Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Any way to measure bass survival rate?

I have a nine year old pond (0.6 ac) that had never been stocked even though it exhibited ample evidence of aquatic life like frogs, snakes, insects, plants, etc.

Last summer I stocked 10 lbs. of fathead minnows and they reproduced like a charm. Last fall I stocked 350 bluegills, mostly fingerlings with a few adults tossed in because the hatchery man wanted to drain his pond. The bluegills are growing like weeds.

This summer I stocked 70 LMB of 2 inch size. Although I know better, I got in a hurry when stocking the bass and let them out of the bag too soon. The pond water was warmer than I thought and I know that at least 10 of the bass died shortly after release. For an hour after release, I saw others swimming normally and even chasing baby fatheads.

There's no good way to tell how many of the bass died or how many are making it. My dilemma is whether to stock more (and larger) bass in the fall and risk overpopulating the pond with bass if the baby bass are doing okay or if I do nothing, I run the risk of bluegill overpopulation assuming most of my baby bass died.

Anyone have any ideas on which way to go? My goal is to have some nice size bass and enough bluegills to make fishing fun for kids.

i vote do nothing,i bet you have more bass than you think in there.if only 40 are so made it that will be plenty for the size lake you have,and based on what you said i think most lived.

Let the fish tell you...can you catch them on small spinners ? If so, how does their weight look ? Get a copy of Christophers Cull Chart, I can send it to you, all you need is Excel on your PC. I would simply fish and observe before introducing more bass...I too believe you have a healthy bass population from what you describe.