Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Too many LMB, no time to cull. Can a fish help?

hello to all,
First off, an apology if this has been covered which I'm sure it has.
A quick recap of my situation.
-5 Acre Pond 5'-12'deep - Southern Illinois
-Fatheads & Shiners added spring of '12'
-BG and Red Ear added spring of '13'
-150 Tiger Bass added spring of '14'
-100 Walleye added fall of '14'
-60 Northern Strained bass added spring of '16'
Goals: Big bass and lots of them, occasional bonus fish.

First couple years it was hard to catch a bass but when i did they were footballs. Last year (2017) was really the first year the bass reproduced. This year we can catch .5 lb to 1 lb LMB at will and my original bass have not increased in size over last year and some have even lost weight as i have tags in some of them and can keep track of individual fish, the regular strained bass are around 3 lbs the tigers are 4.5lbs to 5.5 lbs. The BG population is certainly lower (also i didn't feed the BG this year). The walleye are about 18"-20" and excite me every time I catch one! I feel like my bass population is starting to get away from me and I am not able to cull as much as I feel I should. So my question is... Is there a recommended species I could add to the pond to do the culling for me, but only within that smaller range of fish, as in I don't want my 3+ lb bass to get eaten as say something like a larger muskie would do. I understand there probably isn't a fish out there that will fit my needs perfectly but I didn't think it would hurt to ask opinions. Thanks!
BTW even though I haven't been on the forum much the last couple years, and even though my pond has a very mild issue of too many bass and the top end of my bass are not growing like I want. My pond is AWESOME!! And it wouldn't be anything like it is without the PB community that helped me out so much during the construction and stocking phases. So so thankful for the help! Now I live 100 yards from the pond am raising my family next to it. Endless thanks to PB!!

I would suggest an electro survey and see where you are at, and use that for your culling. Two birds on stone...

I agree with BrianL re electrofishing. If that shows too many LMB, you might consider Tiger Musky.

Oh heck...just get you a couple small spotted cats (flatheads). They'll thin those runty LMB.

JUST KIDDING!! They'll eat a lot more than the runts!!

I'm sure flatheads would not be your solution given the size of your BOW, but if my 1/4 acre pond ever gets stunted...flatheads might make an appearance for a few years of rod breaking fun. There are plenty of places around here to take and transplant some sizable cats. There's not much better than a half hour reel and drag to land a monster flathead. I would consider the stunted BG forage much like I do the current population of FHM's.

You likely need more large forage and less LMB. A E Survey can help with that both as knowledge of the situation and for removing LMB. It takes a LOT of forage to maintain a population of 5 lb LMB growing. Feeding the BG will help. Feeding BG and then stopping is not a good idea for forage purposes unless you take out a lot of predators.

I was only joking about the flatheads, but had given it some thought until I did more research. I'm like you tho, in if I needed to reduce numbers throughout (because they will eat anything they can get into that big mouth), and could get my hands on a couple of 2# fish and didnt care which fish they fed on, I'd be happy to let them dance in some grease when they'd done their jobs. I think they eat better than any catfish out there, and are freight trains on a rod.

Flathead Catfish would be like the nuclear option.

A private 22 acre lake I fished in Ohio introduced 25 tiger muskies to cut down on the 10 - 12 inch LMB numbers. T Muskies did well, average size LMB increased as numbers dropped, and of course the TM offered a thrill on a rod & reel.

Maxed out about 25 lb, I think. One advantage is that they don't reproduce so won't take over. In a 5 acre pond, would guess max size will be lower than 25 lb, but still worthwhile & fun to catch.