Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Catch Rate LMB

There has been a lot of talk about catchability of LMB in small ponds. So I would like to pose the question. What is a good LMB catch rate for a small pond? I know there a lot of varibles, but we need to start somewhere. Let's stick to fishing for LMB with hook and line.

I have two ponds that I have good records on . Both ponds have not had any bass stocking for over ten years. The ponds are not fertilized, but both have auto protein feeders and bluegill are added from a brood pond. Maximum depth in both ponds is 18' cover is good and forage is good.

One Acre pond--2003--< 12"--34; 12" to 15"--19; >15"--18 total 71- days fished 29 @ 2hrs/day = 1.23 LMB/hr--2004--<12"--62; 12" to 15"--13; > 15"--22- total 97- 30 days fished @ 2hrs/day = 1.62 LMB/hr

Five Acre Pond--2003--<12"--29; 12" to 15"--20; >15"--27 - total 76- days fished 30 @2.5hrs/day=1.03 LMB/hr--2004--<12"--42; 12"to 15"--61; >15"--67- total 170- 34 days fished @ 2.5 hrs/day=2.0 LMB/hr

What is a good LMB/hr fishing rate for a small pond? What is an optimun rate for a well managed pond?

I will not claim that it's a well-managed pond, but last year in 1 acre, we caught 189 LMB in 91 hours fishing time (2.08 LMB/hr). I have not totalled up this year's numbers, but the rate will be (much) lower because (1) have not been targeting LMB and (2) honestly, I think thy're getting hook-shy.

FTR, LMB, BG, & RES stocked in 2003, GShiners & FHMinnows in 2002. Amount of cover is low. Fish food fed regularly (CC get most).

Tentmaker,

It’s an interesting question you ask, but I find I can not answer it directly because of the many complex variables involved, e.g. fishing pressure, LMB genetics, etc.

I think I would prefer to answer a different question made up of three parts: 1) What catch rate do you desire, 2) what actual catch rate do you experience, and 3) what are you doing to reach your objectives?

Theo answered number 2, his actual catch rate as you did also. Neither answered the what is “good” question and I can not do so either.

I’ll try the three part answer format because I can not judge what is “good” in a general sense.

1) Desired: an average of 8 LMB per angler hour minimum with a reasonable chance of at least 1 LMB over 5 pounds.
2) Actual: In heavily fished pond, 1 LMB per every 2 angler hours with little chance of catching a LMB over 5 pounds. In lightly fished ponds, 8 LMB per angler hour with a 50% chance of catching a 5 pound or larger LMB
3) Actions: Improving genetics through use of F1’s, increasing forage through use of Tilapia and gizzard shad, and developing more ponds so that each pond can achieve the desired catch rate listed in #1 above and that all ponds can receive a balanced fishing pressure..

What is “good”?

What is heavily or lightly fished pond? Eight per hour is "good".

Aaaaha, that's the whole point of why there is no answer to the "good" question. Outstanding pond management may result in a catch rate that some might consider "good" or "bad"...it all depends on complex variables, one of the chief of which is fishing pressure.

Catching one bass every 2 hours in a pond that is fished weekly may be the result of "good" pond management. Catching 8 bass an hour in a Pond that is fished only a couple of times a year may the result of "bad" or even "No" pond management in this case....or is it the other way around?

Tentmaker,
In my judgment 1/hr to 2/hr would be good. Optimum would be a fish on every cast.
Good question.

Catch rates can be difficult to analyze in ponds. They are used in large recreational lakes where large data bases {many fishermen, large lakes , many days and times} are kept to gauge the perceived satisfaction of public fishermen on the mgt. practices employed . Did they result in satisfied fishermen ie higher catch rates or is it only perceived. Enough data and you will know the answer and you will also reduce the error rate in the data collection. Apples to apples you know.

