This may end up being long, and I apologize for that. It may not be in perfect chronological order (I will explain why shortly), but I will be fairly close. So with that said, here goes....
We had a 1.5 acre pond dug back in 2014. When full, our deepest areas are around 10ft with an avergae depth of about 5ft across the whole lake.
In Jan. of 2015, we stocked 4000 Fatheads, and 3000 Bluegill (90% Coppernose, 10% Shellcracker). I started fertilizing and pellet feeding immediately after the water hit 60F.
In May of 2015, I started noticing hatchlings of bream along the banks of the lake.
At the end of June 2015, I stocked 200 Northern LMB.
In Dec. of 2015, I started throwing rooster tails and caught a few bass ( I recorded catches of 10oz, 5oz, 8oz....with those lengths being 10in, 8.75in, 9in....not exactly what you would be expecting after 6 months in a loaded lake).
In the Spring of 2016, I managed to catch numerous fish "around" the 1 lbs. mark, but nothing more.
In May of 2016, I stocked 50 lbs. of Tilapia to aid in algae control, provide supplemental forage, and give us a snack come winter! I immediately started seeing hatchlings from the tilapia.
In Sept. of 2016 I caught a LMB 13" at 1lb 5oz (still low on RW). That fish was the biggest to date. I didnt feel like it was doing good, so I contacted my fish hatchery and they told me to start removing all of these 8-10 inch fish I had been catching. My original stock from the prior year should have been much bigger.
I have been wearing out fish and tossing them.
Fast forward to today...They came and shocked the lake. What we found was nauseating at the very least. We didn't find a single original stock bass (should have been in the 15"+ range and 2lbs. plus.) We also didn't see a lot of bream...especially smaller, edible bream. He was as baffled as me. Water tested good at 39ppm when checking alkalinity.
I am open to any and all opinions of why none of my brood stock bass are there and what could have caused such a decline in my original bream stock prior to my bass feeding on them (remember,I never caught a fish about 100% RW since pond inception).....Ready...Go!
