Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Fertilization/culling questions

I had a few questions regarding a pond I am trying to manage. It is .85 acres and has a very stunted bass population with average relative weights of around 75%. It seems to have visibility out to 5-5.5ft, so vegetation is growing out to the 4.5-5ft zones.

so

1. I was thinking with the visibility it obviously isn't very fertile, so next year when the water hits 60ish degrees I figured I would fertilize it. This should limit the light penetration and keep vegetation limited within the first foot or two of depth correct? I would like to have that nice 18" visibility while also keeping vegetation in check. I figured if I fertilized and vegetation was still a little out of control I would recommend a few tripled grass carp.

2. As far as culling goes, as I said it is a .85 acre tank and I have taken 51 bass out so far for a total of only 16.31lbs. I know its recommended to take out 10-15lbs for an unfertilized tank, so am I safe to keep taking as much smaller bass out as I can? up to maybe 25lbs?

3. Again with culling, I know some people take out bluegill as well. If we are focusing on the bass fishery, I figured that I may could just leave the bluegill and let the bass keep them in check once we get them a little bigger. Should I be taking out 4-5lbs of bluegill for every lb of bass like some people are saying to do? Or am I good to leave them in there?

Thank you guys for your responses! Helps a bunch!

I'm not going to get "too scientific" here because there are other variables that could demand a different answer..
I believe you could safely pull many more bass but pulling BG would be dependent on what their average size is compared to the largest of the BG and also the density and size structure.
Large masses of BG can potentially inhibit LMB reproduction so in this case it's likely you have bass that are much older than they should be at "X" length. 75% WR proves that.
I would leave decent numbers of the largest BG, get bass removed of any size that is less than 90% WR without removing them all-SLOWLY-not all in 1 week, then I would concentrate on some of the most abundant ave sized BG and take "some" of those.
It may take up to a year to see the changes occur so have patience in the process.
EDIT: I would change my WR to 85% or less.. Post spawn and summer stress can pull them down some, 85-90% may not be all that bad.
Others may have a different approach here.

I don’t like to cull bluegills unless there are too many. If you do it selectively it’s hard to make a difference. A predator needs prey that is 1/4 to 1/3 it’s size.It’s a matter of energy expended vs calories obtained.

It is said that the best cattleman is a grass farmer. Thus the best bass raiser will concentrate on the prey base. Could you have an imbalance?

What part of Texas? Why? It rains in East Teas; not so in West Texas.

With the vegetation in there, that is what's causing the clear water. That is using the nutrients to keep the phytoplankton from growing. I'd leave all the bluegill in there, yank out at least 25# of LMB and up to 30# of LMB this year. Every one that is under 90% WR. I think 90% WR is a good number to go with, the 5% to bring it down to 85% won't realistically change the population that much, AND with the bass crowded pond, taking out a few too many really won't hurt in the long run.

Without taking a water test for alkalinity and P during late December (when the plants aren't growing and are decomposed, releasing the nutrients into the pond and not tying them up in plant life), you don't know if you should fertilize or not. IF you fertilize and it's not needed, the plant life in there will explode. I'd throw dye in there in Jan/Feb to limit sunlight penetration - a mixture of blue and black so you don't get the "tidy bowl" blue look.

FWIW, I can have curly leaf pondweed growing in a pond and have 5'-6' visibility. Once that dies back in July, visibility goes to 18"-24" without me adding any fertilizer.

Thank you all for the responses! So I will definitely keep pulling fish out, and not worry as much about the gills right now. As for the vegetation, I don't want to kill it all but definitely want a little less of it. I feel like chemicals would wipe it out, as well as be more of a temporary fix, so would you guys recommend grass carp for this purpose or would they wipe it all out too? They want to leave the pond as natural looking as possible so don't want to use dye, but they said they will if that's what is needed.

Chemicals give you control of how much vegetation is removed. Grass carp are a gamble. I have a bounty on grass carp at my place because of a complete lack of vegetation.