Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Old Pond not sure what direction to take

Guys we have a lake that is very old and no fish that we know of have every been stocked in it except the rare occasion that the river/creek might have gotten into it. This is not a regular occurance at all, and if it happens now the fish getting out will be a very low item on the importance scale as what we will need to be worried about.

We know there are a few bass in the water but really no clue what population we are looking at. The size is 7+acres. Just not many fish that we can tell.

We want bass and BG we know, but have gotten a few differnt reports on what is the best and cheapest course of action we need to take to get this lake where we can go in and fish it and catch numbers and size of bass, which is our goal.

So far we have been told we could put in forage now and come back in the summer with the LMB at a lower stocking rate, about 30 per acre.
I have also been told we could stock forage fish wait a year and fish the lake to see if LMB are more than what we might think. We can even stock some northerns and allow tehm to cross with the florida's.
I think the lake is too large to start over with the posion route.

what is the best way to get the lake up and going to be able to fish and enjoy the lake?

Just kind of bumping this. I can't advise on this here because it is a topic/situation that deals with so many factors it makes my head spin. You'll have to get advice from the true pro's.

Meanwhile look into/read some of those past threads listed under "evaluating and adjusting fish poplutions". There have been many threads in the past that talk about larger ponds and the fish popution. Maybe someone else might have a link to one...

My only thought is what if there are larger LMB in there that you don't realize? They will just chow down on any new forage fish you add. Might need to stock adult fish to get the forage food chain going.

First thing to do is get a fish survey done. I'd recommend an electroshocking survey. It'll bring up fish that won't bite, and fish of all species. The downside is the fish have to be in relatively shallow water, and water conductivity issues might limit the effectiveness.

Without a survey, you are going in blind and could be wasting all the $$ on fish, plus the wasted time.

The pond is 7 acres or so. Go here to measure it for sure. What is it's depth profile like?

Scott, how deep will fish shock up in average water?

I'm not very experienced at electrofishing. Shawn Banks, Greg, Bob, Nate or someone else that has a boat would be better to give you an answer.

There is no average water. Conductivity varies a lot as do boat systems and settings. Don't count on reaching much below 6-8 ft. Understand that it is a sampling tool and not designed for (nor does it need to) shock every fish.

Thanks guys, mine is to deep to shock. It would be nice to know what you have.

Only if the fish always stay below 8 ft. I have never seen that. Often shocking is done at night with the fish up in the water column. In much of the US in summer when there is a thermocline most all of the fish are above that range.

We catch 90% of the fish in the middle of the pond. Usually between 4-11 ft. deep. They like staying around the underground springs.