Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations stunted large mouth bass

I LIVE IN HALIFAX, VIRGINIA. ADJACENT TO MY HOUSE
IS A ONE ACRE POND APROX. 10-12 DEEP. IT IS
STOCKED W/CRAPPIE & LMB. I USUALLY FISH USING
LIVE MINNOWS AND CAN CATCH BASS 8 TO 9 INCHES
LONG ALL DAY LONG. NEVER HAVE CAUGHT ANY BASS
LARGER. HOWEVER, CRAPPIE ARE EXCELLENT SIZE.
CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHY BASS ARE SO SMALL? WHAT
CAN BE DONE TO CORRECT PROBLEM? IS IT POSSIBLE
TO HAVE TOO MANY BASS IN A POND?

This scenario isn't unusual in an unmanaged pond. The correct management tools are skilets and hot grease. You don't mention bluegill or minnows so I assume there is no forage base. Thus, the predators are surviving by eating only their progeny.

Crappie can ruin a small pond. They spawn earlier than bass, have a hinged jaw and are direct competitors. Keep all of them. Also, start eliminating the small bass. They are their own worst enemy. The "average" pond will carry no more than 100 pounds of predators. And, that assumes a good forage base.

Fish it hard to eliminate the excess small bass and all crappie. Don't worry, you will have a tough time catching enough. It is work and you won't catch them all. Over time you should start seeing a larger average size of bass. At that time, stock about 300 or more six inch bluegills. That will go a long way toward creating a balanced environment.

Yes, you can (and do) have too many bass. You are describing a typical bass heavy pond. The fact that they hit minnows so readily means they have nothing else to eat and are starving. Ignore the catch and release mantra.

There are lots of posts on too many bass why not to stock crappies, especially white crappies. Do a search I'm sure you'll get plenty of information. How to correct the problem? If all that is stocked is bass and crappie there isn't any forage to feed the fish except there own offspring which isn't enough. You could try stocking a forage species breeding stock large enough to escape predation of the crappie and bass and see what happens. With the assumption that your pond is several years old, you have more than 100 bass, and you have some type of forage fish for the bass and crappie other than their own young you probably have four choices: 1. remove as many bass and crappie as you can and stock more forage. 2. Poison the pond/killing all the fish (this will be expensive given the size. 3. Drain the pond 4. Drain most of the water and then poison. Options 2-4 would require restocking of course.

rbuck:

I am thinking that your situation, while not to your liking, could provide info for some of the forum members interested in big Crappie. Really cramming in stunted bass is perhaps the most "conventional" way to attempt the unconventional - having Crappie in ponds. So perhaps you could provide some info on what caliber of Crappie fishing overly stunted LMB provide in your pond.

Crappie size is "excellent" - what is this in length and/or weight?

How many Crappie are there, in terms of catch rates?

rbuck, I have the same problem with small bass. I am catching and throwing out as many as I can. I am starting to see some larger LMB. I sometimes have a hard time catching them, so when I'm doing turtle elemanation with my 22 and I see small bass in the shallows I shoot them also. It is kind of fun and I am getting rid of bass a little faster.

Theo, I like your idea.

The very best crappie pond I've ever seen for size had an extremely high density of small LMB. Very few YOY crappie survived each year due to heavy predation from largemouth. The survivors actually turned the table and began eating small largemouth.

The average sized black crappie was 13-14 inches. The average sized largemouth that we would catch was more like 9 inches.

There were apparently a few big LMB--likely they were cannibals.

rbuck, whether or not you have a problem depends on your goals. It seems to me that you have the perfect crappie pond that many people would envy. As Dave said, you could add 6 inch bluegill to increase your forage base. You might also consider LMB to be a panfish.

rbuck, Dave made a statement that you should highly regard, "This scenario isn't unusual in an unmanaged pond". Take some time and read the historical threads found here, if you take the time to manage your pond, you'll have an excellent chance of harvesting the kind of fish you want.

Rbuck,
My recommendation would be to start by taking baby steps. You can't turn a mismanaged pond around over night. So I would try the following.
1) Pull out no more than 25 bass this year. Ideally, throwing back anything over 12 inches if there are any.
2) Stock 20#'s of fathead minnow and 10# golden shiners. Do this twice a year for the next two years.
3) Harvest all crappies you catch this year.
4) In the future you can stock a few Hybrid Striped bass 10-15 to control your crappie population. The HSB should not be stocked until 2 years from now.
IF they are stocked they will only compete with your bass for food which is non-existant.
5) Lastly, stock 150 4-6" Bluegills, these guys will help with your forage base.

It sounds to me rbuck that you would like to catch larger LMB. If this is the case get rid of quite a few small bass and as many crappie as you can. I have had the same problem in my father-in-laws pond from an unwated visitor dumping a couple of five gallon buckets of crappie in. This screws up your food chain in small ponds. Like the others said, I would suggest starting up the fryer for the crappie and adding some bluegill in the mix.

Is it possible to have pond aprox 3 acres that produces nice bass and nice crappie?