Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Predator to prey size ratio

This may be a lame question and i know mouth size is the limiting factor. But as LMB grow in inches, loosely what size categories of bass eat what size categories of BG. Again im just tryin to get a few basics ideas of what i need to be looking for in my management attempts. Any an all comments are welcome.

Mornin' Greg,
As a general rule of thumb, a LMB's gape will allow it to eat forage up to 1/3 it's own length. So a 6" bass can eat anything up to 2". Naturally, as they get bigger, so does their food source.

From what I've learned here, they will take an average of 3-4 of these sized forage a day.

What Mike says.

In addition fish that are more fusiform in shape and lacking in dorsal spines from what I have heard can be swallowed more easily. So a LMB might be able to handle a longer than 1/3 length fish in those fish.

I once observed a small GSF I caught by hook and line (GSF have about the same mouth gape as LMB for fish in equivalent length) had swallowed a FHM. The tail was sticking out its mouth. I pulled the FHM out of the GSF and it was about 2/3 the length of the GSF.

So I think with some easily swallowed fish the length the LMB can swallow might exceed the rule of thumb 1/3.

This question is of importance to me because I have adult LMB in my main pond and I want to transfer SMB recruitment from my RES/SMB pond to my main pond when they get big enough to escape predation. I don't want to move the SMB only to become snacks for my LMB, but I want to move them as soon as possible to help with my excess BG inventory. So the question of just how big of SMB a LMB can swallow is a key question for me.

Good morning Mike
Thank you fellas. My pond has only been clear of the weeds that grew thick in it for 10 years or longer, for the last 2 or 3 years. I kept it devoid of all plant life basically just hoping to see fish and let the bass hunt. Thats what my local hatchery suggested the bass needed if indeed there were still bass in it. I knew absolutely nothing about pond management then and very little now. But im learning a little bit. Ive let the grass grow back around the edges again and out into the pond a bit. Also the little weeds that cling to the bottom near the shore. And this year is the first year ive seen such large numbers of hatch-lings and 2 to 3 inch fish BG mostly i presume. BG have only nested in one area that i could visually see for as long as i can remember but they nest on an off most of the summer but i haven't seen a BG larger than 6" for years. The LMB are starting to making themselves visible again but in small numbers and other that a couple in small sizes. Ive been thinking about having it electro-fished but that $750. price tag hurts my feelings. Anyhoo thank you again ill try not to question youall to death

Feel free to ask anything, any time. That's why we're all here....to help each other out. Lord knows I've asked a bunch of questions in my short time here, and thanks to the community, I've learned a lot! Time to pay it forward whenever I can.

Thank you

Keep asking Greg. I’ve been messing with water holes/fish for a long time and am still learning. I mentioned that to Lusk one time and he said “me too”.

Gregory finding the right balance of weeds in a pond is a challenging goal. At least it has been in my limited, short 5 years of pondmeistering. In my tiny nutrient rich 1/10th acre sediment pond I thought the water primrose was getting out of hand so I put in a single lone grass carp. The grass carp took care of the primrose well enough but now I have FA out the wazoo in that pond. So I am wondering if the primrose was taking up the excess nutrients and once I removed it the FA took its place and went crazy.

As Roseanne Rosanna Danna (Guilda Radner) of old Saturday Night Live fame regularly said, "its always something".