Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Where do BG like to go after spawning?

So since stocking the pond, I have always caught BG in the spring, and no different this year. Some are getting nice size, so I know they are there. Now that the spawn seems to be done, all I see and catch are little ones around the edges. The LMB are cruising the edges too, looking for that meal I suppose. Can't catch a larger BG, nor see them either.

Where do they go? I assume where the food is, but it seems I can't find that. My pond is not aerated, so deep seems unlikely, right?

I have seen BG schooling in the middle of the pond chasing insect hatches in the summer.

Well.... I catch a lot of all species out in the middle of the pond where it's probably 15' deep and no structure that I put in... I catch large BG small LMB 8-10" , BCP and CC. Not sure what they are rounding up but if you cast close to where they blow up generally you will get a hit . Not sure everyone has the same thing going on but in my puddle that's how it seems to work

The only thing I don't catch in deep water is RES

So far, that makes two votes for the middle of the pond. The one side of my pond is up high, and I can see into the middle really good, yet never see anything schooling out there. I can cast "almost" to the center, yet nothing. Sometimes I think when I try the boat to get out into the very center, they get spooked, but just not sure.

Pat--- you mention 15' deep, but I assume you are not fishing that deep?

Shorty --- are you trying to match the bug hatch, fly fishing? or ???

Small jig tipped with plastic the size of dragon fly larve and light line, when I would spot them schooling and feeding on the the surface I would cast near the school and almost always catch a big BG. I mostly bass fish but frequently would bring my ultralight rod in the jon boat while bass fishing.

Fish n chips
Fish close to the surface most time in the deep water for bass and BG, 8' or so for BCP but in open water..... go figure

If you feed, they will hang around feeders. Even when it gets hot and feeding diminishes...

Thanks guys,
I will try the middle some more. Perhaps I am still not presenting them with the right things. I am not feeding this year( so far), so there isn't that area for them to be hanging around.

As a side note: I have fed since re-doing the pond. No regrets about doing that. This year circumstances have been different, so no feeding. I will say that I definitely see a better/easier catch rate in my pond. I am enjoying it for the change that it is. It has let me see another version. However, whether feeding in the past, or now without feeding, summer and fall has always been a difficult period for catching the large BG. So much so, that I always get a feeling like something is happening to them, but then in the spring they show up for that short period of time.