I returned all good condition BG over 8" in length to the pond, only culling them if they had a blind eye or some other quality issue. I also returned some males that were smaller than 8" if they had what looked like exceptional genetics.
As far as I can tell from visual observation at feeding time, the 6-8" class is the only size that seemed to be getting over populated.
I just put 100 4-6" LMB in my sediment pond to grow them to about a foot length. Then I will catch as many as I can next fall and transfer to the main pond to give me another size class of bass that is missing. Hopefully by removing the excess biomass of 6-8" BG my existing adult LMB will have a successful spawn this spring for 2018 fingerlings. If all that goes to plan, then maybe the pond will be on track again.
It has been good enough fishing for the type of fishing I like, but I could see it was in the process of getting unbalanced with too many medium sized BG. Trying to stay proactive, ahead of the game.
Last edited by snrub; 12/15/17 10:30 PM.
