Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Reaching out for help and thoughts, please

Wow, that's some transformation. I may be way off the mark here (kind of like your luck with shooting more GC! ), but I would suspect that removal of your vegetation has led to the obvious result that the fry and YOY fish have nowhere to hide and are being eaten readily. You did not mention any type of forage fish in the pond, so those little guys have to be filling the niche. Cats can get pretty aggressive on other species, though I'm not sure if CCs have that tendency of just other varieties of cats. It's quite possible, though, that the removal of your aquatic plants has led to the change in balance. I'm not sure why you wouldn't be able to catch any bass at all, though. I guess there could be a bunch of different factors that influence that, but I don't have enough experience to know. Have you considered adding fish attactors and other objects that would provide hiding places for your young fish? If there's no place for them to hang out and grow, you need to add some stuff - PVC structures, tree limbs, etc. That may not be the entire answer, but it may well give you a start down the road to recovering your fishery.

I'm sure you'll get a bunch of good answers from others with far more knowledge than I've got, so just hang tight and see what the experts have to say!