In north central Mississippi, a live on a 35 acre lake (20 ft deep) built around 2007. The original owner/builder of the lake populated it with 7,000 hybrid largemouth bass (about 3 times the recommended density), then let it sit unfished and unattended for more than 4 years. Turns out, he dammed a small creek that also had blue cat and several species of bream. I now share the lake with 4 other owners and we are at the end of the "do what's easy" rope. After 3 years of actively managing, fertilizing, electroshocking, 5 full time automatic feeders, and fishing, we are right where we started 3 years ago. Too darn many skinny bass and catfish, but a really good bream population. We even allowed a commercial fisherman to have at the catfish, but after catching 120 skinny cats he decided it was not worth the effort. Have also stocked it with threadfin last 2 years and have a good population of those.
None of us know what we are doing, but we are following the suggestions of a reputable fishery management team. We don't have unlimited resources (aka money), so some options may not be possible. Here are the options I think we have, and would really appreciate comments and suggestions. The end goal is to have a world class bass lake - and that also means no more catfish!
Option 1: Blow up the dam and start over. This means restocking and that is expensive.
Option 2: Find other more productive methods of removing the excess fish. Dynamite? Netting? Fresh water sharks ?
Option 3: Lower the lake. Someone told me several years ago this would reduce the population, but I don't understand the idea? It would make it easy to put that pier in that I've always wanted!
Option 4: Partially drain the lake, saving a reserve population of fish. This one interests me the most. I could net the fish, to get the right count. Then keep them in 6 ft or so of water with aeration and feed while the lake refilled. But I don't know if that is reasonable or possible.
A couple of questions while we wait for a pro to comment. You say the pond was stocked with "hybrid LMB." Any more info on which hybrid? Other question is you say you have "a really good bream population." Do you know what species and do you see all sizes or mostly larger ones?
TAK2, lowering the water level would create an O2 shortage and kill a lot of fish. How many? Who knows.
If it were me, and it's not, I expect that I would nuke the whole thing and start over. Due to overcrowding conditions, the fish are mostly stunted due to loss of several years growth. You can't catch up on that one.
It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.
Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.
Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
I'm doing the same thing in Franklin Tn. because flood of 2010 brought crappie in, completely took over the lake. Draining 13m gallons right now. When low enough, building 4' high dam with stone and liner, with 10" pvc pipe secured with cleanout. Then moving 2 aerators to new dam, start filling with strained water from existing lake. Then start pumping strained water from river into new 4' dam until full. Will drain main lake keeping all bluegill, some shad, and my few bass over 10#. Will restock with tons of forage in spring, then F1"s in the fall. Building pier, new attractors, and adding addl. pea gravel in spawning areas.
I have fished in a couple of ponds in the 20 acre size that had similar fishing in the pond. Small bass and skinny catfish. And the brim seamed to be in the 6" size and not many of them. And after the shocking boat survey, they were told to keep every bass caught and even to throw them on the bank if not interested in eating them. if I was in your place that is one of the things I would do. And I would hire the catfisherman to net all he can making several trips for a year and throw them on the bank. You might have to pay him for this. And I would do a heavy stocking of forage fish and crawfish. I am no expert here, but I thought u could feed the stunted fish and they would grow? I am no expert with ponds but I would try this first along with the recommendations of the fishery management people.
Tracy
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
If you could drain the lake down 50%-80% and rotenone it, that would help, but you have to have sufficient funds to restock it. That would be your best option, but at the same time you have to have a plan in place on how to deal with the fish that enter via the stream.
If you drain it, kill it and not restock it, then you'll be even worse off than before because the majority of fish will be from the stream, and you have no control over those fish and their numbers.
Even just draining the lake down that low will possibly create a fish kill by itself by concentrating the biomass into a smaller BOW, effectively dropping the % of dissolved O2 in the BOW. That will eliminate the largest fish first, and progressively kill the smaller fish depending on the amount of O2 drop.
Draining the pond, even partially reduces the amount of cover that small fish have to hide in, making them easier prey for the predators. But, with a LMB overpopulated lake, the biggest problem is having enough forage in there in the first place.
If there is enough fall on the other side of the dam, you probably could drain enough water with a few siphon drains and leave the dam intact, reducing your costs to do it.
The last 3 years we removed roughly 400#, 600#, and 400#. Our biologist tells us we should remove 1200# each year, but at 1/2# per fish, and with only 2 of us fishing on a regular basis, it's not going to happen!
We are also considering hosting fishing events for police, sheriff, and firefighters. Not sure how much impact that would have.
our reply brings up one question we all have here. As I said, we really don't know what we are doing, so have patience with dumb questions. Here goes.
As you drain the lake, how do you capture the bream, shad, and big bass while letting everything else out? Is there a type of net we should have and hand sort them?
I may have misled some of you with my "stream" comment. While the lake was created by damming and existing stream, it is the spring end of the stream. All water coming into the lake is runoff and spring water. Any fish coming into the lake from the existing stream must swim upstream and would have to breach the 30 ft high dam! If we do take the dam out, there won't be a problem of unwanted species getting in.
Thanks for the clarification on the stream. If you take the dam out, then you have the costs involved of rebuilding it. That's why I suggested the siphon system.
If you use the siphon system, you will have minimal fish go thru it, it's not like breaching the dam. If the dam is breached, there's no way to catch the fish.
One question. If you can catch the fish that you want, where are you going to store them to have them available to restock?
Thanks for the siphon idea. I had already thought that might work since the backside of the dam is 50 ft high and well sloped.
The bream and catfish were apparently in the stream when the dam was built. The owner/builder did not put them there and was surprised to see the catfish, although he knew there were bream.
My thought was that we lower the lake to 6-8 ft depth. Use nets to get out as many unwanted fish as we can, then aerate and feed while the lake refills. We would need someone with the equipment and know-how to do the netting. Kind of hoped that among all the catfish farms within 100 miles of here, one would be able to do the job if we paid them.
Just to clarify on skinny v stunted fish. We probably have both, but length is not a problem. Last spring I caught several over 26 inches long, but the heaviest was only 7+ lbs. I recently caught one 24" long weighing less than 3 lbs. They are definitely starving to death!
Your posts suggests that if they are stunted, we can't fix the problem without re-stocking. Did I read that right? What's the difference between stunted and morbidly skinny?
Quick glance at the picture to me shows a skinny male RES in spawning colors.
A LMB has to weigh a certain weight to get to a certain length. Once it's that length, then it can lose weight. But for the life of me I don't know if that's 100% WR, 90% or 80%.
You cannot throw forage fish into a stunted LMB pond and expect the LMB to thrive. There would be too many forage fish needed and you would exceed the carrying capacity of the pond.
You might have to drop it more than that to concentrate the fish in a smaller area.
For a pond to grow good sized LMB, expect it to have 50-75 LMB per surface acre. Figure 25-40 sunfish in the pond for every LMB. (or adult catfish)
No difference, to me, in stunted and morbidly skinny. Both are the result of an out of balance environment.
To thrive, a bass needs forage(bluegills, etc) that is 1/4 to 1/3 it's body size. However, the forage is being eaten before it gets big enough to help a bass. This is a matter of calories gained vs energy expended. A 5 pound bass can starve from having to chase minnows.
That's why I recommended starting over. It will be the only cost effective way.
It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.
Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.
Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
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