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I like the challenge of catching RES and the size potential of RES. I do think that a RES only pond makes figuring out how to catch them a little easier. Having SMB in the mix is a definite bonus.



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Res are a challenge when trying to catch them at my place and when I do catch one it is always a small one. Makes me wonder if I overstocked my 3+ acre pond. My first stocking was 3 yrs ago in Nov and the second stocking as in Feb. Total stocked was 1850 in the 2 to 3" size with no predators in the pond at that time. I would think they would be in the 8" range by now.


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He he he Tracy they are a challenge everywhere from what I can see.
Red worm fished on a sandy area works most of the time more in 18"- 3' deep

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I tend to agree with Shorty that having them in a pond by themselves tends to make catching them easier.

I have given a fair amount of thought to RES and why they are difficult to catch in the normal LMB/BG pond. Does not mean my thoughts are correct, just that I have given it consideration. grin

First just consider the sheer number differences. Say a person starts out with the normal 10-20% of RES stocked compared to BG. That already lowers the odds of catching one to one in 5 or 10. Then consider the difference in fecundity. We know BG produce lots more eggs and fry than RES. So it would be entirely possible that after four or five years the numbers of BG compared to RES in the pond might be 100 to 1 or greater. So everything else being equal (which it is not of course, but humor me) the odds favor catching a hundred BG for every single RES caught. Then add in the catch-ability factor that BG are more aggressive then drop a line and hook in an area where there are a hundred hungry BG and a lone RES competing for that bait.

Of course that is a simplified view of the situation as the fish may seek out different environments and an angler can take advantage of the differences in fish behavior.

But I think just looking at the potential differences in population between the number of RES vs BG in a pond makes it evident why so many people wonder where their RES went because they either never or rarely catch one.

I catch a hand full a year out of my main 3 acre pond but I catch hundreds and hundreds of BG. I suspect I may be catching the RES not too different than what their population ratio suggests the odds of catching them are.

Meanwhile I am trying to modify that population so that my odds of catching RES goes up.

Last edited by snrub; 12/08/17 10:30 AM.

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John when you look in the water do you also spot only 1 RES per 100 BG?

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In my water most of the time I can not tell. It usually is pretty turbid from algae growth.

That said, I do occasionally see a fish that I can identify as a RES from the bright red opercular tab border. But that is rare to see one.

I do notice GSF or hybrids thereof compared to BG because of the tipping on the fins. They stand out in contrast enough when they are up in shallow water that they are pretty easy to differentiate. But get out to a couple feed depth and I usually can only see shadows of fish or nothing at all.


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Invite Shorty to fish your pond, they're attracted to his hook! smile

He brought over a very cool micro-jig system with just a small piece of plastic (cut from a plastic bait) threaded on the hook (there's a little more but I'll let him share the rest). I think by the time the jig settled on the bottom of the pond, he had a strike!

Don't ever think you know your pond better than anyone else when it comes to catching a "target" fish. I always felt if I wanted to know how big the fish were in my pond I just needed to invite someone else over to fish it.

Okay, that's a cop-out and they're likely just better at fishing than I, but it never failed that a guest would cast some crazy lure/bait out in the middle of nowhere and, BAM they'd hit a 4 lb LMB or HSB! lol

I sure miss that pond frown

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Originally Posted By: snrub
I tend to agree with Shorty that having them in a pond by themselves tends to make catching them easier.

I have given a fair amount of thought to RES and why they are difficult to catch in the normal LMB/BG pond. Does not mean my thoughts are correct, just that I have given it consideration. grin

First just consider the sheer number differences. Say a person starts out with the normal 10-20% of RES stocked compared to BG. That already lowers the odds of catching one to one in 5 or 10. Then consider the difference in fecundity. We know BG produce lots more eggs and fry than RES. So it would be entirely possible that after four or five years the numbers of BG compared to RES in the pond might be 100 to 1 or greater. So everything else being equal (which it is not of course, but humor me) the odds favor catching a hundred BG for every single RES caught. Then add in the catch-ability factor that BG are more aggressive then drop a line and hook in an area where there are a hundred hungry BG and a lone RES competing for that bait.

Of course that is a simplified view of the situation as the fish may seek out different environments and an angler can take advantage of the differences in fish behavior.

