Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Bought a farm, has a pond, how to evaluate

I recently purchased a farm that has a 15 acre pond. It was owned by some relatives of my wife so I know a little about it, but not much. I suppose it was built in the 1960s and I doubt that the fish population has been adjusted or added to much since it was first stocked by the G and P back then. I assume it had the usual mix of BG, LMB and CC.
Asking relatives about its current condition range from "It's pretty shallow and I haven't caught a good fish in it in my life." to "We caught LMB and eight pound cats in it last year."
I guess the first thing I will do is to head out in my leaky little boat with a weight on a rope and see how much depth it has. If it is supporting lmb and cc it must have some depth. Assuming that it has enough depth what then? How do I go about evaluating what is in it, so that I know what to add?

Welcome Bullhead.

That's a great big pond!

They can fill in a lot in 30-40 years, so I hope it isn't too shallow. Cattle are really bad about clogging them up.

The quickest and most fun way to evaluate a fishing pond is to fish. You can get a good idea of undesirable species, size, abundance, health, and ratio of fish just from diligent fishing. A pond that big may have plenty of fish in some areas and little in other areas, so fish all around it, or just let me do it.

If you're serious about getting your pond in prime shape, you may have to hire a shock boat. That way, you will get a more precise evaluation of your fish population. The shock boat operator will probably be an expert on ponds as well, and can steer you in the right direction.

Welcome to the Pond Boss Forum Bullhead...

If the pond has been around since the 60's, chances are it has just about every local fish around as bucket biologists no doubt brought any fish they caught and put them in there. But you won't really know until you start to evaluate it.

"Pond cats" are usually a nickname for bullhead catfish. For LMB and bullheads to survive winters, the pond is probably at least 5 to 6 feet deep.

You have a couple options to see what you got. Plain old fish it a bunch as the weather warms. You can break out a large seine and try to seine the waters to see what you catch. You can set out fish traps as well. Or you can consider hiring a professional to electroshock your pond and give you a professional evaluation. If you are serious about managing your newly bought pond, that is the route I would take.

Keep records of your catches. It will tell the story.

Hello Bullhead and welcome to Pond Boss. 15 acre pond, wow that's a big pond! We're glad you found us.

Bucket Biologist =

Sounds like you may very well have quite a gem of a pond Bullhead!

I would suggest trolling around in your little boat with a fishfinder on board. Will be a lot easier to quickly judge depth and contour.

Welcome Bullhead, let me know if you need some help evaluating your pond by rod and reel, I would be more than happy to help you figure out what you have.

FYI - Nebraska does have a dedicated private waters specialist that could probably come out some time in June and do an electroshock evaluation for you. His name is Jeff Blaser and he can be reached at 402-471-4535, his email is [email protected] He is a great guy to work with and very helpful.

Here is a link to the NE Pond Management Guide to get you started.

http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/fishing/guides/pondguide/

Yeah, I have been in touch with Jeff and will call him as soon as I get a chance to check the depth of the pond.
Next question; if as I suspect this pond hasn't had any new fish added to it in decades, is there a benefit in stocking some new fish, just to get some new bloodlines in the families?

Yes, new genetics in the pond will definitely help a pond that is the age of yours...

Bullhead, is the water really clear right now? If so a pair of polarized sun glasses and a walk along the north shore in the afternoon on a calm sunny day could give you and decent idea on what you have for fish. Both LMB and BG like to sun themselves in shallow water this time of year when the water is still this cold. Your water temps should be in the 40's right now.

Have you decided what you want to manage for? Big bass? Big Bluegill? or just a well balanced pond? or possibly something else?

I guess I'd like a balanced pond (who doesn't)but maybe figure out a way to add a few things of interest, like blue or flathead cats. I though about adding crappie, but have read so many differing opinions on them I'm more confused than ever.
Shorty, depending on what corner of Lincoln you are in, the pond is probably no more than 15 miles from you, in the Bohemian Alps.

I would probably stay away from flatheads unless you have a bullhead issue, they are fish eating machines that are not very gape size limited in what they could potentially eat. Once flatheads get big they could eat the largest LMB in your pond. Even if you do have a bullhead issue I would consider trying some othter removal methods first.

Bohemian Alps? I'm not familar with that area around Lincoln.

If it were me I would try to do some preliminary sampling with a rod & reel using an ultra lite, 4-6 lb test, using a 1/64th or 1/32 oz jig tipped with a small peice of night crawler. This is one of Condello's favorite rigs and it will catch all sorts of fish in various sizes. This method does tend to work better in clearer water vs. much muddier water.

