Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Next years cull?

Lake is 8 acres, 22 years old and stocked by the previous owner with northern lmb, bluegill, red ear, channel cats, and crappie. He did virtually nothing to manage the fishery for 20 years. We purchased the property in the summer of 2002 and caught, as you might expect, nothing but very skinney bass from 9 to 16 inches that had an RW of only 70-75%. 18 months ago, we began to cull the bass heavily (about 15lbs per/acre/yr). We limed and began a fertilization program, began a suplimental feeding program, added coppernose bluegill, added a few pellet trained lmb for some new genetics, added grass carp (which have already fixed the weed problem), added structure and removed all the crappie we could catch. We are very pleased with the results. In the past 7 weeks, we have caught 25 bass. The average RW was 94%!!!
Question number 1: How much of a lmb cull should we do this next year? I want to ensure maximum growth for my bass, but do not want to over-cull, or cull for too long. (I remember the example Bob Lusk wrote about in his book.) BTW, we are seeing, for the first time, a few 3-5 in. bluegill.
Question number 2: Would it be beneficial to do a male only cull during the spring when we can tell the sex?
We plan to add golden shiners this spring. That leads me to question number 3: Any other ideas on what else we might want to do/try?
-JB

Outstanding!
That's what pond management is all about.
Here's your answers. 1) Continue your slot limit. Remove bass smaller than 16". Don't worry about taking too many. As long as you stay inside the slot, your fish won't let you overharvest them. Remember, bass will spawn, young bass will grow rapidly, and refill the slot quickly. But, keep tracking relative weights. Those weights will ultimately be your guide. As you approach, and stay, 95-105%, then consider changing the slot, or shifting to catch and release. Relative weights will be your guide. Expect relative weights to vary season to season. Before spawn, females will be quite heavy. Post spawn, their weights drop dramatically. Stay focused on the big picture.
2) Culling males won't hurt, but won't necessarily help. In 8 acres, you likely won't change the ratio of males to females by angling. But, if you catch a 16 inch female, 95% or larger than her length shows, toss her back. She may be on her way to greatness. Remember your objective....to manage the population first. Do that, and big bass follow.
Another thing...I would adjust genetics every year or two by adding known fingerlings. Genetics are integral to growing big bass, but they are long term management strategies as well. You won't see much result from genetics changes for 4-6 years. So, it's wise to enhance genetics yearly, or every other year, if your goal is giant bass.

How do you know how many and what type of genetics(native, Florida, or hybrid) to add?

I agree with Bob but if you have the option of which to takeout and only want to harvest a few target the males in a trophy bass goal. I do not worry with that until you start reaching target harvest goals. You and most folks on this board are not like most of my clients. They never takeout enough bass. texas715 I think Bob means add some diff genetics so they are not breeding with their kin, not neccesarily a certain subspecies of largemouth. You goals/climate will determine if northern (agressive), Florida (trophy size) or F1 (some say best of both).

Thanks Bob and Greg! Using the "RW as a guide" and modifying the stot at 95-105% RW was the missing piece we were looking for. We will continue to harvest all we can catch throughout this next year; but we may be a bit lenient on the fat females. We will also look into adding some new bass with known genetics. As previously mentioned, we are also going to try to get some shiners established, and we will add some more coppernose. Other than that, it will be business as usual. If my real job were only so much fun!
-JB and Scott