Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations electroshocking

For a basis,,, how big is the lake?

If I had a lake or lived on one IMO clear water is better for the all around most benefits. Clear water for lakes IMO should be in the 4ft to 10ft+ secchi disk range. The less the secchi disk readings are on a lake, the closer the lake is to having or developing harmful algae blooms and vice versa. In lake situations clear water results in fewer fish poundages per acre (lower productivity), however the lake as a whole can contain very adequate numbers of larger fish depending on how the fish balance is managed / harvested.


Your comment - " I am not catching LMB like I use to do" suggests an out of predator-prey balance situation. Something has changed between more bigger fish numbers and now. Most often the change is too many bass being recruited into the predator portion of the community and not enough bass harvest resulting in "too many hogs feeding at the trough" that over eat the natural food base production.

Large ponds and lakes of larger acres than 10+ can require a significant amount of fish management to maintain correct fishery balance. Even more intense management is required when the fishery becomes out of balance due to the total number of fish involved especially when angler harvest is limited. Thus clearer water in a lake situation can be a good thing when trying to reduce fish numbers by angler harvest to maintain or change the balance.