Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations harvest or not

I have a 48 acre lake. My bass are 3 years old. My goal is trophy bass. I have been collecting catch data during march, april and may (around 100 fish). I calculated a relitive weight index for all lengths, to the half inch. My rwi for all lenghts was pretty good, 1.0 to 1.o7. Only the 17 1/2 length was .95 (only two fish). The lake record is 6.2lb, he was exactlly standard weight. My question...should i begin to harvest. Or continue montoring and wait for the rwi to begin to drop? I keep the water limed and green. Really, what is the que to harvest and then what size? thanks in advance

Great question; at 48 acres you're way out of my league, but will watch what the experts suggest with interest.

Welcome to the forum.

Welcome to the PB forum mford .

First what else is in the pond and are you feeding? Second can you do a seine assessment of the BG population (or other forage)(see link below pgs 10 - 12 for what to look for) ? Do you see many 10-12 in LMB and if so what is their Wr ?. Have you charted the Wr over the last 2 years? See chart below for example of year class info from Wr chart. How old are the largest LMB ( ? 6.2 lb one) ?


http://msucares.com/pubs/publications/p1428.pdf




Usually harvest is of the group that is out of balance (or about to be). It starts most times with 10-12in LMB in year 4 in these parts. That is first evidenced by 2 things. One the reduction in forage of the size that group of LMB eats (3-4in BG for 12in LMB). Second the first sign that a size group of LMB is moving toward a lower Wr.

Do not wait, begin now (maybe this fall before year 2 bass this size) on smaller 10-12 inch bass if goal is a quality bass fishery. Continue to monitor Wr. Beign with 10 lbs/acre then scale up if you see Wr going down. Many times on the first stockign bass we see 120% or better growth.

thanks for reply. answer ewest questions first. I am going to seine for the first time june 25. My state biologist will supervise. Now, the 10-12 lmb,,Seems like strange happenings to me....Last year i was told to take 25 lbs per acre of them out. I started, took maye 150-200 out. I began to notice something, When i would fish, catch 10-15 fish, maybe i would have one 10-12 inch, about as ofted I would not even catch one. Than seemed curious to me at best. I stoped removing them. I am going to cover this with the biologist june 25. When I collected catch date past three months, hardly any 10-12 inch data, the few I did have were slightly above 1. wr. About the age, I stocked bass June '04, fingerlings. FEEDING? no, just for fun off my gazabo. stocked 1500 channel cat for supper along with bg, fall '03. that 6.2lb probally head of his class I guess. stocked 1/2 florida, 1/2 native.

I like that graph, this is the first time to collect date. I will continue and keep annual chart going.

Any software out there to track and analyze data???

As Greg noted if you can head off any problems you are way ahead. The problem is understanding what you are seeing. If you are not catching and don't see many 10-12in LMB then that size is not out of balance (over populated). I will find some PSD and population determination threads.

Who is the state biologist and who told you to take out 25 lbs of LMB per acre in year 2 ? I have never heard anyone say take out that much in year 2 after stocking. In year 3 and later yes depending on the location and circumstances.

The link I gave you is to the Miss Pond Mgt Book, written by the top PhD fisheries scientist in Miss with input from the Parks and Wildlife biologists. It is a good basic book and has very good info on determining balance by seine.

mford,

Welcome to PB!

I created that chart (thanks ewest for posting it) with data I keep in a database and some on-line tools for graphing but you could use any spreadsheet program like Excel to draw your own charts. It is fairly easy to draw graphs in Excel.

Send me an email if you want more details on my methods.

WOW 48 acres - I cannot imagine managing that large a body of water! Good luck.

Frank