Thanks for your replies everyone. I really appreciate your thoughts on this matter. As you probably guessed I am the buddy who owns the lake so I'd like to tell you a bit about the past, our current situation and our goals for the future. I think the lake is approx. 25 acres and described very well by macco. It was originally bought by my grandfather many years ago and holds great sentimental value. He managed it the old fashioned way and until he dies in 1980 it was in fantastic fishing condition wiht primarily SMB, some big LMB, perch, bullhead and the ever present rock bass.
After he passed away we didn't go to the pond for about 15 years and without his management we discovered a bit of a problem. The SMB had completely taken over save for a few pockets of perch. Of course the rock bass were still there but they have never been big, none larger than 5 inches. We are very happy having SMB as the primary fish in hte lake but the problem was they were all very small. You could sit out in the boat for an hour and catch 100 smallies, but they would all be between 4 and 8 inches. We could drop a bare hook in the water and literally see 50-60 4-6 inch SMB fighting over the bare hook. We would catch 1 or 2 lunkers a day of 18-21 inches, but the rest were very, very small as I described.
So the goal is pretty simple, we'd like the SMB to be the primary fish in hte lake but obviously would like to increase the average size of the catch. Fewer fish of a bigger average size. We'd also like to catch an occasional perch and some LMB as well. It should be noted that it's a long trip and we only go up for one week out of every year, so our ability to truly impact this situation must be analyzed as well.
About 8 years ago we started squeezing every single rock bass brought into the boat, at least 100 every day but probably more. About 5 years ago we began doing the same to smallies of 7" or less while releasing the larger ones. We added 4 northern pike 5 years ago, about 300 bluegill juveniles 3 years ago, and 1000 mud minnows and 300 LMB of 1-2" 2 years ago.
We notcied last year that the LMB seem to have survived and are living close to the shore in schools. There are definitely pockets of bluegill in spots on the lake but they are not that numerous at this point. However I am very concerned about the bluegill overpopulation several of you have mentioned. Rock bass are still absolutely everywhere. Hundreds can be caught at will all day long. The average SMB size has improved and we are catching more 12,14, 16 inch fish to go along with our 4 or 5 20 inchers a day. you can still drop your bare hook in and have 20 SMB of 4-6 inches hitting it while 20 more watch.
Any advice on how to achieve our stated goal would be very much appreciated. I'm so glad I discovered this site and I'm looking forward to some more exchange of ideas
