Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations NEED SUGGESTIONS!

I stocked my small pond (.6 acre) with 1-3" BG a year and 3 months ago. Their numbers and growth are both doing well. I've been considering whether or not I should put bass in there with them. I would like to angle for bass, but don't know how much effort will be involved to keep them culled down as not to stump their growth. I know a 1 acre pond is really recommended for a bass population, unless a smaller one is closely managed.

Also, I have two young girls, so they may enjoy fishing strictly for BG for awhile. Would it be wise to let the BG live without the worry of a predator for 5-6 more years before adding some LMB?

Does anyone have a similar situation, or care to suggest something?

What are your feelings about harvesting the bluegill?

I will go further than Bruce. If you don't control the BG #s (fishing , traps , predator , seine etc) you will see low growth and small fish within 2 years as the pond reaches carrying capacity. How about HSB or female LMB only as a predator along with BG harvest?

I'm fine with harvesting the bluegill. They make a tasty entree.

If I stock LMB, will I need to occasionally stock BG to keep their numbers up?

Will it be a constant struggle to keep the LMB population in control in this size pond?

Keeping a BG/LMB pond in balance is a constant job (note I did not say struggle) but is easier in a small pond as corrective measures are smaller. It is easier to take out 25 lbs of bass than 250. It is also easier to add 25 adult BG than 250.

Medium levels of fishing (say an average of a couple of hours per week, IMO) accompanied by the removal of fish as necessary, should be sufficient to maintain a balance of both BG and LMB. You shouldn't have to restock either due to their becoming eliminated.

I bet your girls enjoy catching LMB, too, even in small and medium sizes. I sure do.

My small pond is about the same size as yours and when I stocked it, I was told by the owner of Tyler Fish Farms that I should put in copper nose bluegill, fathead minnows and channel catfish. He said he wouldn't recomend bass on that size of a pond. He's a profesional fish biologist with some impressive clients, so I listend to his recomendation.

He said that if I fed the catfish, they would be over a pound by fall, and if not it would take them a year to get that big. This was in April of 2006.

We fed them every night and enjoyed watching them eat the floating catfish food. We tried different brands, but all seemed to have the same results.

This year in September, we started catching cats that weighed 3 pounds and a few that were just over that. The hit on hotdogs and put up a nice fight. The kids love it because they are easy to catch and very exciting to pull in a nice sized fish.

They also catch bluegill on the same bait, but they are just too small compared to the catfish to get them very excited. On a good day, my wife and two kids have cought 18 catfish and ten bluegill. The smallest catfish was over a pound and most were two pounds or more.

Eddie

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Eddie you were given the standard hatchery/fisheries science reply. That recommendation has developed because the experience of the industry is that LMB will overcrowd in a small pond WITHOUT MANAGEMENT and the customers will be unhappy and complain. They know most folks don't do much management and that results in problems. To avoid the complaints and blame the industry usually tells its costumers what you were told. There is only one difference IMO in LMB overcrowding in a .75 acre pond and a 5 acre pond. They both will be LMB crowded if unmanaged the only difference is the time it takes. Larger ponds take a little longer to reach that point.

PB has opened a new door to pond management. The key to quality LMB ponds is management not pond size.

BTW nice job with your pond. CC and HBG are a good put and take (fun and easy to catch) fishery. CNBG can work well also with a little management.