Hey,
We're trying to strengthen our baitfish and sunfish population in our 1.5 acre LMB Lake.. I've noticed that over the last year since April/May 2012, our LMB population has suffered (LMB over 14" were all getting very skinny, and we started catching mostly small LMB, less than 10"). I tried to harvest as many smaller LMB as I could, but it probably only amounted to about 50-70 of them for 2012. I should also mention, no aeration in this pond...yet... It's also an old pond, 30-50 years from what our neighbors have told us.

I'm thinking the skinny bass issue likely stemmed from 2-3 things:
  • Weak baitfish and sunfish population (probably a number of different reasons)
  • Overpopulation of LMB. In late 2011/early 2012, me and my father brought in 30-40 mature LMB(1/2 lb to 6 lbs) to try and mix up the genetics... After joining pondboss and reading alot, I've decided that this was an awful idea, considering the baitfish population.

That's a general background... now for the subject of this thread:
We don't have much natural aquatic vegetation in the pond.The cover for baitfish and sunfish consists of:
  • Grass in the late spring/early summer once the water rises back above it
  • One 20 ft section of an old dead log and branches (only cover when full)
  • Willow tree with lots of dead branches and roots (only cover when full)
  • Man-made cover: pallets with pine tree standing up, rock piles, and 2 PVC Trees. We've placed the man-made cover at different depths from 3 ft to 8 ft deep, since our lake fluctuates a good amount throughout the year (about 6 ft).

The lake is surrounded completely by trees (see pics), and is in sort of a bowl. I haven't had a water test done, but I've heard somewhere that runoff from all the leaves can cause high acidity and keep vegetation from surviving in the pond.
My questions are...
  • Should we pursue adding some sort of aquatic vegetation? If so, any ideas on where to start?
  • Should we continue adding more man-made cover


Thanks, Nate


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Dock w/ trees stuffed underneath


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2013-5-13 My father with a LMB, looks healthy


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Winter picture of lake from runoff entrance


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Winter picture (pallet with trees + rocks).
Also, see runoff stream entrance at end of cove, and trees up the hill surrounding lake


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2012-5-28 Me with Skinny LMB 2.73 lbs



Last edited by Nathan; 05/19/13 04:05 PM.
Central OK: 2 Acres w/ LMB, GSF, RES, CC