Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations New pond, how long till I can see or catch LMB?

I stocked last February with FHM, CNBG(1"-5" well fed), RES and in late June we stocked the LMB fingerlings. First week after the LMB stocking, I only found 2 dead LMB fingerlings. I haven't caught or had a sighting since that time. I have fished and caught many CNBG, and they are real aggressive. They will hit anything less than 3" so I tried to increase to a H&H spinner to prevent CNBG biting and try and catch a LMB. Nothing. Have not seen a fish jump, or the usual bass top water explosion. I realize these "explosions" will be smaller, but would think I would still see a few by now.

Pond is right outside the house so I watch it almost daily. Am I worrying too quick, or can larger aggressive CNBG affect the LMB fingerling survival rates? I was planning on HSB in the spring, but not sure if I should do that without knowing if the LMB did ok. Thoughts?

Hey Brian,

I would try fishing with small 2 to 3 inch CNBG under a cork. That ought to keep the big CNBG off the hook and be attractive to the LMB if they are there.

Good Luck,

Bill D.

I use small crappie jigs and they work well on bass up to a lb

BrianL,
How is your water clarity? As LMB are predominately sight feeders...you may have varied responses to them hitting an artificial lure. I stocked a forage base the summer of 2014 and stocked LMB the summer of 2015. My water quality is good, but could have more clarity. I did not see or catch a LMB for a period of time. I wondered, if they had made it. I have caught several since then in the 2-3lb range and smaller.
I believe this:
In my pond, as long as I have a prolific forage base, I believe the LMB would rather attack YOY BG, GSF, and Gambusia minnows than hit an artificial lure. I can sit and watch the fish feed after the feeder goes off. Then, all of a sudden you will hear an explosion and see bait & forage fish blown clean out of the water. This did not happen for a long time. I know my lack of water clarity probably inhibited my LMB growth, but that's what I got. I know they are there.
Charlie

My experience was low survival of lmb fingerlings. Your story here was exactly my experience. Did a shock last march and found out few lmb were in the pond. Suggest you find some advanced lmb to restock, or shock a survey.

I'll give that a try this week.

It is not at all unusual for LMB fingerlings (2-4 inch) stocked late spring or early summer to disappear until after the water warms the next spring. I would wait and see what this spring and summer show.

I have used many crappie jigs, Mepps Aglia and Black Fury Spin Fly Wooly Worm, Tiny torpedoes, beatle spins of varing size, plastic crickets, and a few others. Only CNBG so far on all the above.

Nothing on the 1/4 oz H&H

Water clarity ranged from 14-30". Stayed in the 18-24 most of the time.

My main comfort is I'm not seeing near as many FHM, so maybe they have so much easy food left they just won't hit a lure. Maybe when the FHM run out I'll start seeing more LMB sign. I still would have thought I would have had an instinct strike by now.

Would you wait on the HSB till next spring or go ahead this spring and stock?

Brian, are you fishing away from the feeder? Almost every single bass I have caught from6 inch to 13 inch has been on a all white roostertail spinner and away from the feeder to get away from the cnbg.I fish it real slow.

Yeah, I have fished all the way around it probably 15+ times. I would guess 5 or more hours total fishing time, and probably 2+ hours fishing since late fall. I try to limit fishing around the feeder. I have caught 100s of CNBG, zero RES or LMB.

Maybe, I looked at it maybe a little different from you. I wanted to see what was there. I Stocked fingerlings June 1st. And never saw a single lmb till Oct after fishing quite a bit (like you). And I never saw one from the shore, or any feeding activity. And my continuing to wait and see did not fit my schedule or my plans. I did manage to catch one lmb during this wait and see period, I think it was in Oct(first fall after stocking) when I caught one 13" lmb. The fish was healthy and I was surprised of its size in such a short time period. But as time went on through fall and into the following spring, I saw little to no activity. For me the survey was well worth the money, and even with the warnings that I was shocking maybe at the wrong time of the year. But, after the survey, I'm glad I paid the money for the survey. If I would have waited till the following fall (suggested time to survey), I felt like I would have wasted all that time. So, as it turned out we shocked up 4 lmb in March and it was determined the pond had experienced low survival of the lmb. My cost for the survey was 7 or 800 bucks and to me it was well worth that amount. We restocked with advanced lmb (8 to 12") and right now I am seeing some really nice two yr old lmb. And the HSB that were added that first fall after the lmb fingerlings are growing good.

Tracy, I am strongly considering shocking to see where I'm at. I did stock at slightly higher numbers than they first recommended, just for insurance reasons and stocked 150 instead of 100. I was going to cull a little faster to account for the extra numbers.

Be careful as using culling as the main method of reducing LMB numbers often leaves you with a catchability problem. The LMB that readily bite are removed leaving the non-biters.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.ph...true#Post428809


More on catchability - the chart below shows a > 50% reduction in catch rates over 3 generations.

BrianL,
That is a good sign...before I stocked my LMB I would see what appeared to be black clouds of tiny FHM all around the pond. That sign of tiny baitfish no longer present in my BOW was the first thing I noticed. Your LMB will grow quick. In the first 4) months, the ones I caught went from 2 1/4" to 10 3/4". Best of luck and keep us posted.

I will. Hoping for the best, but fearing the worst. Isn't that the pond owner way:)!

After much discussion (American Sport Fish, 2 different biologist, couple fisheries, and PB members) , many hours fishing, and observation, I think I had very very poor survival of the Tiger bass. AS the water has warmed up, the FHM that I hoped had been eaten are still there in very large schools. I have probably over 30+ hours fishing, not one bass. I am walking the edges at night with a light, nothing. Watching the surface, nothing. American Sport Fish thought with the way I stocked, those original fingerlings should be between 1-2#s and I should be catching and/or seeing fish by now.

I still have another week or so before I can get any new bass, so I will continue to fish, and watch. I think those original LMB must have stressed from something and all met the same demise. I wished I knew for sure what was the reason, but I will never know for sure.

I think this round I will go with 100-150 northern bass and a little larger size. I'm thinking the 6-8" fits my wallet. Tiger bass are only available early/mid summer, and only in 2" fingerlings. I hate to risk the same result and be a year way for knowing if they survived. I also starting to worry about my CNBG overpopulating. They have been in there over a year and doing very good.

Brian, where did/will you get your fish. I wouldn't go anywhere but Overton's. Their website shows that 5-7" are what is available right now or 1# if you want some advanced size. I know Buffalo is a good drive from Paris, but it is worth it in my mind.

I got my Tiger bass through Bob Lusk and delivered by American Sport Fish, but they only have fingerlings, and 1# northern bass. I think I need something larger than fingerlings, but don't want to spend $/# for grown fish. I haven't decided yet, but Todd has some middle size fish I am looking at. He is a little further, but I may go that route. There is a place north of me for the LMB, but would still go to Todd's for my HSB. My neighbor is wanting some tilapia, so we may do a road trip for those.

I got 35 6-8" LMB and 20 10-12" HSB from Todd a week or so ago. All easily survived the 2.5 hour trip.

How many did he put per bag?

The LMB I believe were all in one bag/box since they were smaller and don't have the sharp fins. The HSB were split into 3 boxes/bags (7, 7 and 6) due to the larger size and likelihood of stabbing each other if packed in too tight. They have it figured out how to minimize packing costs on the customer yet enough space for the fish to survive the trip. Pictures of the LMB, HSB and the bags/boxes they package them in are below.