Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations 10-12" LMB Help

OK guys I need some opinions on what you would do if this was your lake. We have a 11 acre lake in N Tx near Gainesville built 5 years ago and originally stocked w/coppernose,crawdads,minnows and then 5 months later w/lmb fingerlings. We have fertilized, fed coppernose and been generally satisfied with progress although never really getting to the point of #'s of 2-5 lbs lmb.
Our coppernose are world class size with a very healthy population. Bob Lusk shocked last year and said we were looking very good. Since late last year all we catch are 10-12" bass. We took out very few last year. After talking to Bob we started taking out up to 300 bass this year. We are at 270 and I don't think I'm going to stop at 300. Every once in a while someone will catch a larger fish but maybe 1 of 100 is larger than the 10-12". My dad only fly fishes the lake and I thought we might be fishing for the wrong size of fish but he hooked a 6-7 lbs fish last week and on one of our other lakes he catches 2-4 lbs fish regularly flyfishing. I primarily worm fish and can go to the other lake and catch bigger fish pretty easily. What is up? What would you do if this were your lake? This has become work.

Buzz - I have a lake in Central Texas and have aggressively culled bass for four years. I am now removing a "slot" bass between 10-14 inches - progress is gradual but is there. One thought. I (and my family and friends) fish the lake regularly with the typical lures such as worms, spinners, etc. and 9 out of 10 fish we catch are smaller fish (under 2lbs) with an occassional 4-8 lb fish. I began thinking I just did not have that many larger fish in my pond. Then one weekend I bought some live waterdogs (salamanders) to fish with. The waterdogs are of the size that only larger fish can bite them. I marked each fish I caught so I could tell if I that particular fish had been caught. Over the course of the weekend I caught upwards of 15 mature, large bass between 5-8 lbs, well more than I thought I had in my 8 acre pond. When I told Bob Lusk what happened, he reminded me that large, mature bass are a totally different animal with totally different habits than smaller, younger bass. So, there may be a chance your larger are there, just not being caught on a regular basis. Just a thought.

We definitely are culling. I have been fishing with larger plastic lizards. How long are the water dogs? I have a couple of avid fishermen that work for me and they are convinced the bigger fish are there just in really heavy cover and that I don't fish for them. My point is I can go to our other lake and catch bigger fish almost immediately even though it is not suppose to be near the same lake. We are starting to wonder if the F1's are tougher to catch than the natives that are in the old pond.

The waterdogs will vary in length from 8 inches up to 10-12 inches - they are large and strong swimmers and they attract large bass and large catfish. I suppose using really large plastic worms might accomplish the same. I do know this, other than during the spawn, the large bass I catch are in deeper water (20-40 feet) while the smaller are caught in shallower water and on smaller baits. I just know that I was of the same mode of thinking that you were until I used the waterdogs and caught some nice large bass that I had never caught before. The F1's certainly are harder to catch than native. Good luck

Tim, I have one question on Water Dogs. I fished with them once in W Tx back in college. Have you ever heard of anyone stocking them as forage or since they turn into land animals is that futile. I know the private lake I fished the one time had jillions of them and we would sein them and use them as bait for catfish.

Buzz i have never heard of anyone using them for forage - I do know they are very sensitive to heat and cold so don't know if they would survive. I know they are hard to find at the bait shops and are only available certain times of the year. We use to sein for helgamites (sp?) and use for catfish bait but I have never seen waterdogs in streams or ponds that are similar to what I buy - Bob Lusk or another pond pro may know about them as forage but my guess would be that it would be difficult for them to survive. Tim