Bill thanks for your input and questions.
I did contact Lusk, (really Walter/Chad) Chad conducted the last survey and I am working with him on management. I really think without tilapia I would have ran out of CNBG much sooner and would have had less growth than I have seen.
I have only added trout one winter (2013-14) I wanted to add this year but availability was an issue.
Side note for anyone who may be reading this for bullhead info, when the lake first filled many bullhead and sunfish came in from a pond upstream. I was very concerned seeing schools of baby bullhead swarming in the first year, but now I only rarely see any and they are large when I do. This tells me that LMB have kept their numbers very low. I have not seen any of these swarms again.
I also once had an unbelievable population of 3-5 inch golden shiners but they are also rare to see now. More proof that bass are great predators. Even with 30:1 CNBG to Bass stocking and harvesting all bass under 17 inches, I am running short of food! (also yearly tilapia 100lbs).
I asked Chad about the gizzards and told him my goals (10lb bass) and he still did not recommend them. I am on the list for threadfin shad this year but no promises due to availability. I am willing to put in the work to make gizzards work, such as running a gill net in the summer, traps, extra survey time just to remove them, any other method that may help manage their numbers.
I think spring/fall trout of the right size would be a good substitute for gizzards. I really like the idea of stocking trout in the spring so that they are not in the pond long before water warms and they are eaten. If I could find adult golden shiners (6+ inch) I think this would be good too.
After the survey and after Chad crunched the numbers, I had a bimodal curve population. He confirmed my 17 or less inch cull size was good to continue. He felt my largest challenges were low CNBG numbers due to lack of cover/structure. I am working to correct this in June/July with both natural and artificial structure. I am going to add a second Texas Hunter feeder, and feed more aggressively. I am considering fertilizing the water, (will probably do that myself if I decide to). We also plan to stock crawfish later in the year. Basically my plan depends on if I get threadfins or not. If not I will double up on buying some more CNBG and Tilapia.
Also I am fortunate to have a small forage pond right next to this main pond and I will probably try to raise CNBG in it either this year or the next.
I have conducted this project from Aug 07 when pond was built until now. The whole time I have been in undergrad/professional school and starting Jan 16 I will be free! At that time I will be able to open up my budget and manage it the way I really want to. As of now I basically only fish it in the summer and can only makes changes such as adding structure in the summer.
Last edited by jakeb; 03/27/15 02:49 PM.
