Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Recently Inherited a pond need some help

Hi,
I recently inherited a pond that is around a 1/4 are big. I was fishing in there and catching some nice 2 1/2 - 7 pound LMB. This really surprised me because of the size of the pond. I want to improve the pond any tips? Any types of fish that I should include. The bass in there seem to have a good food source but i don't see many Bluegill or minnows.

Welcome to PBF Nick,

Wow! A 7 pound LMB in a 1/4 acre pond! That has to be pretty rare, especially in a northern pond. Do you see many small bass? It may be you have a few large bass that are surviving by eating the little ones and anything else they can grab.

Looking forward to hearing more about your pond.

Bill D.

Hiya Nickfishing! Welcome to the forum!!

Really cool you caught such nice sized fish! Don't be surprised if that doesn't happen again for quite a while however. Unless the pond was well managed regularly, you may have gotten most of your apex predators. I'm also guessing it's been a few years since the pond was fished, and fish now know to be more leery of "new food", like lures....

there are some smaller bass. But ever cast I make i basically get a fish. The bass hit everything I throw. I suspect that they might be a little under weight. I need to take some bass and stock it next spring. I have trouble deciding what to stock. I want a pond that has nice LMB like I do now. I have been doing some reading and research and I think BG and FHM would be a great start next spring but I don't know where to start. I already have a top predator but not much forage. I can't nuke the pond because I don't entirely own the pond yet. I was think YP but apparently that is not good? I think the pond might be a little over populated. But the bass keep growing. The BG I can buy, the same with the FHM. I would like another fish that would be a main predator but a fun catch or something different off LMB and BG fishing. The pond has a lily pads and some bottom plants. My aunt the person who gave me the pond told me that due to fracking the spring in the bottom of the pond was blocked and she had to pay someone to open it back up. The whole pond was destroyed. A friendly neighbor stocked while I was away for a while. He wasn't sure of the number of the fish but he said he put a lot in. I definitely need to harvest some. How many should i harvest. I am aware of the 10 in 10oz rule.

Summary:
I have a pond with nice fish that seem to be a little under weight. Little to no forage that is visible. A little vegetation. I don't know what else to add besides LMB BG. Any help is a big one thanks for your time.

If you have a pond where bass are underweight, why stock more? Until you remove fish, they won't have enough to eat and won't grow.

Do some research on carrying capacity of ponds before you stock ANY fish.

When a food source is established then I want something else. Sorry should have made that clear.

Hi Nick,

When the time comes and you are looking to maybe add a few "other" predators, you might consider HSB (Hybrid Striped Bass). They grow fast, are good fighters, taste great and will not reproduce (easy to manage their numbers). To me, one of your biggest hurdles to get past will be the presence of the large LMB. An 18 inch LMB can eat fish 8 or 9 inches in size so it will be hard to add forage fish with those big boys in there. My pond is only a little bigger than yours. One rule of thumb guys with our size pounds use is to remove all LMB 15 inches or larger. IMO one big thing to remember is what Esshup said about capacity. You can have a few of this and a few of that in 1/4 acre but not a lot of anything. If you decide to feed pellets to supplement your forage base, you can push the capacity up a little but you need to watch water quality closely to not over do it.

Good luck!

Bill D.

Thanks you are a big help.

Almost forgot...I also added aeration to my pond to help with water quality and allow pushing capacity a little more.