Bobad,
I just bought a seine at Academy, and I am highly interested to see what is in the Lake at this point. My guess is the threadfins didn't make it, although they've been stocked twice; once in the beginning, and then after my vegetation problem was rectified. There were also Gizzard Shad added at one point, and I do not know if they have been able to sustain a healthy population in the lake.
As far as fishing, I mainly just bass fish. Since this past Summer, I've personally observed about 300 fish caught out of the lake. Most of these fish were just under 1 lb., and were in the 12"-14" range. My most recent outing was interesting because I caught 3 bass, all over 1 lb. (1.8 oz., 2.6 oz and a 4 #); that was probably just luck, and not the results of my culling efforts.
When I used minnows with a buddy, we did catch 2 or 3 CNB, BG, that were huge. I probably need to set up a feeder to get the BG nice and big, and help them out. Fish feed is also an excellent way to observe what is in the lake--in terms of the forage fish. I certainly plan on grabbing my fly-rods and doing solely a panfish trip...also have an ultra-light.
I was also thinking about what to do with the other lakes on the property. I've got a 3 acre lake, and several .5 acre ponds, and was thinking about making them just forage fish lakes.
I swear to you the 3 acre lake was stocked with F-1 Bass (I put some of the fingerlings in myself), but I think the only thing that made it was the HBG, and CNB. I used to rake up the HBG, and CNB with a fly-rod, but I've never-ever caught a bass out of there when exclusively fishing for them. I'm guessing the Water Turkeys had something to do with it, possibly a small gator that was in there for a while.
