Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations need advise on a bass theory

From past posts you know I have problems. A quick recap. New 1 1/2 acre pond 14 feet to 4 feet. New in 03. Stocked in Oct 03 150lm 500 gills 75 hybreds, 75 channel cats, 75 shellcrackers, and thousands of fatheads three different times. I pellet feed although the fish were not pellet trained. I have never seen or caught a channal cat. I think that they are all dead. Everything else is growin fine except the bass. I have been on here before and got advise to add more forage. I added 250 more shellcrackers and more fatheads. I see small gills (1/2" to 1 1/2") so I am getting a good forage base. I see small minnows that I think are fatheads, so thats ok. The ptoblem are the bass. They came from a small mom and pop, operation that I believe may have bad genetics. They were not pellet trained and were 4" in Oct 03. Today they are all 9 inches long and weigh 6 ozs. Here is one theory from another hatchery. My first supplier is an old operation that probably does not do much accept sell the young from farm ponds and never improve their brood stock. He said that the 4" bass that I got could be very much older than they should be. He feels that they need to go. I build another pond down the road last year for a friend. About everything the same for him in size. He got his pellet raised fish from this guy that is giving me advise about my pond. His 2" bass that he put in late April/early May, are now 7" long with big bellies on them. This new hatchery said to catch, eat or kill all of my bass. He wants to restock with his pellet trained bass this Sept. He has no anwser about what happened to my cats. Help

Tom, two years ago I put (10) channel cats in my 6-7 acre pond. I've never seen them since, but from what I've heard, you don't see them for two to three years, but when you do, look out. I don't know if that's true.

So your LMB are getting close to two years old; 9" long seems somewhat short for that age. Some other members should be able to chime in on that.

There are plenty of "Ahians" here as Theo Gallus might say. I'm certain that they would have experience with both fish suppliers you are dealing with.

Be tactful if you choose to mention names. I would wait to hear from some other Ohio members before you act.

Good luck.

Tom,

Can you email me and tell me who it is? I had a very bad experience with an Ohio fish supplier this spring. Totally unprofessional and a horse's ass. I came very close to legal action. We'll keep this to ourselves but I have a strong suspicion it's the same one.

Tom:

I can provide some LMB growth comparison data. I doubt your October 03 fingerlings had much time to grow in 2003, so I would consider them to have a season and a half under their belts. At the cooresponding time, my 3"-4" LMB stockers (not pellet trained and I have never seen them eat more than 6 pellets total) ranged from 8" to 12". So it looks like your bass may be a little behind mine, on average.

I believe you have talked about your disappearing cats before here. At least CC are cheap to replace.

I can't remember how many LMB you put in, but you could add more from other source(s) if you are concerned about genetic diversity. If your current bass are truly deficient, new bass and their offfspring should outcompete them in the longterm.

Thanks guys. I would never say who sold me the first fish. I am not mad at him and I don't want anything from him. I am just looking for advise on how to correct the problem. I put in 150lm 4" in Oct 03 and my neighbor put in 2" this may and his are 7" already. Mine are only 9" now. I think that I will thin out some of my bass and restock with a new strain this fall. As for the channel cats, I think they died. Thanks.