Bullhead, a 15 acre pond is rather large when it comes to private ponds. You can have a lot of potential to do more than what you could do with just your typical 1 or 2 acre pond. So the ability to add a "little spice" to your pond is there...

As you stated in the first post, the pond is rather old, probably silted up and shallower than it was when built. The first thing you really need to do is make sure the dam is solid and not going to fail anytime soon. You would hate to put a lot of money and time into a pond to only have it all flood away!

Once you know the general structures of the pond are secure then you can go about managing from a more biological aspect. Find out just how deep it is... Whether that is by lower a rope with a weight on it, or using a portable fish finder and cruising around the pond. 15 acres is a big area to check by rope and weight! You may want to consider a portable fish finder such as this one: Portable Fish Finder Once you have used it to chart your pond's depths you can later use it to fish with!

Then you can start fishing the pond in a manor to see what you got and hopefully the NGPC will be able to assist you with electroshocking. Until you really know what kind of fish community you have, I would not add fish or remove fish. After the NGPC has assisted you then you can go from there.

Things such as adding new genetics to your pond, removing certain species that are too abundant and looking at other species to add a "little spice" to your pond.

Take some pictures of your pond and keep us updated. This sounds like quite the gem and a really interested project to work on...

I've been trying to get out there and do some reconnaissance work but I can't seem to find the time. Darn kids.
The dam is inspected at least once a year by a state agency because it is considered flood control.So it should be in good shape.

Well, the dam being in good condition is most important as it is a safety issue. So now just come finding the time to get over there and learn about your pond.

I just reread my original post and noticed I wrote "eight pond cats" which some of you took to mean bullheads. I meant to write "eight pound cats" as in channel catfish weighing eight pounds. Sorry for the confusion.

Ah, well that is better news for your pond! Congrats on the nice sized cats...

We got our first chance to do a little fishing on Saturday. We got nary a bight out in the flats, but in and around the dam we did pretty good. In about two hours of fishing there, we got a 16, two 14s and about four small LMB. We caught about 30 bluegills none bigger than the palm of your hand. The surprise of the day was a nice 10 inch crappie (don't ask if it was a black or white). I had no idea that there were any crappie in this lake . No cats, though we weren't fishing the bottom, and it might be a little cool for them yet anyway. I talked to another heir of the previous owner who said they haven't caught any catfish in this pond in several years.
What say you oh pond managing experts?

Bullhead
Did you get a chance to check the depth of your lake?

Bullhead, that's a great start. Keep fishing and keep records of every fish you catch! Accurate numbers, length and if you got a scale weigh them too. Then you can work out their WR.

The easiest way to tell black and white crappie apart is count the dorsal spines. 6 spines, its a white; 7 or 8 spines, its a black.

Your pond may not have any catfish spawning structure so the catfish stocking of years past may no longer be present do to natural mortality with no recruitment.

Keep polishing the gem you have!

I haven't gotten a chance to measure the depth yet. I've been told it's ten or eleven feet near the dam. A 16 inch lmb has to be what 4-5 years old? It was awfully dry here in 2006, so I imagine the pond would have been kind of low, but the fish seem to have survived it.
From talking to a couple of guys who have fished it the last couple of years, it seems I can look forward to a lot of filamentous algae. I think I'll start a new thread in the plants section on that one.

A 16" LMB can be a number of ages, depending on how good a food chain the pond has that he's living in and the fish's genetics... I'd say anywhere from 2 year old up to 8+ years.

Your average 16" LMB in NE will be 4 years old. I once caught a 20-1/2" LMB in a private NE pond that had only been in stocked 2-1/2 previously, that thing looked like a SMB wearing a LMB suit.

"Bullhead, a 15 acre pond is rather large when it comes to private ponds. You can have a lot of potential to do more than what you could do with just your typical 1 or 2 acre pond. So the ability to add a "little spice" to your pond is there..."

CJB, or anyone else who wants to chime in, what do you mean by a "little spice".

A little spice as in a little more variety than just your run of the mill bass/bluegill pond... 15 acres is a lot more room to work with and makes managing more than 1 or 2 predator species a little easier. So if you wanted to try something different than just LMB you could also consider HSB, WE or YP... Plus I think the potential to grow a trophy fish is a little more reasonable than say in a 1 acre pond. IMO