Many things can effect catch rates especially in small ponds . Time of day , DO , weather , temp., the baits used , fishing pressure , the amount of noise made by a boat or its crew , genetic or conditioned catchability of the fish , and on and on. It is great to take and keep the data for long term comparisions in a pond but it is hard to analyze with out much more info. I do think that most fishermen/pond mgrs. intrinsically have a feel for their catch rates . They will however proabaly be different for each fisherman on the same pond.

Here is an example. Catch rate on a small long {avg. width 50 yards}lake--12 acres total about 1.5 bass per hour. On one end of lake is an open area total area on this end 4 acres, same avg. catch rate. In Aug. often the catch rate is .1 -- you can fish all day without a bite. That end of lake was rotenoned many fish killed only a few bass many shad and rough fish. No fish left even the bowfin , gar, carp etc killed . Went back to check the area 8 days later { lucky I took a rod}.While rowing in I saw a large bass race accross the surface . Time to fish ? In 11 casts over 20 min. period I caught 9 bass over 5 lbs. no other fish and no small bass. In next hour not one bite . There should not have been any bass there that soon after rotenone. No shad seen at the time. Any one care to explain what happened and why. ewest

This is a very important factor in having a pond but difficult to track b/c of so mnay factors. However I do have one client with 8 acre pond that tracks his time on the water. As ML suggest fishing pressure major factor. He only fished it 10 times last year. His bass/hour has went down the last two years. So why did he not fire me? THe average size has more than doubled in less then three years. He used to catch 3.8 bass/hour. Now it is (last year) 2.2 bass/hr. However avg size is 2.1 lbs and before it was 0.64 lbs.

Also compared to large reservoir catch rates in pond much higher. As undergrad I tallied all Bass afflitate GA bass clubs. about 800 tournaments per year. Most lakes averaged less than 0.5 bass/hr.

Greg,

Don't you think there is a strong correlation between falling catch rates and increasing bass size? Just as there is a very strong correlation between falling catch rates and increased fishing pressure. Those variables and others make such a thing as a "good" catch rate a non-legitimate metric for evaluating pond management. To me, the metric is how well you are doing against your objectives..that's the only one that counts.

Objectives can account for size and many other variables.

Greg, if I was fortunate enough to be your client, I would measure your performance against agreed to pond objectives, never against a catch rate (although catch rate may be part of a set of objectives that included fish size, pond health, diversity, weeds, algae, etc., etc.).

Having said all that, the statistic, .5 bass per hour, across a large sampling of lakes is most interesting. Thanks for that Greg.

Ml- there is a correlation between them but this is b/c there are fewer bass to be caught now than two years ago. Remember I'm not one to believe big fish are harder to catch. I bet if we measuered lbs of bass caught/man hour it would be the close to equal even though bass/hr is lower. Actually I hope it is slightly higher because I think we have also raised his carrying capacity by adding fertilization and supplemental feeding.

See what I mean? This is one point that lot of pond owners do not get. They want to catch alot of big bass, but you can only have so many that are big. He is tickled to death to catch several 2 lb bass instead of tons of 1/2 lb bass. I think he will be catching slightly less but still several 3-4 lb bass by next year. As a side note the Wr has went from 72% to 91%.

Well, Greg, once again we disagree. Everywhere I have ever fished ...fresh, salt, or in between, in this Country or in any other country I have been, the big older fish are always harder to catch than the little immature ones.

Maybe I just haven't fished in your ponds.

Ml- I should have wordered that better. Yes 6 lb or larger size are harder to catch they have made through a few years of fishing pressure.

My point was that fewer but healtheir bass in 3-5 lb range, which are awesome hard fighting bass that most people only dream of catching, would be as easy to catch as the little dinks he caught in the past. It is simple math you will not catch as many b/c not as many total bass in the pond since average bass size is greater. However lb wise I bet with all else being equal it is the same. You disagree (I think) but what do other think?

Clarify b/c I would like to see opinion of others, can you catch as many lbs of bass in a pond with lets say 100 3 lb bass or would you catch more lbs in a pond with 300 1 lb bass? Duh number higher in #2 but what about lbs.? thanks