Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Bass culling

I did a little thinning at the in laws pond this week. We caught 18 in 2 1/2 hours. kept 17. When I cleaned them I found that 16 were female. I thought this to be odd. Does anyone have a reason why it was mostly the girls that were hitting.

Those bass appeared to be on the verge of stunting due to their slender body form. Definitely not plump bass. Likely too many bass in the pond. Females may have been more aggressive due to needing food energy for producing their egg masses.

That makes a lot of sense. This pond has been neglected for years I am trying to increase forage and decrease bass population. I am probably going to keep almost every bass I catch this year. My plans are to add mature CNBG and GS to get the numbers up fast and add structure, because there is none now.

Sounds like some fish frys are in order this spring.......

Well tell us what you caught them on. Some of us have some serious bass culling to do this spring. Well at least I do.

Roostertails and senkos did a number on the small bass in my pond.

I used 3" pin minnow that suspends. I found that it works well for small bass.
And yes bobby the family will feast several times this summer!

Cray...where in general in S GA are you, I am just across the boarder really in Jacksonville area.

Just north of valdosta in Nashville.

Just an update I have pulled out 53 bass with rod and line and 75 with cast net! It only took 45 minuets to catch them with the cast net.

Looks like the little guy is trying to point out some finer points about your LMB catch.

How do you find time to fish? I imagine pulling him around in that little red wagon takes up some of your time.

Being a male my wife thinks I am incapable of keeping a close eye on him. So I get to fish while she properly watches the little one.

You're a lucky guy...

Cray

I used to be stationed at Moody AFB and really enjoyed Valdosta and the surrounding area. That being said if the GS stands for Green Sunfish I would be cautious and do some considerable research before adding those fish as forage. Any short term gains experienced could potentially be overshadowed by the headaches caused by them in the very near future.

I would also hesitate on keeping every bass you catch if a bass fishery is what you are after. At the very least, to keep it simple, I would cull the size fish that seem to be doing the worst. For example if your 16-18 inch LMB are shaped like footballs and your 12-15 are long and skinny I would cull your 12-15 inch fish aggressively. At the more complex end of things keep a journal of every catch and monitor conditions of your fish and adjust your culling as necessary.