Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait Needing help to ballance a 20+ acre lake for LMB!

My name is Gary Allard and I am a new member to the forum. I must say I love the site and have already learned so much from here, to all involved, keep up the excellent work!!!
I would like help on making improvements to a lake in Macon County Missouri. It is a private 20+ acre, natural spring fed body of water that is 31 feet at its deepest and has LMB, Crappie, HBG and Grass Carp. Here is the problem...the bass are over populated. the only cover the lake has are lilly pads and the club have put only hybrid blue gill in for the past 12 years or so. I have been trying to get more cover in when I can by way of evergreen trees and lake club approved artificial structure. I think I have the board members convinced that pure strain, not hybrid bluegill are better, but they also want to put in yellow perch. since it is a private lake and isn't fished enough to have an affect on the bass population, what else can I suggest to the board to do to help to get the fishery back on track and balanced???

Welcome to the forum! What are the fishery goals for the Body of Water (BOW)? Large Largemouth at the expense of large Bluegills? Large Bluegills at the expense of large LMB? Or something else?

The best thing would be to get the goals of the fishery, and then contact a pond management company that can electro shock the pond. That way if the goal is large LMB, then they can be taking out LMB when it's shocked.

The goal is for bigger LMB, we have a fish biologist who will be there to shock the lake in the late June to middle July timeframe. My concern is that we will b in the same "boat" by next year because of the lack of bass being taken after spawn...

That is provided he takes bass out during the shock and we can get the amount of LMB down this year...

Thanks for the idea of LMB taken during the shocking process, something so simple yet, that idea evaded myself and the club thus far!!! With the lack of fishing pressure, would adding another predatory fish that would eat some of the LMB be a viable option to consider? If so, what sport fish would be best?

Tell him you want all the low RW LMB taken out. Get some scouts , church groups or the homeowners assoc. to fish and take out LMB. Add some adult BG. That would be a good start.

Good idea! I will make that suggestion at the next Lake Club meeting!!! Thanks much!!!

If the pond is truly LMB stunted, you'll need to take out somewhere around 30# of LMB per acre. That's a LOT of fish to be removed via angling pressure. Will all the people fishing have a ruler, a scale and a WR chart?

That's why it's easier to take them out when they're shocked.

Adult BG, like ewest said, 6"-8" in length.

Here's something to ponder. One Largemouth Bass needs to eat 10# of fish per year to gain one pound in weight. Multiply that by the number of LMB in the pond and you see what you're up against. HBG don't have a high enough fecundity rate to support a population of LMB.

There are other fish that get large enough to eat LMB, but the problem with them is that you can't tell them just to eat the underweight LMB......

I can only speak for myself and about 6 others that always have those items with us now when we fish there, (and we do that now thanks to the info on this site)!!

I will do my best to educate as many of the lake members as i can and have those items available for everyone who fish there as well!! Since yesterday evening i have talked with some of the board members and they also like the idea of puting out feeders for the BG and the Yellow Perch....(The 6" to 8" BG are a sure thing now, don't know about YP yet...)

Thanks again guys for your input, (I love this site!!!) I will keep you posted as the year goes along and let you know how thing are going!!! Again, thanks a million!!!