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Joined: Oct 2014
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Many of you have helped with this pond project over the last couple of years and all is going VERY well.

Fall of 2014 - One acre pond built.

14 ft in the deepest, one side is full of downed Poplar trees I pushed in for cover, man made structure in many other areas. At least 4 springs feeding it.

Spring of 2015 added FHM and GSH by fall it was loaded with both.

Fall of 2015 added aeration system and 50 2-3inch BCP and 50 4-6in BG

In summer of 2016 stocked 10 GC by permit and 8 bass from local lakes all over 3 pounds. Tagged, recorded weight, and took pictures for record.

This year, lots of FTM and tons of GSH up to 6 inches or so. Also tons of 2 inch BG. I have seen two of the bass I think on a bed. They were looking good and healthy. Grass carp are getting big but are not keeping up with all the green stuff, thinking I need a few more. No sign of the Crappie but they are probably hiding in the Poplars and hard to even attempt fishing there.

According to my calculations and info learned here, I should be able to sustain about 100 pounds of bass. My thinking is to continue to catch, tag, and release 3 pound or better bass into the pond until I reach 80 or so pounds.

Is this flawed thinking? If I put LMB in at 3 pounds or better with tons of forage, they should have no problem continuing to grow and give us some nice 5+ pounders which are BIG bass around these parts. If I put in smaller LMB they will grow fast but eat more of the forage to get to the larger size both taking longer and eating more to get there. OR NOT? Is this miss-guided logic? Thinking is to let the other lakes feed them until they are larger then "top them off" in my pond?

My older tiny pond stunted their growth when I attempted this but it was small, no bait fish for forage, and too many fish for it to sustain so I am thinking this pond is big enough to work this way?

The goal is for my grandson (now 4 years old and LOVES to fish) to catch sunnies (and right now the shiners) and by the time he is a little bit older and into bass fishing he has the potential of catching a real nice one.

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I wonder if there will be any difficulty for the transplanted LMB learning how to find forage in your pond vs the lake they were reared in. I have read that sometimes not all transplanted fish figure out how to feed well, when changed from the BOW they were raised in. You might need to ladder stock several years of LMB (large size, but not many in total number) to increase odds of successful transplantation.


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If the first trip of the open season is any indication of the rest of the season, taking several years may be the reality. We have constant tournaments on all the local lakes (some of ours are very small here in the Finger Lakes of NY) so they get hit hard. Taking my time (by default) may well allow the forage fish to keep up a healthy stock as well.

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Take measurements of weight and length of the fish that you catch. Those numbers and a relative weight chart will tell you a LOT about your populations.

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I second what Bocomo said. RW charts are a huge help and you have the wise people of this forum who would be happy to analyze our findings for you.


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Ok whoa....stop wait a minute. DrLuke is right on about this. Here are a few things I can tell you about this as well.

1. I also have a 1 acre pond and....dabbled in this... Here are a few things you need to consider.

1. 3 pound bass have been in there environment for a long time, back in my not so smart days.. I tried to transplant a few 3 plus pound fish in my pond and 2 out of 3 of them I found floating on the surface and the 3rd one I have never seen again... so who knows.

2. If your going to do this I would use smaller bass and increase your forage if need be. Bass in the 12 inch range maybe. They should still grow fast and your grandson in a year or so will still think their hugh!!!

3. Remember that most 1 acre ponds can only hold about 50 pounds of predator fish maybe 75 lbs if you have air running in your pond. So you do the math.

4. If you want nice 2 and 3 pound bass to catch that not a lot of bass. Like 35 two pounders or 30 three pounders, and if you have a good mixture of each your talking about 15 at 2 pounds and 15 at 3 pounds. So give or take all you need is about 30 bass in your pond because you know just like my pond you will end up with that every once in a while 4 or 5 pounder.

Ok anyway I would keep my bass all about the same size I put in the pond and make sure you have enough said forage for that size bass. Let them grow together to some extent. Once they get into that 14 inch range which wont take long I would start to take my RW readings to make sure your not getting off kilter with your bass / forage. As said above RW reading are SOOOOOOOO important.

I have taken 5 or 6 reading this year myself. 4 or 5 of my readings with bass in the 15 to 17 inch range were all about 2 oz shy of average except 1 it was right on.

I then also caught a 22 inch bass and it was a pound light!!! So what does that tell you?

I don't have the right forage for that size bass or I have to many smaller bass eating to much of my forage before it can get to the correct size for that 22 inch bass. That's what RW can tell you. So then you need to get into correction mode and try to figure out what to do. So far I have only caught 1 in the 22 inch range so not sure it's a fluke or not but it has got me already pulling a few smaller bass. Sorry I know I rambled on here .... Good luck man your grandson will appreciate anything you do I am sure of that!!! He's having a blast already!!

RC


The only difference between a rut and a Grave is the depth. So get up get out of that rut and get moving!! Time to work!!
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Thanks RC. That makes good sense and puts it into perspective. I was afraid my thinking was flawed but it sounded good in my mind.

I can easily stock 1.5-2 pounders with a tag and measurements to keep track of them.


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