Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations New Pond Owner

Good advice so far, especially by DrWizz; reread his enlightening post located above. An important part for an economical good fish evaluation is "" fishing both ponds with a variety of baits and lures is another alternative to see what is currently present. Use artificial and live bait and also run the gamut on hook size too. Write down the length and weight of each fish caught. Most Midwest ponds that have not been actively managed and thay are stocked with bass and bluegill will end up with tons of stunted bass in the 12” range and large bluegills. In this scenario it will be difficult to stock any new species that is less than 6”. IMPORTANT - "stock new ones not less than 6" or you are just adding expensive predator foods. LM bass can eat big meals.

It is very important to get good results are several of the items: 1. "variety of baits and lures and variety of hook sizes". 2. "write down the length and weight of each fish caught". I advise record or include each type or specie caught with length. For a general or preliminary survey recording weights of the fish are not as important as getting lengths.

I regularly survey fish in a pond using the very simple angling method that involves just a small No.8 aberdeen hook baited with a 0.5" to 1.5" piece of night crawlwer (worm) fished under a thin elongated bobber. Set the bobber so the hook fishes depths of 2ft to 6ft deep. Deeper fishing can also be performed. Fish and record individuals until you get around 50 to 100 fish caught. The more you catch the better idea you will get for a good size structure and distrinbution of fishes present,

Move the bait parallel to shore so the hook is around 6" to 18" above the bottom. This small hook catches all sizes of fish 4"+. Thin fish line of 4-6 lb helps catch more fish in clear water. I caught some of my largest ever fish on a #8 hook (9 lb walleye) fished deep. It can regularly catch all types of forage fish to large bass on smal hooks. I've even caught large grass carp with this method. Small # 14 to # 12 hooks will catch minnows. and fingerlings. One key angler secret to this method is to sit on the ground when fishing near shore especially if the water is clear. When you are on shore a fish sees you before you see them due to angle defraction of light in water. Many larger fish are people shy due to negative experiences. Shore sitting provides a low profile where fish will come close to shore searching for food and readily encounter the shallow bait, Again write down length of every fish caught.

If someone comes in and does electrofishing they will likely sample several hundred fish so the more you catch by angling the closer your results will match those of a electrofishing survey.

By examining all the fish catch data one can see a good representation of the size distribution of common fish species in your pond. Type of angling can bias the data - see below. The most abundant specie and size caught will be the most common fish in the pond. This method does take some time. For some, time is money so the method you choose is dependent on your lifestyle and dedication to the project. Angling until you catch a few hundred fish takes a fair amount of time whereas electroshocking is a relatively quick sampling not involving your time.

NOTES: Both sampling methods have limitations.
Electroshocking generally does not sample fish in deeper waters such as 7ft+ft. Many fish will avoid the sampling boat noise and movement especially those closest to shore unless entrapped in shallow water by the pulsing electro-current. Electroshocking during daylight tends to be less efficient than low light or nighttime shocking because more fish are close to shore at night where and when electroshocking is most effective. Cost of an electrofishing survey produces quality results but it is expensive due to labor and equipment involved. Almost all electroshocking surveys include a professional written report about the sampled fish community

Angling and measuring fish takes time depending on density of fish. Time is money for most people. Using different types of live baits including small lures requires added time collecting baits. Baits depending on the type can be selective to certain fish species and then bias the catch results so using variety of baits lessens the bias. I like using the common earth worm because most all fish will eat the earth worm because it represents the natural occurring the pond inhabitant called oligochate worm that most all fish grow up eating. If results are not documented the time spent gatheing catch data greatly decreases the value of the method. It is usually helpful to the evaluation if the data includes the total time fished. This can provide information about CPUE (catch per unit effort).

Many pond owners are not astute enough to correctly evaluate the catch results so an additional or outside opinion (evaluation) is often needed to correctly analyze the results. Experienced members here can do that to help you if you post your results. Also PB members can help with fish identification when you catch fish that you do not recognize or provide verification of your opinion. Get a close clear picture of the fish and post it on your post query. I suggest you always return to this specific tread to keep all your pond data in one location.