Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations To thin Bg or not to thin, that is my question

Eric, trying to figure out the Biomass I lost when the cold water killed of the TFS is at best a SWAG. Maybe I can describe what was there prior to the die off. March 1st 2017 we did a e survey and as the boat moved along the shoreline we would see around a hundred 2" Tfs float to the surface every 10 to 15'. Total shoreline is around 1900' so using 1900' divided by every 15', comes up with 12,666 TFS lost. This would not consider the TFS that were around other structure off from the shoreline so I would say I most likely lost around 15,000 TFS total. And the number is a pretty realistic number I think. TFS were in the 2" size, a nice size for a 2# lmb but a larger sized TFS would have been better. So, it was great at the time but today I think they would be to small to feed lmb for fast growth. I Talked with Todd Overton a couple of months ago about replacing the TFS with Gizzards and he was not a fan of doing it in my pond. We also discussed adding 90lbs GSH along with Tp but after listening closely, the best I could, to what he was saying I decided to go with just the Tp. We added 15lbs per acre and I am hoping the Tp fry will take up the TFS space. I am concerned the 6" Tp might just become food for the lmb that are in the pond now, so we shall see this coming fall.


I think most all of us want a Perfect Pond (isn't there a book with that title?). Can I get there? I would say, Trying to do so is not easy. Can it be done? Maybe! A perfect pond for me would be different for what others might call a perfect pond. And even if I got close to achieving my goals, I don't think it will stay that way for very long. I Don't want to discourage anyone, I am just reporting what I have seen at my place. And right now at this moment it has some nice lmb and hsb in the pond. The only thing right now is when you catch either one today with the high water temps I will lose that fish whether it is an hsb or an lmb. Looking at George's pure O2 setup for fish recovery and need to take that step if I am going to allow fishing at the pond during summer months.