Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Fish Ranching: Sustainable Yield

If you check the profession entry on my profile, you will see "cattle rancher." This title needs a good deal of qualification; I'm not one of those big operations with 100's or 1000's of cattle. We just have a small herd, usually running in the range of 8-12 head, whose job is to eat grass (and hence cut down on mowing requirements) and produce at least one steer per year to supply our family's beef. The cattle breed; we pick out a steer each year and feed him out for a month or so before butchering.

I am starting to feel like a "fish rancher" as well, again with qualifications. Not one of those big aquaculturists who raises and sells (or perhaps kills ) tens or hundreds of thousands of fish, just a guy with a small apx 1 acre pond whose job it is to provide our family's fish. The fish breed; I feed them out during the warm months before removing some of them for butchering.

This year I am approaching the point where the pond will be able to produce all those eatin' sized fish closely enough to feel sure that it can and will happen. I have been taking out more medium BG (6" - 7.5", by this year's definition) than ever before. With breeding populations that provide plenty of fish - hundreds of BG, dozens of LMB and CC - showing up to eat feed every night, I feel pretty confident that I am not removing the amount of fish the pond is able to grow yet.

I don't know what the pond's sustainable yield will be, but plan on approaching that harvest level carefully, removing conservative numbers of predator fish and leaving the largest BG (especially males) in the pond while culling smaller BG. Hopefully the size of a "smaller" BG will continue to increase in the future. Trying to get a rough idea from literature, one might guesstimate that an acre could produce on the order of 100 lbs of BG per year; I am just now realizing that 100 lbs is a whole lot of nice, fat 7" BG!

Life is good. Any other fish ranchers out there?

Why yes Theo - we "fish ranch" at our place as well. We are a bit more sophisticated though...we have a small chute where we routinely turn some of our prime male bluegill and bass into "steers". This is a difficult task, but the fish get larger, tend to be less aggressive and also stop watching sports.

Sorry..I couldn't resist!

We also have a small herd of cattle on our ranch for the same reasons as you. Plus the tax benefits are great!

One of our smaller ponds is specifically managed for "food". It is about 1/3rd acre It started as exclusively a catfish pond and then added bluegill 2 years ago. Most of the catfish had been in there for years unfished. We started harvesting and filling the freezer and then I started again with smaller CC fingerlings. We harvest every stocked catfish that we catch. Last summer after the bluegill started filling it we added 20 Bass to the mix. (caught 4 nice bass this weekend!) There are a few large 8-10 pound catfish that have been in there a loongg time - we throw back if we catch them. I know that they are piggy eaters, but we all have our "sacred cows"!

Me, kinda sorta.

My favorite eating fish by far is BG, and nothing you buy comercially tastes anything like it. So if I'm going to eat fish, I have to raise my own.

Of course there are REALLY GREAT fringe benefits to raising my own. Unlike raising beef, poultry, and crops, growing and harvesting BG is something I look forward to.

I told my neighbor that the art of the pond manager is to convince the wife that fishing is "work".

It's a nasty job, but, well, you know.

Theo���
Substantial inputs of time, labor and capitol with very little return.
Yep!
I must be a fish rancher. :p

Ed, I think you're a Coors Light rancher.

g-dub....nail on head.

Do you have to eat the fish to be a rancher? Mine are to valuable to eat.

My yellow perch are definitely "livestock".

I buy a certain number, feed them a particular amount, and watch them grow like cattle.

They are unbelievably sweet and delicious.

As soon as you start figuring out things like "feed conversion ratios" for your fish, you've entered the realm of fish ranching.

Cecil, you have the Kobe Beef of aquaculture.
You kin still count as a rancher if'en you want.

Theo,

I don't know about being a rancher -- I think I'm maybe more like a critter sitter.

But, I'd very interested in comparing notes at the end of the season. I too am trying to figure out what my pond can sustain. So far this season, things are real close to the way I want them. My pond is only a half acre, but I figure I'll pull between 75 and 100 fat bluegill over the period of approximately April 1 to November 1.

As long as my average bluegill size numbers continue to stay the same, or get slightly larger, I figure I'm OK. I see lots of smaller ones when I feed.

So far this season, 25 of 41 released bluegill have been between 8 and 10 inches. Most were males, but I've been throwing back some of the really big females.

Of those we kept, 13 of the 19 were 8-9 inches, nearly all female. The remaining six I kept were 6 to 7 inches. My wife and I are able to make a decent meal out of just two or three of these critters.

In April and early May I removed eleven bass between 8 and 10 inches. I've thrown back 12 that were over 10 inches -- including one 18 incher. I'll re-evaluate the bass in late summer.

Most of the big cats are gone -- just four medium-to-large left. They'll go in the next couple of weeks when my buddy Capt'n Ahab returns with his harpoon and fancy recurv bow. Getting so many of the big cats out, plus two of the four grass carp moochers, seems to have really helped stabilize my pond. This season when I clean the BG, they are full of fish food.

I accidentally released 25 4-5 inch catfish last Friday -- but that's a whole 'nother story. Hopefully a few will survive to a reasonable size, and be dumb enough to get caught before they become problems.

Good fishn'
Ken G.

Fish-size-wise, Ken, you're where I want to be in a year or (realistically) two. I haven't restocked any more CC, but mine are successfully restocking themselves. Still, it's darn nice when the BG get most of the fish feed!