Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction Newer Pond Owner of an Existing Pond

Welcome to the forum. You know what you need to do about the otters. To keep BG numbers in check and to manage for big BG, you are pretty much forced to stock LMB unless you want to do a LOT of BG fishing and feeding the 'coons. Stock 30-40 LMB and once they start exceeding 14" in length, remove every one that is over 14". Remove the female BG and RES that you catch, and feed Optimal Bluegill food this year. Next year you could mix Optimal Bluegill/Bass food at a 50/50 ratio. You should have BG that exceed a pound within a year, maybe two years. If there are any Hybrid Bluegills left in there, manage those the same as the regular BG. Same for any SMB left, manage like LMB.

Remove any crappie and catfish that you catch too. You CAN fish all the Crappie out of the pond, I've done it. Don't release a CC that you catch, you will have a hard time catching it again and they will be predating on the BG too. Big CC can eat an 8" BG. You should install an aeration system to prevent the pond from freezing and wiping out all your hard work. A PondLyfe 2 system would work just fine, one diffuser in deep water, one in shallow water for the winter.