Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations SMB Pond Update

Yes - Hicklings.

Maybe they'd eat pellets - I don't know, I didn't give it a fair shake when I 1st stock in fall 2008 - there seemd to be a lot of forage for them. They sure have LOTS of 1-3" perch and bluegill to keep themselves busy now. I do notice the 2-4" yoy SMB swimming under the dock where the feeder is - they don't come up to get it like the BG do - but they are busy down below.

Of course - I've only had the feeder up a couple weeks - so its all new to me.

Going into fall - its nice to see that the 2008 Stocked SMB are chunky and healthy.

I stocked in Oct 2008 - so these two are 2.5 years old.





I haven't seen any of the few larger SMB in quite a while - nor the Brown/Brook trout that have been in a couple years too. Hope the hot August didn't take the trout out.

I am very encouraged to see YOY SMB camping out under the feeder with BG and YP YOY around the dock. The young SMB are quite agressive -and I don't have trouble catching them on a fly. Wonder how many SMB yound have made it to this age? Having any recruitment this early on I'm taking as a good sign.

Gorgeous looking fish! Absolutely beautiful!

Great looking Smallies F-H, congrats.

Very nice SMB !!!

They are looking very good, F-H!

Awesome!!!

Are you keeping any catch records F-H? The fish look great!

I haven't been keeping any individual records - I probably should be shouldn't I. Should I be charting things like length/age or weights?

I have records of what I put in and when -

I'm amazed how the pond went from 10000000s of fry (FH, YP and BG) in July - to very few now - almost hard to find. I also noticed this year that I had MUCH less obvious BG spawning in the spring - and for less a duration. Do you think the surpression of later BG spawning is due to predation?

FH

Sunil must be really proud of you!

Sorry Bill just saw your post.

I planted 200 4 to 5 inch smalies in the 3/4 acre pond last fall! Bluegills are skinny YOY at only about 3/4 to an inch long. Feed trained smallies are running 7 to 11 inches. NOt a lot of vegetation and I hope to eliminate and pond weed with the Whitecap next year. Possibly some fatheads left but it appears there aren't any. Most of the smallies are off the pellets but still with good condition factors so that tells me they are feeding on live forage. I think they also wiped out what tadpoles that survived the spring die off.

I will add 100 more smallies next spring but will keep them in a cage to keep them on pellets.

FH - great work. I am interested in hearing what you find out about your SMB predation on YOY YP and BG. We SMB owners want so much to believe SMB can control BG...in my pond it hasn't happened, even with 9-13" YP and almost 150 12-21" HSB. I hope your pond is a different story - as it is I'm faced with constant BG management through trapping and seining.

Thanks everyone -

teehjaeh57 - I fully expect the BG to get ahead of the SMB - right now I've got several hundred BG between 5-8" that were fish I stocked also in 2008. We had BG spawns even right after I put some in, in 2008 (not many though). I also put in 20-25 brown trout 7-12" over the last 2 years - and I saw and caught some of them this spring - so I know they made it over the 2 winters - but haven't seen any since. The pond got warm this summer - but I think I still had plenty of water in the 60s. I bet I've got several really big Brown trout helping me out - especially on the perch young. I'd like to catch a couple to see how big they got but they aren't too interested in standard lures - going to have to try some minnows I think.

I will say the 10000s of FH minnow disappeared 1st when the water started to lower out of the cattails and shore grasses. Hopefully enough FH minnows make it to have another great spawn in the spring when the grasses flood.

I'll keep updating this thread with information from my experiment.

TJ,

I've had smallies before, and actually had them nailing the bluegills while the lazy lmbs lanquished on the pellets. However, as far as keeping up with the bluegills I think it's possible if the density of smallies is very high and there are no places for the bluegills to hide. Of course the pond is mostly male bluegills and the smallies were planted before the bluegill hatched.

As I said I hope to keep weed growth to a minimum next year with the Whitecap. Right now a bait just about anywhere in the pond will be nailed by a smallie vs. the yellow perch or bluegills. Deep or shallow water.

Interestingly I have seen the smallies cruising the shoreline with larger bluegills mixed in. I caught a bluegill the other day that jumped out of the water like a smallmouth. Maybe they think they are smallmouth?

Under normal conditions research and knowledgeable opinions indicate poor results of SMB controlling BG.

I think you hit an important factor Cecil - lack of shoreline vegetation, shallow water structure, submerged vegetation would render an almost bathtub like environment and would enable the SMB to control much more effectively - or other apex predators for that matter. Unfortunately my pondweed provides more than enough coverage for the BG population to continue to thrive. I've considered decreasing pellet feeding, but am hesitant at best.

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I'm well aware of that Eric but this particular pond is anything but "normal." Most pond owners wouldn't plant the density of smallies I do.

If the pond is not to large, and the expense is not to great, you might want to consider Whitecap or Sonar. I know a couple of sources where you may get it at a more reasonable rate than the typical price.

Cecil, I think TJ's pond is 4x your pond.

I don't keep any individual records either. I do however calculate relative weight of LMB that I catch. Your SMB look like they have great Wr to me but I'm certainly no expert.

Yikes! That would be expensive!

That is the reason the post says "normal". Just want to be sure the other people who read here know not to count on that (SMB controlling BG) happening unless they intend on using aquaculture type mgt like yours.

Thanks for reinforcing that point, Ewest. I always worry that we on the forum give "too much credit" to the predatory capability of smallmouth bass. Of course, my worrying leads to conservative management strategies, about which Lusk occasionally reminds me. Can't help it -- when you live in the north country, you tend to get conservative.

Dave said : "Can't help it -- when you live in the north country, you tend to get conservative."

It's just to cold to make a mistake so you have to be careful.

Very true. Nothing I do is normal either. Heck I've even been told I'm not normal.