1 acre pond NE Tx, LMB, CNBG, almost 5 yrs old. Tilapia last year and this year, too.
So things were going pretty well, multiple 3 pound bass caught in spring of 3rd year, a 4 pounder last fall, harvested about 22 pounds of fish in 2018. Expected great fishing this spring but it has been terrible, low catch rates and no quality fish. Bluegill population seem thriving by virtue of activity at the feeder and catch rates near the dock. Had professionals come in this week and do a survey: very few bass, small fish underweight and the 2 that were over 16 inches were overweight. 1 fish has a wound on its back. They think river otters have eaten most of my bass. Pretty sad after all the work I've put in. They recommend placing otter traps but also to switch to feed trained bass to have quality fish faster, not have to worry about the forage base. Sounds attractive in a lot of ways but not "natural" and certainly more expensive which has me concerned because the guy recommending it will make lots of money off of me from the fish and the feed.
QUESTIONS: 1.What do you think of the river otter theory? (strange I've never heard of this despite all my research here and every issue of Pondboss for 5 yrs...)
2. What do you think about stocking feed trained bass in my small pond?