But I think just looking at the potential differences in population between the number of RES vs BG in a pond makes it evident why so many people wonder where their RES went because they either never or rarely catch one.

I catch a hand full a year out of my main 3 acre pond but I catch hundreds and hundreds of BG. I suspect I may be catching the RES not too different than what their population ratio suggests the odds of catching them are.

Meanwhile I am trying to modify that population so that my odds of catching RES goes up.


I think you're on to something here. I see the same thing with my PS. We rarely catch one. The catch rate is probably close to population ratio of BG to PS though.


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Lovnlivin I would be happy for Shorty to catch some RES in my pond. You too for that matter. I hope you both are able to make it to my PBF get together at my place September 22, 2018.

Since I just stocked my SMB in my RES pond, they should be of a size by then I would be able to transfer some of them (going to transfer up to 40) to my main pond (big enough so my LMB could not eat them - maybe 12" or more). So if anyone wants to fish for SMB and RES in this pond that day I could take advantage of it and do the transfers. Ponds are only a few hundred yards apart. There would be nothing very big by that time, but it might be fun just to see what could be caught.

Last edited by snrub; 12/08/17 07:04 PM.

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I've stocked them several times in my ponds. Don't recall ever catching one


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Wanted to add these links so I can find them again later. Thought others might be interested.

Since I have added SMB to this pond, it is now a RES and SMB pond.

A really good (old) article by the late Dr. Dave Willis. Glad I found it. Stocking Small Mouth Bass It talks like a SMB and RES combination works very well. Music to my ears!

The SMB archives where I found the above article. Unfortunately a bunch of the other links do not work. I looked at them and they seem to be ok, but no work. NOTE: Cody fixed them. SMB discussions from the archives Going to take me a while to wade through the ones that work.

An old thread but very good discussion on SMB. SMB in farm ponds

Last edited by Bill Cody; 12/28/17 02:44 PM.

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snrub - I am working to fix the links in the SMB Archives thread (SMB discussions from the archives). Hopefully I can get them all working properly.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 12/28/17 02:36 PM.

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Thank you! I used to be able to correct some of the ones directed to a wrong folder, but these appeared to be ok.


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Bill, got through most of the archive threads that the links were fixed. Still run into a few that do not work. Some were ones Theo added.

Here is one I found with a search engine. Wow! It sounds like my 9" SMB put in early this month could potentially spawn next spring. At least in this thread he stocked small fingerlings in spring and they spawned the next spring. Another member from Overland Park, Kansas (100 mi. North of me) stocked 4-6" in October and they spawned the next spring.

SMB thread from 2008

I did create ledges around about a third of the pond with rock dumped in ranging from 4" all the way down to fines. Did it for RES spawning. I did not figure originally on SMB reproduction, but looks like it is a real possibility.

Last edited by snrub; 12/30/17 09:34 PM.

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That is just too cool! My favorite fish used to be YP. Now that I have SMB in the pond, they are awesome. I see a trophy SMB pond in your future!


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Thanks! I'll be happy if they control the RES properly and provide some fast action fishing.

I'm more excited about them than I thouht I would be. Something new.


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Just got done reading through this post and just wanted to say congrats on the progress. I think you have inspired me to start a thread to follow my new pond's progress rather than posting here and there in the different forum categories. After reading this thread I'm considering taking a harder look at RES for my new pond. I'm not sure why I haven't seriously considered them already. They've always been one of my favorite fish to catch.

I know there has been some discussion on the challenges of catching RES so I'll share a tip that I stumbled on many years ago. I was fishing a well stocked 2 acre pond and stumbled on a technique while going for the plentiful bullhead cats. I was fishing from the dam area in 6-8 ft water with chicken livers on a carolina rig. Believe it or not, we caught more RES slabs than cats. I wouldn't have known they were in the pond at all were it not for that experience. Worth a try if you are having trouble with the RES bite.

Excited to see your spring progress! Keep us updated.

Last edited by ColdSpringsFarm; 02/01/18 05:39 PM.

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Thanks for the tip.

I am anxious to get started back on it in the spring and regularly think about the pond and what I want to do.

I have several threads that I have kept up on my own ponds but also post around on many others. Another tip is to keep any threads your are particularly interested in (yours and others) on your "watch list". Early on in my forum use I would spend an inordinate amount of time looking for an old thread I had read that I was interested in after it had became inactive. Then I found the watch list feature and it makes the task much easier.

