Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Accidental Good Results

Have you guys ever lucked into unintended good results with your pond?

My original stocking plan was to have a pond where my kids could have a blast catching high numbers of fish in a short amount of time regardless of size. I figured what I would end up with would be a stunted, over-populated LMB pond with big CNBG in low numbers. The HSB were just an experiment that I honestly didn't think would work out.

Well, almost three years later I have nothing like what I planned. I have a 1/2 acre pond that fishes like a trophy bass lake. Instead of catching high numbers of fish in a short amount of time you catch low numbers in a longer time, but the fish you do catch are huge. I have not caught a bass under 3 lbs in over a year. Both my LMB and HSB are fat, healthy and fight like no fish I have ever caught before. I have an over abundance of CNBG swimming the shoreline and routinely see LMB and HSB ambushing them, especially at feeding time. I also have a ton of very large frogs and native crawfish adding to the buffet.

I don't know how long this accidental bass haven can sustain itself, but I am enjoying it while I can. When the large LMB and HSB die off I will probably have a huge gap in size and will likely have to start over or get some adult size LMB to add. The question is are the huge bass the stockers I put in the Spring of 2017 (which would be impressive growth rates) or are they the offspring of the 9 lbs bass I didn't know was in the pond when I initially stocked it?

My HSB have gone from 4-6" long to 16-18 inches long (2 to 2.6 pounds)since last spring. 3 pound fish in 3 growing seasons sounds about right, but still very impressive.

Congrats on the great fishery even if not expected! There's something about using PB info and advice that makes a pond turn out.

Consider ladder stocking your HSB. I plan to put 10 more in this fall and take a few out just to keep them going in the pond.

Yeah, I am afraid to add any without taking some out. I am not sure how delicate this current balance is.

Rather than accidental good results ... perhaps this is an example of what one may expect in 2 1/2 years given your initial stocking plan. Rather than luck or accident, I say you made some good choices in the beginning and this is result. Congratulations on a job well done.




This much I can tell you, It won't "sustain itself" at the same level but you can achieve many years of similar performance if you begin managing your predators now. The BOW is probably at its carrying capacity and so you can gain a very good sense of what biomass of predators your BOW can support. You just need that biomass spread across a progression of year classes averaging the current average weight. Most all of current biomass is in one year class (your initial stocking). It will take a few years to transform to the progression taking a combination of stocking, selective recruitment, and harvest. You would need to be vigilant removing small LMB recruits.

You also mentioned starting over which is an alternative that many do. Just keep in mind that your BOW today is a reflection of what it was this Spring (as well as a reflection of your initial stocking plan and if you fed ... the feed). It is not a reflection of what it will be in 4 years. Now that your BOW is at carrying capacity ... what it is in 4 years will be a reflection of what it is today and what you do to shape its future.

QA and yourself have BOWs at similar stages in time with similar stocking plans. I would think there is a lot you guys could share and discuss with regard to managing future goals.

I do plan to start pulling out smaller fish if I ever catch them. They have to be there. I guess I need to reduce the size of the lures I am using. But, like I said before, the pond fishes more like a lake than any stock pond I grew up fishing. If that makes sense. It is much harder to catch fish. My pond is always in varying stages of muddy though due to the amount of runoff it sees after rain events. By the time it settles out and starts clearing up it rains again. This probably has more to do with the qaulity of fishing than anything.

How does the RW look on the fish you do catch?

Haven�t gotten any official measurements recently but they all look very fat and happy. Not long and skinny and not short and fat. Healthy fish. I will try to get weights and lengths of some fish soon.

What quantities of each fish did you initially stock?