Managing 8 acre pond for trophy bass - 04/15/15 06:32 PM
hello. it's been a while since I've been on here. I have a pond in mid Missouri that I'm lucky enough to have on my family's property. It was built in 2001. Typically I take one trip per year up there where we fish it hard for 4 days or so and remove anywhere from 200 to 250 pounds of bass. four or fiver years ago we started this venture. Back then we were catching a 5 or 6 every so often but then mostly all were around 1 lb 8 ounces. Last year I had one on the line that was probably 6 or more. we caught more 2 pounders than we ever have, probably 25 or more and a couple over 3. I can see that we are making progress.
My question is should be removing any bluegill? It seems like if we fish for them they are all huge, hand size or bigger.
I installed several PVC fish hotels last year. when you fish around them they are loaded with small minnows, mostly look like bass.
as far as the catfish go from what I can tell the only ones in there are from the original stocking and are all 6 pounds or larger. I know we need to get those out of there as they are eating some of what the bass could be eating.
Pond appears to be healthy and has a good variety of vegetation and cover.
No one else fishes the pond. This year I have more people coming on the annual bassination trip to exterminate more small bass. We are looking at only removing males this season if possible that are under 1lb 14ounces. that has been our cutoff the last few years.
I do think we are making an impact as you can see more of a variation in sizes of fish caught. Would it be over doing it to remove 300 or even 400 pounds of fish? 400 would be 50 pounds an acre. But the pond fluctuates as it is a watershed that can get up to 15 acres. From what I can tell the more removed the better, it seems there are 1000s in there!
So should be remove any BG's?
Total pounds to remove in your mind?
Take out as many catfish as possible?
Thanks in advance!!
My question is should be removing any bluegill? It seems like if we fish for them they are all huge, hand size or bigger.
I installed several PVC fish hotels last year. when you fish around them they are loaded with small minnows, mostly look like bass.
as far as the catfish go from what I can tell the only ones in there are from the original stocking and are all 6 pounds or larger. I know we need to get those out of there as they are eating some of what the bass could be eating.
Pond appears to be healthy and has a good variety of vegetation and cover.
No one else fishes the pond. This year I have more people coming on the annual bassination trip to exterminate more small bass. We are looking at only removing males this season if possible that are under 1lb 14ounces. that has been our cutoff the last few years.
I do think we are making an impact as you can see more of a variation in sizes of fish caught. Would it be over doing it to remove 300 or even 400 pounds of fish? 400 would be 50 pounds an acre. But the pond fluctuates as it is a watershed that can get up to 15 acres. From what I can tell the more removed the better, it seems there are 1000s in there!
So should be remove any BG's?
Total pounds to remove in your mind?
Take out as many catfish as possible?
Thanks in advance!!