Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations too many fish in 8 acre lake!

Does anyone know what to do when you have too many little bass, too many little bluegill, and too many little black crappies. You could literally take out hundreds of fish, if a guy had the time, and there would still be too many!

How much money do you want to spend?

The three options most commonly recommended on here are:

Fish and keep everything you catch til your arms hurt...

Purchase a fyke net or two and set them out...

Stock an Esox species like tiger musky or northern pike...

Electrofishing is an option as well. I still prefer CJ's first option, though.

Hosting a local fishing tournament or a fishing day for kids and/or handicapped individuals creates a win-win situation. A great experience for those who could not normally enjoy such great fishing + beneficial harvest.

An 8-acre pond should be plenty large enough for a tournament or benefit.

Two to four tiger muskie per acre, stocked at 12" each, would thin out all three species in a year or less. A recent article in Pond Boss recommended stocking pike or muskie in ponds in which bass are overcrowded. Tiger Muskie would probably be better in your area because the pike could potentially spawn, in which case they could become too numerous and overeat their welcome. But tiger muskie only live four to five years and are sterile so that's not a danger with them. I've stocked pike before to thin overpopulated sunfish, with great success. The best thing about this method is that as long as the pike/muskie are in the lake, they'll keep it balanced.

The fyke net would likely work a lot better than just angling. An eight-acre pond overpopulated with crappie would be very difficult to bring into balance by angling - roughly akin to trying to levee the Pacific Ocean with a beaver dam. I like the Esox option the best because it's kind of like those self-scrubbing oven cleaners: add the Esox and they do the rest.

I like Walt's idea. I wanted to go the Tiger Muskie route for eliminating Gizzard Shad in our 10 acre lake. Instead we went the "total fish kill" route on July 30, and will have to have another fish kill in October as the largest Carp survived and spawned. Now it looks as though we have a Carp only infested lake. We did harvest lots of LM Bass and Bluegill out before the fish kill and put them in other ponds and lakes.
The Tiger Muskie route sure would be a lot less expensive than the rotenone option of starting over, and worth a try if it is your own water body unlike mine which is shared in a sub division.

I don't have a lot of money or time, so i will probably go the Tiger Muskie route. When I'm out fishing, I get reminded of that movie The Fox and the Hound because the bass and bluegill just swim around together like pals. It p's me off a little bit. There are some big bass (18-20"), but apparantly not enough. Thanks for the advise everyone.

Keep us posted on your progress with the pond. We love updates. And pictures - pictures good.