Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Fish type, concern ??

what a great thread.
welcom archer. you've gotten fantastic advice and this discussion has raised some interesting ideas.

FWIW, here's my (speculative) 2c with what i might try if it were my pond. i am not an expert, just a guy w/ some really big GSF.

from the perspective of wanting healthy bass and BG......the pond is new, the GSF are young but very healthy looking. you have a free (and preferred) bass forage base already started. they obviously got there without you knowing and will likely show up anyway, so to work the situation, introduce a few (~10 or 20) adult female only bass right now to get started foraging on the GSF. not enought to decimate your new BG stocking, but enough to pressure the GSF. bass luv gsf. move ahead w/ some additional adult CNBG stocking and move ahead w/ additional bass stocking next year (both male and female). i'll bet you that within 2 years you'll hardly see any GSF left. the GSF population will not survive long term the pressures from bass predation and BG population growth. the few that survive will become trophy sized fish and add a nice dimension to yer pond. if yer pond is relatively clear and has fairly large spawning areas, hybridization shouldnt be a problem.

as for my bkg, i am currently managing a one acre pond w/ GSF as the top predator. My first generation spawn (from late summer 2006) are approaching 8-inches of hook slamming, line ripping, fat bodied fun. JHAP showed a pic of mommy on the previous page. a (uncontrollable) factor that helps my population mgmt (and probably JHAPs) is the annual loss of over 6 feet of water. i dont know of any pondmeisters here who would willingly use this as a mgmt tool, but it seems to benefit my sunfish only fishery. i believe in my case it works to concentrate the small fish forage (incl mosquito fish, GSF, BG, and RES fry and YOY). the stomachs of all of my adult fish that i've sampled throughout the year are practically bursting, plus i occassionally feed.

hey good luck archer, look forward to yer updates.

edited post to add pic references

archer these are some GSF examples ranging from about 1.5 inches to 10 inches. the pics of the 2.5 and 5 inch class fish were taken last May. These classes are now 5 and 8 inch, respectively. i'm excited cause the larger ones are taking on the body shape of the big fish, and by this time next year should be 10+inch lunkers (if all goes right).









someone else will need to help you w/ trap bait techniques. i have had great success fishing specifically for greenies by using small cheap flies with a chunk of worm (on a light fly fishing rig). they are more aggressive than the BG and RES and readily go after this type of presentation.