Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Pond Fail....Disgusted

Definitely not going to stop me from trying.

I totally agree, just didn't know if you were aware of how carrying capacity or biomass might affect your goals.

Back to your netting question:
I can't help with the type of netting or where to get it, but something that you need to consider is how/where this would go. You don't want to dump the BG into a netted area that has bass in it. Sounds simple, but often overlooked. The net would have to hug the bottom very good. You probably would have to start along the shoreline and push the net out to force all fish from being inside the net. Why I mention this, if you don't have an appropriate place to do this, then why look into it further.


A lot of us have used that plastic mesh screen for fish cages. It's not very pliable for uneven terrain on a pond floor.

Yes, obviously you would use the block netting to "reverse seine" the area. I have an area that is flat and fairly free of structure that I am looking at. Still trying to decide if its worth the effort.

Hundreds of bream this size and bigger feeding on pellets this evening....makes me feel slightly better. Also saw some bigger bass.

Can someone ID those beautiful fish? Very large, elongated ear tabs, very black, are they both male BG? I don't see CNBG features?

They look like my CNBG.

Shape, white tipping on fins of upper fish, whitish lower jaw. Hard to tell if the forehead is copper color or not, but looks like it might be.

They look like very healthy fish to me. Given that you know you have hundreds of CNBG already as brood fish that are larger than your current LMB mouthgap and that you are planning on stocking another 175 CNBG 8 to 10 inches, have you considered diversifying you forage base with maybe some crawfish instead of stocking another 4000 1 to 3 inch CNBG? The craws will still add biomass but maybe at least be utilizing a different portion of the food chain?

With nice BG like in your picture, your time and money might be better spent creating some cover so the spawns this year you will have get a better chance at survival. Some dense cover targeted around and close to spawning beds and around the shallow edges.

A dozen pairs will spawn a gazillion youk sac fry, but if they have no place to hide get wiped out quickly before they get to a larger size.

I'm no expert, just what I would do in my pond if I wanted more BG survival.

Even temporary cedar trees laid out along the shore with ropes on that can easily be removed if a person doesn't want them there all the time.

With broodstock like that, I think it's a matter of getting things back into a ratio of your goals ( big LMB). You need more BG in the right size to feed the larger LMB. I bet all the BG fry are getting eaten by the smaller bass before they have a chance to get bigger and that will feed your soon to be trophy fish. Add cover like snrub says to improve their chance. Target Feed the BG to get them to grow faster. Improve, if you can, more breeding areas for the BG to spawn. Yank out as many of the smaller size LMB until you start seeing a better diversity of sizes of BG. Possibly add another type of forage fish like Bill D mentions.

I guess adding the additional cover in the proper areas along with a large amount of FHM (10,000 or so stocked in April), to take the pressure off the CNBG spawn, would be worth a shot before going crazy with 1-3" CNBG. How sustainable is a crawfish population? Hard to think of stocking something that can "up and walk out" of the lake.

isn't there just about unlimited native crayfish (or red swamps even?) in local streams and ponds in Alabama? even if some decided to walk away, it seems it would be easy to source and stock your own crayfish.

What I'm referring to is more so along the lines of being very easy prey. Once they feel the pressure from the bass, they can leave. Even if they didn't leave, what is the likelihood of sustaining a population of them?

If you have cover, rocks, vegetation etc I would think they could escape predation and would choose cover IN your pond rather than escaping outside of your pond. Most folks start with a small starter supply of crayfish and many end up with way more than they know what to do with!

Did a little work while the neighbors boys came and fished with shiners. Caught a couple of fish to cull, and a couple I tossed back that were 12"-1lbs (110% RW) and 13.25"-1lbs 1oz (90% RW).

I also got these in the mail today. Time to track individual growth!

[img]http://i.imgur.com/u4Ptr4L.jpg?2[/img]

I tagged 2 fish on 3/5 and recaught one of them on 3/9. Pretty neat seeing that yellow tag.

Finally hit a fish over 100% RW. Caught on a shiner. 15" - 2lbs. I have now tagged 6 fish in a week. I have caught 4 of the 6 since the tagging, and two of them I caught 3 times since tagging. Not really sure what to make of it. Ive also culled about 3 lbs in 7 fish.

Perhaps things weren't as bad off as you have first thought.

Good times!

Here's where I am sitting for the first quarter of 2017...



I also saw a school of about 30 bluegill that were about 2" long up in the top of a tree earlier today....Im hoping its not as bad, but the relative weights are still mostly not anywhere close to what I want.

Well today I dropped in 4,000 CNB (1-3") and 10,000 FHM (half rosy reds). Hoping the FHM's take the pressure off the CNB spawn. Going to be an interesting season for sure.

...don't you just love "fish stocking day"??? I know I do...

FWIW IMO with 100s of mature CNBG already and adding 4000 more capable of spawning in a few months, watch your water quality.

Justin, I suggest you release the ones that are tagged. Good aggressive genes need to be kept in the pond!

I am the one who tagged them, so doesn't really make sense to harvest them after tagging. They were released.