, lots here, most everyone actually, knows more than I do about ponds. What comes to my mind though is: yes, most anything can be done if you work at it enough. A trophy bass may be different things to different to people. For instance, I would consider as trophy bass to be anything over 110%wr coming out of my pond, no matter the length. A trophy day might be to pull only 5 fish in, but all of them be over 100%. My ideas might be different than some other people's.

Would you prefer to catch fewer fish but for them to be exceptional specimens, or would you prefer to catch a lot of fish that were fat and healthy, but not necessarily 10lb fish?

If you want bigguns, there is some good info here on how to achieve that. And FL is a great place to do it too! Have you thought about trying to source female only lm?

Cmm

well im looking to stock Tiger bass which is bass a northern male LMB sspawn with a FL strain LMB. then later intro duce local LMB which are FL strain to break up the population. When I say trophy bass I mean to be able to catch LMB 8lbs or better. Didn't know if pond size played a big factor in it

The trick, is not so much the numbers of bass in the pond, but the POUNDS of bass in the pond. A one acre pond will only support so much biomass, or pounds of fish. If a one acre pond will support 100 lbs of bass, you could have 50 two pounders, 100 one pounders, 25 four pounders.

That's a very basic response on my part, as a lot of variables influence the carrying capacity of a BOW. Aeration, forage, supplemental feeding, water quality, all have a role to play in the equation, and can up the numbers. Remember too that the forage, and any and all other species present all count towards the carrying capacity of the pond.

Also, chances are there will not be many 8+ LMB in a one acre pond, and what numbers are there will wise up and get hook shy very quickly. Might make for some awfully tough fishing.

People with more knowledge than I will be a big help. Search the archives. The pond will only hold so many lbs of fish total. Lm, bg, other forage all count towards carrying capacity. You can have 8 1lb fish or 1 8lb fish kind of thing. I asked about single sex fish because you have one less variable (reproduction) if you can reasonably stock all female. IF you have zero worries that no rogue males can get in. Bucket stocking or flooding from upstream bow's can ruin that in a blink. Bass in smaller bow's tend to get overpopulated, eat the forage up, then stunt if not intensely managed.

But if what you want is 8+lb bass, with some forethought and work, you can make ot happen.

Oh, and when you get it done, break out the 8wt fly rod and commence to hanging on. Darn a big bass is fun on a flyrod!! Like a fat lady dancing.


Cmm

Dinsmoreoutdoors, only you can decide what trophy LMB are size wise, but as Tony said, they may get awfully hard to catch if you decide to go with fewer, but larger LMB. The fine line is recreation versus an occasional trophy catch.

On 2 occasions I've had limited non spawning female only small ponds, and in neither situation were any of the LMB ever caught. 4 were pulled out via seine in one, and that was the first time we had laid hands on them during a 2 year period. All 4 were right at 5 pounds.

I'm wondering if a half rate stocking of LMB might work as well as overstocking forage to increase growth? I'd sure like to hear if anyone has tried, and what their results were.

Whatever you decide, good luck with your plans.

FWIW I equate bigger BOWs with bigger fish. I agree with everyone else, if you are happy with a couple big bass, than it might be possible. The rule of thumb an old guy told me when I was growing up is, 1 BIG bass per acre.

I do not have grand expectations from my little pond. I want fun fish to catch, that are big enough to fillet, and a pond that all anglers (young or old) who fish it have a fun day. An 11 inch SF would be nice someday but I know my bass, YP and WE will never be huge.

I think you can probably grow a big CC in yer kitchen sink on table scraps!

Bill D.

Spend some time reading through the threads in this link of extensive past topics about growing LMB.
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=255372#Post255372
Also learn about a lot about carrying capacity, what it is, what affects it, what makes it work or not work, what limits it, and how to determine or estimate it:
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92440#Post92440
Some ponds will have a natural carrying capacity for 5 pounds of bass per acre (very clear water) whereas some will have capacity for 50 lbs of bass per acre (plankton rich water). Florida has a lot of clear water ponds that have low productivity.

As mentioned a few big bass in a 1 ac pond will quickly become hook smart. Just because they are present doesn’t mean you can readily catch them. Each time they are caught they become harder to catch next time (hook smart, hook shy). They are NOT fond of having their jaw jerked to please anglers. There is a long thread in the link above about hook smart fish and dealing with hook smart bass.

The concept of only being able to grow a specific number of pounds of (bass) predators per acre is based on the fertility of the water and the amount of natural foods it can produce in each acre. Shallow water actually produces more fish foods per acre than deep water. Thus the amount of food present per acre determines how many pounds of predator will be raised. Keep in mind that as the predator poundage (growth), not necessarily the numbers, increases it takes more food to feed them. As mentioned, reproducing bass will always be increasing the numbers and poundage of predator, thus the concept of stocking only female bass.

IMO to compensate for increasing bass poundage beyond the natural carrying capacity of the pond one can add forage food to allow for a higher carrying capacity similar to the zoo setting or concept; more predators per acre. For this concept to be successful for a trophy bass fishery where the bass are actually growing and maintaining plump body condition, one would need to annually add very close to 15 to 20 lbs of larger forage fish (6”-10”) for each additional large bass that is present beyond the natural carrying capacity of the pond. Thus 10 additional large bass per acre will require 150 to 200 pounds a fish added to the system over the course of each year to keep these trophy fish growing. You can’t maintain large predator fish that will grow by feeding them minnow sized fish.

As noted below by Cecil one can increase the carrying capacity by turning the fishery into a aquaculture system (fish farming) where the fish are fed high protein fish pellets. This concept and method is also discussed in the LMB Management link above.

I had 400 feed trained and fed bass from 1/2 to 6 pounds in a .62 acre pond at one time. The pond also had two diffusers running 24/7. Feeding the fish can increase your carrying capacity exponentially. That said it can get dangerous.

Sounds like it really comes down to the way so many things in our lives does....it depends....how many $$$$s do you want to spend?

Cecil in his example above did what I mentioned,,, he turned his pond and the bass into the zoo setting or concept. When one does things similar to this on any scale, remember the fishery produces more manure and a bigger load on the "biological processing system" of the pond. Thus Cecil's comment "It can be dangerous". The more one overloads the natural carrying capacity of the pond the more dangerous it becomes to maintain good water quality 24/7. Ten minutes of very low DO can result in many dead trophy fish. The biggest ones will die first because they require higher dissolved oxygen than smaller fish.

For what this is worth. You can and I have caught bass without using a hook.Almost everytime they will get off before you will get to touch them but... I have thrown a lot of rattle traps with no hooks and "fought the fish" just to watch them jump and spit it out. Same goes with a jig if you cut the hook off. It might surprise you how long a bass will hold a lure when it is not getting stabbed my a razor sharp hook!! And no I didn't just make that up.