Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Show off your catch A little bit of an issue???

Well I also caught this bass and my worst fear it happening. I am starting to get big head small body syndrome somewhat. This bass should have been about 6.2 pounds and it was 5.8. I let him go I spose I should have kept him, but would prefer to catch other smaller ones and keep them first. And my HSB.

How old do you suspect that fish to be?

Hey Bob I am humbled that you chimed in on one of my posts. I want to say he was put in, in spring of 2012. I put about 8 or 9 in my pond that year all about 10 to 12 inches. Course I put a few in, in 2013 and 14 as well so NOT 100 percent on age, but he is the biggest to date on my pond. I have several 2 to 3 pound bass that are very close to 100 percent RW, but once I start to get into the 4 plus is where I am lacking it would seem. I thought it may be because of a few to many HSB and of course smaller bass. Someone suggested that I buy a bunch of crawdads to maybe help out? I don't know what do you think. Should I have just kept him?

thanks,
RC

RC, are the LMB feed trained? Do you observe them around feeding time?

No ant far as i know they are not. I did not get them that way to begin with tho. They are however not far from the feeder when it goes off looking for them BG lol

LOL! Yep, I see some of this with my LMB, but I do have a number of feed trained which also hit the feed hard. The HSB are also eager for feed, along with CNBG. Occasionally I'll see a TP, too, but they seem less inclined to join in the fun.

To my untutored eye, seems like your LMB aren't flourishing as well as the HSB and BG. Maybe taking out some skinny LMB and replacing with 1 to 1.5 lb aggressive feed trained northern LMB would help. That's what I did and seems to have really improved the RW of the LMB.

Yeah I am also thinking of next spring loading up on crawfish as well. I have not tried that yet and I can get them pretty easy around here. I been trying to keep my smaller bass for sure. I keep every HSB I catch now as well. I also put an extra 250 CNBG in the pond this spring in the 4 inch range my hope with that was at least 100 or so would make it to spawn along with my others. I cant complain though if my only issue is my BIG bass are a bit under weight. I need something to try and fix in my pond otherwise what would I do... lol

Does anyone have a best time to put crawfish in your pond? I have no idea but know in spring I can get 30 lbs bags for around 2.50 to 3 bucks a pound. Just wasn't sure when to put them in the pond.

thx,
RC

I don't know if this is across the board on all species, but I believe the local crayfish in my area spawn once per year in the springtime (I think May-ish around here), so if you could get them as early as possible you may benefit from that.

Crawdads (northern virile) hatch in the early to mid spring around here and the trick would be to transfer females carrying the eggs prior to the hatch into the pond. A few carrying females could seed a pond given good habitat, but I missed that date at my pond and bucket stocked about 300 in to my pond over two summers. I think that was a bit overkill, but I may have a small boil this summer if I can find a willing participant or two to help.

If you have a good source for the craws (maybe even free), I'd stock a hundred per year (post hatching season) to keep an eye on their affect on the BOW...or a dozen carrying females pre-hatch). Keep in mind that I contribute some my turbidity issues to the craws and the lack of veggies growing in the water.

RC I have the same issue with 8-10”LMB headbig and lean body. Must have had a large year class several years ago...... guess I’m gonna have to remove the under size even if they are smaller than I like to harvest....

The larger ones seem to be fatties

Thanks for that info QA. I am for sure going to try it next spring.

RC