Guesstiment of how many young adult bass it will take to reduce a larger population of bullheads??? It is a difficult question for a fairly accurate answer due to lots of variables to consider. If it were a sunfish pond I think it would likely take an additional 10-20 per acre more juvenile bass. I think the addition of juvenile bass and getting noticeable results will take time, as in annual stockings for several years during which lots of adult bullheads are still removed each year. The bass should be able bass will control the annual recruitment of bullheads, but the current adult population has to be continually and diligently reduced and dealt with.
Realistically trash fish biomass has to be reduced for water clarity to improve and the overall sport fish balance to recover or normalize. Improved water clarity is important for the bass to effectively forage on the young bullheads.
I like my idea of timing the addition of juvenile bass to when the schools of bullhead fry first appear each spring. This should significantly reduce the annual production of new bullheads and get the bass "trained" or accustomed to feeding on small bullheads as a main forage item.
Some of the unknown variables that make a supplimental bass stocking guesstiment difficult are:
1. How many bass / ac are currently present in the lake?
2. What is the size structure of those bass?
3. What is the diet of the current bass and what percent of their diet is BH?
4. Is there current bass recruitment and how good is it?
5. What is the monthly measurements of water clarity in the lake? This impact bass predation effectiveness.
6. How much annual recruitment of bullheads is there each year?
7. What other fish species are in the lake to defray or diversify the predation pressure of bass?
8. ??
9. ??
What trapping method is currently being used to catch bullheads??. It might be beneficial to invest in or build a trap net or hoop net. These types of nets are effective at catching bullheads. It might also be beneficial to trying to feed the bullheads pellets. This would collect or concentrate them, make trapping more effective, and make BH grow faster for a more beneficial or useful harvest.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 12/21/17 11:12 AM.
