Here is a good topic for everyone. Whats your thoughts on stocking some bullheads in a new pond for extra forage for bass and for kids to catch. When i was a kid all the old farm ponds had lots of bullheads in them and there was always nice healthy big bass. Anymore very few of these same ponds have bullheads since they have been cleaned out or had channel cat added to them. I am thinking there has to be some good in have them in a pond. i remember those huge schools of baby bullheads and the bass just going crazy eating them. any thoughts? I was thinking about stocking 25 of them in a pond.
KSBASS,
Been a while since you've posted but just happened on this. Reading this made me go back and find some scenarios I had evaluated in an excel workbook. The question I was seeking answers for was whether BH could replace BG as bass forage. The obvious obstacle is fingerling survival of the BH because with no reproduction, the BH would be extirpated and they would not grow to sufficient size to feed large bass. One solution is to stock BH at a suitable size be eaten by 18+ in LMB and in sufficient quantity that they continue to grow while they are consumed by the large LMB. This scenario involves growing BH in a forage pond where they could be raised without aeration at 1200 lbs/acre (probably greater density could be achieved). The annual stocking to the main pond represents the recruitment you need but can't achieve in the presence of LMB in the main pond. I've cleaned up the spreadsheets and made them look nice and so anyone interested in the scenario is may download from the link below.
There are two scenarios. One which maximizes trophy bass and one which maximizes the production of eating size BH.
The appeal for trophy bass is that one manages nearly the entire BH biomass to be forage for large bass. The BH are stocked too large for 12" LMB to eat, the BH are harvested by fisherman when they are at the upper end of what LMB can eat. The BH will produce many offspring but the contingent of small LMB easily pick them off. The small bass are there to ensure that BH do not over recruit (the forage pond supplies the annual large LMB sized forage). When small bass can compete for 6" BH, these bass must be harvested. Maintaining the biomass of BH at lengths appropriate for 18 - 24 inch LMB ensures adequate forage for the trophy sized fish (which of course must be kept to an appropriate number). I imagined this as a BOW which provides twice a week recreational fishing for BH, where when BH are caught they are fin clipped (particularly the pectoral and dorsal spines) and perhaps the hyperdermic injection of air to make them struggle to stay below the surface. One would feed BH caught and released this way in no more quantity than the LMB could efficiently consume in a feeding.
The second scenario produces no large bass and depends upon relentless harvest of any bass large enough to eat the BH stockers. The presence of large LMB would reduce the BH harvest because of predation. On the other hand, insufficient small bass might allow excessive reproduction. In essence, however, they are the same management plan with this exception. Fisherman replace the trophy LMB as the apex predator in the latter scenario. BH are harvest in their second season to maximize production.
The blue spaces in the spreadsheets are places that you can manipulate with different numbers. The green spaces contain computational information of interest. These scenarios were set up for a BOW which can naturally produce 300 lbs of BH annually. The first scenario requires 1 sack of Catfish feed annually per acre and the second none. The milage you get would depend on your BOW's production potential and feeding program. It is meant to be a starting place. By adjusting the blue parameters you can find the conditions approximating a particular BOW. So you can also do what-ifs with the SS. If anyone has questions feel free to ask.
