Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Corrective stocking Stunted bass

Ok after 7 years, Im thinking of adding LMB to my existing pond since Im not able to crop the millions of CC that are spawning my pond. with that said , I have access to a friends pond that has many stunted bass in it. It is well maintained and has high water quality and the fish are nice fish, just stunted in that 9-13" range. so my question is if I get someof these fish for my pond, and the fish are already stunted, will they grow out and continue to add lbs and inches or are they already stuck in a stunted size?

Il have to get a 2nd mortgage on the house to be able to afford larger LMB if I have to buy them at this point. many CC in the pond are over 10 lbs and are eating machines, that I can handle but it the YOY channels every year or the 8" or 13" ones that really are a problem.

before anyone asks, there are 2 small stumps and 4 cedar trees in the pond so trust me, they are spawning and getting a really high survival rate with no LMB in the pond to eat them with their bigger gape.

Salmonid ( Dayton Ohio )

What other fish are in the pond besides CC?

While the stunted LMB won't grow to their full potential, they should put on weight.

Are there any plants or other nasties in the other pond that you don't want in your pond?

Pond was an experiment, I was trying for a large Black Crappie and Perch fishery where I would use some bigger Channel cats and Hybrid stripers to keep everyone in check. Plan was working pretty good until last summer when some sort of bacterial infection killed all my larger HSB, this spring, gills had a banner spawn, , also have BG, HBG and RES, as well as 3 smaller Amurs, a few Goldfish and also Blue Cats, like I said the real problem is the spawning CC, waaay too many of them now, been keeping/killing everyone we catch for 4 years but Im loosing that battles Healthy population of FHM and GS as well. Majority of YP are 9-12+" and same with the Black Crappies, if I fish minnows I can always get a handful of one or the other or a mix of both species which is what I wanted,

Salmonid
PS thanks for the answer, I figured that is what would happen

You are probably past the point of this helping, but you can trap a lot of two inch to about four and a half inch catfish with several minnow traps. Regular fish traps can catch larger than that in the six to ten inch range. Trapping is a lot faster than fishing. My experience is with bullheads instead of CC though.

The earlier you get them after spawn, the less they have eaten. I've even caught hundreds with an extended handle dip net when they were still in a protective fish ball near shore. Half inch long. That is the best time to get rid of them.