Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Transferring bass

Hey y’all I’m considering moving a couple bass from a nearby friends ranch to my 1.25 acre pond. My pond is only a year old and has a huge supply of forage. We also only have the original stocker bass so we don’t have an overcrowding problem yet. Reason I’m considering moving them is just for the heck of it as it would be cool to see one of his fish in my pond and because my bass numbers seem low. Wouldn take a giant obviously but was thinking like a 1-3 pounder. Biggest concern is bacteria and stuff the new fish could bring. Thoughts?

Read the article in the latest issue of the Pond Boss Magazine. It goes into great detail what moving fish, especially LMB entails and what typically happens with the fish.

I'd do it, but that's just me.

Well I am happy to say I transferred my first fish today. Sunils response was the final push I needed to finally do this . All went well brought over a solid 1.5 pounder. Fish swam off really fast and strong. Obviously not out of the woods yet but hoping he makes it.

Bob Lusk gave his impression of the stats on transferring adult LMB once. It was something like a third prosper, a third do okay, and a third decline.

If you look at it as a chance to bring in some new genetics, it's not a bad bet.

I second (third?) Sunil and Theo.

If the neighbor NEEDS to cull bass from his pond, then even if only a few bass thrive in your pond it should still be a big benefit.

You will have a few "bonus" large bass to catch in the pond in a few years, and the large bass will eat into a couple of the size classes of the abundant smaller bass. That should result in your pond having a much wider distribution of bass in each size class, which should make it a much healthier bass fishery.

Appreciate everyone’s input overall looking forward to how this pans out

Damn right I would do it.