Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations New member with questions and results

Well first off I am a new member but have been pouring over the pages of this forum for a while, but finally decided to join so maybe I could get some input. This forum has been super helpful and informative. Wish I would have dove into this thing before I got bit by this pond management bug.

Anyways, to the pond. My friend had inherited a pond that had some serious issues. It was baren of structure, no grass, around an acre in size, was full of 10" to 12" bass that looked like cancer patients, 40+ carp, 40+ channel cats, and had few bream(mainly because we caught them all when he first moved there). My goal was to try to grow healthy bass(from what I understand not able to grow monsters due to pond size) and hopefully enough full grown bluegill to make it fishable when the bass arent bitting.

I decided that I was going to take the task to try to renovate this thing. We drained it last year around July to try to start over. We removed all the fish and started to re-fill it. Because this was a serious budget project I decided that instead of paying to stock, we would stock it by catching the fish. We put in around 150 full size bluegill(6 to 9 inches, 100 smaller blue gill(3 to 5 inches), around 30 6 to 8 inch bass, and around 5k fatheads/golden shiners.

We have added lots of structure, fed the bluegill last summer and oviously starting this spring with a Moultrie feedcaster(AM500 last year and now trying Optima), and added a BOJO fishlight and a underwater green led near the feeding area.

I fished it good this weekend with interesting results. We caught 2 really nice fat bluegill(prob 8 to 9 inches, Ill try to post pics), prob 15 4 to 5 inch bluegill(also fat and healthy looking), and 10+ baby size bass(3 to 4 inches, not to mention seen many many more). I also have seen so many baby bluegill this spring(especially around the BOJO and green led)I didnt really bass fish so the jury is still out there.

My question is how do I have so many baby bass? Could the bass have been confused and spawned last summer or maybe there was a small pocket of fry that didnt get removed? I have no idea. Very strange.

My other question is how do you guys think the pond will do with the way it is currently stocked? There are tons of recommendations on stocking baby fish but no so much for adults. Also, if there are any recommendations, please throw them my way!!!!


BTW, the BOJO fish light has been so suprising. I honestly thought it was a gimmic but it is definately not. Very impressive

Also, it is starting to get overrun with grass and am considering a COUPLE grass carp.

Welcome. If your pond was completely dry when you drained it, Your bass obviously spawned last year regardless of when you put them in. But from the size of the juvenile bass that you caught the bass likely had 4 to 5 months of growth last year. Those juvenile 2017 LMB should have plenty of small fish to eat this summer and grow to be 9"-12" by end of 2018. The 30 stocker bass could easily be 15"-16" by fall 2018. Check bass grow in October to determine their sizes and if growth rates are on target. Remember male LMB rarely get larger than 3 lbs (16-17").

Feeding the BG this summer should get very good growth of them. Your stocking numbers were IMO adequate to get the renovated pond back to a fairly good balance. Initial suggested stocking numbers (BG:LMB) often range from 10:1 or greater and you were close to that at 8:1 (250BG:30LMB). Obviously the BG also spawned last year. If your goal is a general fishing pond then you should be well on your way to success since you now have a year class of small LMB to control the 2017 & 2018 offspring from adult BG.

Determine the specie or type of grass and its estimated abundance (% area covered) in the pond and we can verify the number of GC and or tilapia to help manage the plant community.

I appreciate your response. Those potential bass growth numbers are really encouraging.

I believe the weed growth is FA and unfortunately covers prob most of the pond bottom and is starting to form near the banks. Are there any downsides to FA growth besides the appearance and difficulty fishing? Does it cause any water quality issues? Are any species of fish that eat FA? Thanks