Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Blue gill goals, lmb pond.

If you can't decide which goal to have of trophy BG or trophy bass build two ponds and manage them differently. When trying to do both in the same pond usually neither one seems to achieve their full potential; each can be Big yes, but both not trophy category together. Nothing is wrong with Big BG&bass for most everyone.

I am currently thinking that the smaller the pond, the harder it is to produce both Big BG and Big Bass together. Larger ponds can provide more diverse habitat and living space than small 0.2 to 1 ac ponds. Thus it can be be somewhat easier to produce Big sizes of multi-species when grown together in larger waters. This is why it is often suggested to not use LMB in ponds <1acre.

Note: In my strong opinion, one can commonly create general angling excitement in smaller ponds by raising both BG & LMB. Specializing the management methods for small ponds, can result in growing larger and often Big fish in small ponds. However, It takes extra effort and it won't happen by just stocking fish.