Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Overpopulation question

Im kind of a newbie , so forgive me.


Overpopulation?



I dont understand what survive and recruit is.


General questions :

If a lake has a massive over population of stunted LM, and very few BG , will harvesting all the LM you catch help to bring back the BG population?

Can a overpopulation of LM actually wipe out a BG population?

Are there hardly any BG because the BG fry are being eaten so fast due to LM overpopulation?


How will harvesting all the 8-10inch LM help the lake?

Original thread of mine

Just simply spawning does not ensure that that a species of fish will have a next generation in a pond. The successful survival of fry that spawn until they can reach adulthood is called recruitment. A few BG may exist in a BOW full of a multitude of stunted bass, manage to spawn (although that will likely be difficult, with hordes of small bass trying to rob eggs off the BG nests), and yet have no recruitment because all the fry and ensuing fingerlings from the hatch are eaten by small and medium sized LMB. Over time, as the existing BG die or are eaten by a few large bass, the number of BG in this case will decrease.


Two things will be needed to bring back a BG forage base: having an adult BG population present big enough to escape predation and spawn, and reducing the numbers of bass present which will decimate that BG spawn before it grows to count as recruitment.


Given enough bass and time, I would say yes. Certainly we have heard of many ponds where the BG population was effectively wiped out - I think the situation where "99.9% of the fish caught were LMB, with just one BG caught" would count.


Bingo! Although some may make it to fingerling size before becoming bass meals.


See two answers up.

AWESOME , thanks for the response.

Have another secondary question.


Why do bass not continue to grow even with a small population of BG ?

Wont the larger bass feed on the younger bass fingerlings?

I guess in my newbish view i dont understand what keeps the bass from continuing to grow.. will LM not feed on other smaller LM ?

Is it because these 8-10 inch LM are actually older fish? Because the young are wiped out before they recruit?

Are the LM in the lake that are 8-10 inches killing off there own spawns before they can recruit?

Here's your secondary question answer, but after this short question.

How many LMB do you guess are in the pond?

Take that answer, and multiply that by 10. That's how many pounds of forage is needed to raise each fish's weight by 1 lb.

It takes 10# of food for each pound of weight a bass puts on.

Yes, they will eat their young as quickly as they will eat BG. But refer to what Esshup says about how much food it takes for a bass to grow. Only BG with their continuous spawning fire out enough young to feed even a balanced pond when bass are present.

BTW, there is nothing unusual about this situation. We call it bass heavy/forage light. Fish heavily and eliminate the problem. Catch and release is only for public lakes and can destroy a private body of water. Assuming it was properly stocked but improperly managed, the bass have eaten most of the forage.

Great info, thanks .

Here is something else to consider for your secondary question. When there are just a few BG that means that there will be less BG predation on LMB eggs and fry. This will in turn increase LMB recruitment and increase competition between LMB. The higher competition between LMB will decrease there growth rates, giving you a higher LMB abundance, but fish will most likely be skinny and possibly stunted. Just something to think about.