Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Providing no cover. What is the 1, 2, 3 > results?

.5 acre turbid NC farm pond, BG, LMB, RES, CC, GC.
I feed and aerate.

LMB & CC are apex predator.
This spring, I see more YOY than ever before. The BG population size is varied from adults to 2". The weeds around the edges are providing cover that was not available in prior years.
(Crayfish got eaten, lime + gypsum = plant growth)

I can see now that controlling BG population numbers will be tricky.

Any thoughts on providing no cover for the fry as a method of population control?

The downside will be a single size class of BG (Right?)
Some YOY will survive (I assume).

Is this a legitimate management practice of forage fish or is it one tool of several that can be used?

The goal is table fare bluegill, fun to catch LMB & CC, and healthy fish.

If I understand it correctly, it's all about managing your lmb and cc. They will determine what your bg size and population will be. An example would be an over abundance of lmb will reduce bg numbers and determine what size will survive in the pond. Where low lmb numbers might let the bg over populate and stunt in size.


In my experience with my pond, my first elec. survey showed low numbers of 2 to 3" cnbg. It was recommended to me to build 5 brush piles along the shoreline to improve that sized bg population. I had no plants at that time in the pond. And I had a boom in cnbg shortly after building the brush piles. Today, I have plants and I see most all sizes of bg today along with a nice population of nice sized lmb up to trophy size.