Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Bass Gene pool

All of the bass I stocked into my pond 2 years ago were from my neighbor's pond. I stocked them as 8-10 inchers. He has some outstanding bass in his pond that have reached 11 pounds in his 3 acre pond. My bass seem to be growing really well, but is their an advantage to adding bass from other gene pools? Is there such thing as a "hybrid lift" as with crossbreeding livestock?

My pond is 30 to 40 years old so i have no idea what bass i had in it. I figured it had just the native northern bass in it thats found here in texas. I put in tigre bass last year and gonna put in some of overtons floridas this year. You might as well do it, it cant hurt anything. I mean its a fact that florida bass grow larger and live longer then any other bass.

If you put more bass in, make sure you take some out... Otherwise you're gonna crowd your bass and stunt their growth regardless of what genetics they have.

Putting new LMB in on occasion is good provided you take some out to make room and if they are from good stock and are without parasites or disease. Hybrid vigor occurs from crossing different species not the same species ( LMB X LMB is not a hybrid cross). Selective breeding can result in improved genetics or worse genetics depending on lots of things. You would be adding new LMB genes to avoid inbreeding depression.

Since pond is only 2 years old, should I still be concerned with the bass population? (quantity) After that short time period, do I still need to remove bass? I was thinking of adding six or eight more 8-10 inch bass transplanted from another neighbor's Florida strain LMB.

Cap what else is in there (how is the forage and existing LMB population) ? Depending on how it was stocked 2 years ago you might be ok on #s. I think I would remove one for each one I put in.

I stocked 500 CNBG fry, 100 RES and lots of Fatheads initially and then about 6 months later put in twenty five 8-9 inch bluegill. The following fall when the pond was about a year old, I put in twenty five 8-10" LMB. I also have thousands of gambusia that appeared through spontaneous generation!

Best I can tell I have had 2-3 LMB spawns. Last year I put in 20lbs. of Tilapia and plan on doing the same this weekend.

Most of the bass I catch are in the 12-14 inch range or the 8-10 inch range. I can see smaller LMB among the schools of bluegill fry. My water is a bit too clear. I am not sure if that is good or bad for the forage. This year I have a FA crop blooming that hopefully the Tilapia will clean up. I appreciate the input.

If you are ok with the risk of moving fish from one pond to another then I would remove one LMB for each one I moved in (same size) at a minimum. You will probably need to start harvesting small (8-10 in) LMB anyway so 2 out for every 1 in might be good.