Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations My pond evaluation after buying it in 2007.

4.5 acre pond with depths to 20 feet.

Clear tea colored water means low fertility.

Bladderwort takes over shallow areas of pond in summer.

Water lilies make shallow areas very hard to fish.

Next month I'm getting the pond treated for vegetation.

Fish

Bass. 9 out of 10 bass I catch are between 8 and 14 inches long.
Have caught around 5 bigger bass since buying the property in October of 2007 ranging from 2 pounds to 6 pounds. All bigger fish were released.

I've been keeping all bass under 14 inches long.

Caught one long, skinny bass with a huge head last summer. Did not release fish

Bluegill once march gets here I can catch bluegill on into the summer ranging from 5 to almost 9 inches long.

Catfish only see a few when I feed but they all appear to be between 2 and 5 pounds and not real fat. Blue cats.

Crappie the few I've caught are what I would call medium sized and range from 8 to 12 inches. Did catch one that was 15 inches long.

Plan to stock triploid grass carp this fall or next spring.

I never see dead fish in the pond so I don't think I have any oxygen problems.

Sounds like you have a typical bass heavy pond. The bass are doing a good job of keeping your BG and crappie numbers in check allowing them to get to nice sizes(BG up to 9" and crappie up to 15"). However, this heavy bass population is causing them to stunt a bit...

You need to decide what your goals are... If you take too many bass out, their growth will increase but you will increase the likelihood of your BG and crappie stunting. It is a tricky balancing act! If you want bigger bass, keep taking them out but realize the quality of your BG and crappie fishery will most likely drop.

Make sure your grass carp are 10"-12" when stocked so they do not become expensive bass food!

Over all it sounds like you have a nice fishery there! Congrats...

Yeah, I'm removing some bass, but I doubt I will be able to remove 10 to 15 pounds per acre. (45 to 60 pounds) for a 4.5 acre pond. I keep just about every bluegill I catch. Main thing I want to do is get the vegetation under control and place some man made structure to where I know where the structure is.

Why are you keeping all the bluegill? For eating?

You know they are the backbone of the forage base for LMB.

ericdc -

I would release all or most of the bluegill, but continue keeping all the bass under 14". I would also keep all the 8-12" crappie as they will prey heavily on your YOY bluegill also.

I guess I thought I needed to remove all of the bluegill I catch due to the fact that I do not fish them near as heavily as I do the bass. Last year I probably harvested a max of 10 pounds of bluegill.

If your wanting big bass only keep the bg that u want to eat. With a bass heavy pond u need all the forage u can get.

I don't want a trophy bass pond. I want to be able to catch lots of bass and lots of bream. Don't have to be big bass, just knowing I'll catch an occasional sow is good enough.

If you are looking for a balanced fishery and are unworried about growing trophy bass, I would continue to harvest BG.

If you are keeping the bluegill to eat, I would stick with the bluegill culling.

If not to eat, I would cull a calculated amount each year so that there is enough forage but not too much biomass in the entire ecosystem.

I eat all the bass and bluegill that I keep. If trying to manage for "status quo" or slight improvement of bass size how many pounds of bluegill do I need to remove compared to pounds of bass. I keep all crappie.

Good question.

Smagoogleheim, care to take a crack at this one?

I assume the bluegill I've been taking out is not affecting the pond dynamics. This year I might hit them harder if I can be assured it won't change anything for the worse.

If by Smagoogleheim, you're referring to me... I will take a crack at this one...

Basically for a well balanced pond, you want a 5:1 ratio of bluegill to bass. So, if you take out 10 lbs of bass, you need to take out 50 lbs of bluegill.

Yes CB, I was referring to you, but just joking!

"If by Smagoogleheim, you're referring to me... I will take a crack at this one..."

This is just cracking me up!!!

I'm glad I could brighten your afternoon!

That's what we used to call "smagoogleheimlichkeit" in German class.

When I was really young back in the early '70s, our family was friends with another family on our street, and the boy from that family had a quilt-like, patchwork doll that he called "Smagoogleheim."

I don't know why I thought of that when CB decided to put his screen name to vote.

I wonder if that will be a Jeopardy question one day?

The name of Sunil's childhood friend's quilt-like, patchwork doll.

Alex, what is a Smagoogleheim?

Sounds like a barfly that hangs with Jackie Gleason.

Nice, Theo.
Sunil, have you checked your CO level lately?

50 pounds is a boatload of bluegill.

All good on the CO, burger, thanks for asking.

HIJACKED!