The great 1/4 acre--LMB debate - 05/19/07 03:29 PM
Greetings,
As I sit on the eve of my 1/4 acre pond's construction, a myriad of thoughts pour over my intercranial spillway. Do this, don't do that!!!
While reading through a Pond Boss magazine I came across an article by Bob that stated a well managed pond could support 75-80lbs/acre of bass. After some quick math I realized I would only be able to house 20lbs of bass. Not to mention the concerted effort to cull the numbers so as to avoid a gillion 8" bass. My head began to ache and my wife became worried that we were going to sell one of our kids on ebay for increased acreage.
So I had to remind myself of why I wanted a pond in the first place, which is to create a beautiful, self sustaining(for the most part), wonderland for my family to enjoy. Solution...how about a trophy BG pond? They would be easy for the kids to catch, put up a great fight, and provide a tasty fish fry every now and then.
So then what about crowd control? The BG are no slackers when it comes to propogation. My trophy BG pond becomes a stunted BG pond with a gillion 3" fish. I don't think it's realistic to keep up with them by rod & reel, nor do I want to. So we need a predator. The two solutions that come to mind are a couple of CC that wouldn't breed(hopefuly). A couple of same sex LMB to police the pond. What about YP? They do well in my area.
Would the CC's cause water clarity issues? How easy is it to sex a LMB? I believe the YP would cause their own overcrowding issues. Am I over thinking this? Should I just stay with the original plan of BG/LMB? If so, what kind of numbers/size of LMB would a guy need to remove in order to maintain the delicate predator/prey balence?
Sorry for the long post, I just want to be as prepared as possible. Thanks.
Joe
As I sit on the eve of my 1/4 acre pond's construction, a myriad of thoughts pour over my intercranial spillway. Do this, don't do that!!!
While reading through a Pond Boss magazine I came across an article by Bob that stated a well managed pond could support 75-80lbs/acre of bass. After some quick math I realized I would only be able to house 20lbs of bass. Not to mention the concerted effort to cull the numbers so as to avoid a gillion 8" bass. My head began to ache and my wife became worried that we were going to sell one of our kids on ebay for increased acreage.
So I had to remind myself of why I wanted a pond in the first place, which is to create a beautiful, self sustaining(for the most part), wonderland for my family to enjoy. Solution...how about a trophy BG pond? They would be easy for the kids to catch, put up a great fight, and provide a tasty fish fry every now and then.
So then what about crowd control? The BG are no slackers when it comes to propogation. My trophy BG pond becomes a stunted BG pond with a gillion 3" fish. I don't think it's realistic to keep up with them by rod & reel, nor do I want to. So we need a predator. The two solutions that come to mind are a couple of CC that wouldn't breed(hopefuly). A couple of same sex LMB to police the pond. What about YP? They do well in my area.
Would the CC's cause water clarity issues? How easy is it to sex a LMB? I believe the YP would cause their own overcrowding issues. Am I over thinking this? Should I just stay with the original plan of BG/LMB? If so, what kind of numbers/size of LMB would a guy need to remove in order to maintain the delicate predator/prey balence?
Sorry for the long post, I just want to be as prepared as possible. Thanks.
Joe