Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations I think I'm going to be sick. UPDATE

In my pond, I'm targeting every male LMB that I can ID (by fishing for them while they are guarding their nests) and removing every LMB that is not feed trained. I tagged the feed trained ones that I stocked in 2010. That's how I think I can keep the WR numbers of the LMB up and not have them overeat the forage base.

In my pond, having the water level drop every year due to a groundwater based pond, puts the forage fish at a huge disadvantage. The water levels drop past where most of the cover is for them to hide in, so the LMB have a field day.

In a regular LMB pond, if 20# of LMB or more per surface acre isn't removed annually (of all sized fish) then there's a good chance that they will become stunted. Depending on your goals, that may be a good thing (if you are managing for large BG) or a bad thing (if you want a balanced fishery, or a trophy LMB pond).

Your best tool for managing LMB (or any fish species in the pond for that matter) is a good digital scale, a ruler or tape measure, a logbook and a relative weight chart. Weigh, measure and record every fish that you can. You will soon see trends start to ebb and flow, and those trends will tell you what your next step is management wise to keep on track to meet your goals.

OMC - Yes, you have time. If you do decide to drain and rotenone, I think having that small pond to put the fish you want to keep to restock is a great idea. You can push the limits on carrying capacity by having an aerator and/or a surface agitator in the pond to keep the O2 levels up, even with a high fish density.

Plus, after the drain/rotenone/restock is completed, you can use that pond for a forage pond, or for some different species that you don't have in the large pond. Say CC for fish fries during warmer months, and RBT for the cooler months.