Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Fresh Water Shrimp?

I have a 3 acre pond in the area of the lost pines just east of Bastrop, TX. I was dipping a bucket in to get some water to put my bluegills in to fish for bass this weekend and I noticed hundreds if not thousands of shrimp in my bucket. They are all in the 1/4 to 1 inch long in length, but I had no idea there were even freshwater shrimp that existed. We had stocked the pond about 6 months ago with about 100 channel cat, we have some very large 10-20 pound bluecats, and a lot of bass. We are trying to cull out some of the small male bass to provide more food for the other bass. Can you tell me what freshwater shrimp are doing in my lake. I assume they are great food for the perch, but curious as to how long they will stay in the pond? Are they there forever or do they die off in the winter? Appreciate any comments you may have. The water clarity is pretty good so not ready to fertilize at this time. The M alkalinity is low in the 5-10 ppm range so we are considering liming of the lake to get a little better water quality for the bass. Tell me I was not hallucinating by seeing shrimp in my pond!!
Brian Miles
Lake Jackson, TX

Brian,

You're lucky. There is no down side to ghost shrimp at all. They are very much under rated as forage. As for seasonal habits, they're just like a lot of fish. They get real lazy and feed much less in the winter time, but come back like gangbusters in the spring. They can actually survive winters a lot harsher than Texas. They are by far my favorite fish bait, because the fish relish them. I love to catch bream, crappie, and bass on them using a flyrod. I stocked a few last spring, but seldom net any of late. I hope to get a healthy breeding population of them, and will try until I succeed.

Brian, they OUGHT to make it ok in the Bastrop area. Consider them a forage bonus. I figure they came in with the stocker fish.