Good luck with your new pond.

Last edited by snrub; 02/02/18 07:15 AM.

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I've got a problem. And the problem is me.

This pond has been from the beginning of digging it to stocking it dedicated to raising RES. It originally was stocked with RES and FHM. Those two were going to be the only two fish.

Then some of the guys from Nebraska have been reporting great results from RES/SMB ponds and it got me interested. Then Lusk stops by and suggests to put SMB in to control RES recruitment.

So I stock some SMB. So far so good.

But every time I cast the cast net in my forage pond and like tonight come up with about a dozen and a half of beautiful 4" GS I have this tremendous urge to put GS in this RES pond. I have not done it (yet), but I sure have the urge.

So my question is, if I put in some GS and they reproduce will they take away from my RES goal? I am satisfied that they would be a great addition as far as the SMB are concerned. They seem like a perfect sized and shape fish to feed SMB. But will they take away from my primary goal of RES production? Or would they maybe even help it?

So do I give in to the "urge" and stock some GS in this RES primary SMB secondary goal pond? Or leave it as it is with only FHM as the only fish forage (along with snails and stuff) for the RES?

Last edited by snrub; 03/18/18 10:21 PM.

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Shiners will eat RES eggs.....Resist the dark side....



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So I've heard. But is that a good thing or a bad thing?

On one hand I envision the SMB eating more shiners and less RES fry. But the whole purpose of the SMB IS to eat the RES fry to limit their reproduction (and prevent stunting).

The question I ponder is, if the GS eat the RES eggs, will they eat too many? In reality in a one acre pond I probably only need for maybe a hundred or two hundred of the RES fry per year make it to a size larger than the SMB can eat. So I NEED for the RES to not populate too much. I want a nice supply of 8 to 10" RES to catch. But I do need some reproduction. Or restock RES out of my forage pond which has raised RES fry like crazy this year.

Thanks for the reply. Trying to ponder the available outcomes. In my forage pond the GS are about thick enough to walk on right now. Yet I can still cast a cast net and get several RES fry per throw if done at the correct time of day and in the right location. So in the tiny 1/10th acre forage pond (that has lacked predators other than a hand full of adult GSF till I put 10 6-9" SMB in last December) I have both huge GS reproduction yet still have taken hundreds of 3" RES fry out of the pond. So at least to date, the GS have not been able to wipe out the RES reproduction. Now that could change this year. Who knows. But last year I had great reproduction of both GS and RES in that forage pond.

Picture of recent cast net catch of RES from my forage pond

I guess I am trying to have my cake and eat it too. RES is the primary goal of the pond. But can I enhance the growth of the SMB (secondary goal) by adding GS without diminishing the primary goal? Rainman votes no, and I value his expertise.

I'll be interested to hear from some that have GS in with their RES and SMB.

It will also be interesting to observe my forage pond this year now that 10 SMB have been added to that 1/10th acre pond thick with GS and RES. I am really curious how much the SMB can "whoop up" on those thick GS as the SMB get some size.

Last edited by snrub; 03/18/18 11:02 PM.

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You can always add GS later, GS will also limit your SMB recruitment, I would hold off for now and stick with FHM.



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I like GS, especially for added SMB growth. If your RES production with lots of GS present is adequate, then I would add the GS....you can always nuke it and save a few of what you like to start over if things go crazy....



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You are contemplating relatively new, unproven, stocking territory. Not a lot of experimentation has been reported with growing SMB in ponds. I vote with Shorty. Watch the development of the SMB in this pond so you get a relatively good idea of how the SMB will perform in the combination. 10 smb in 1/10ac is equivalent to 100/ac. This is a lot of potential for predatory pressure. Be watchful and learn. Then after a year or two make a decision on adding the GS. Be patient grasshopper and use this time as a learning experience of what the SMB addition can do in this small pond for regulating the RES.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 03/19/18 09:07 AM.

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I currently have GS, SMB, RES, and a limited number of YP. GS seem to limit recruitment of everything except RES, they have also left my pond devoid of any aquatic vegetation and FA and I would like to have some aquatic vegetation. I have tried to get some vegetation established over the last couple of years and have been unsuccessful.



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