I have a 10 acre pond in East Texas that is now 8 years old. It was stocked with largemouth bass, coppernose bluegill, and channel catfish 8 years ago. Four years later I added a bunch of threadfin shad. There are quite a few 10-12 lb channel cats in the pond, and the coppernose bluegill are plentiful. I am also seeing some schools of shad swimming in the deeper areas of the pond when the water is calm. There have also been a few crappie caught here there and yonder although none were stocked.
I should also probably say that I add 100 lbs of phosphorus granulated fertilize every spring, and sometimes another 50-100 lbs in the fall if the water gets too clear.
I have lots of friends that like to come fish for bass, and I try my best to keep track of what they catch and keep. My goal is to raise 10+ lb bass, and we got the first documented 10+ pound fish about a month ago. There have been about 10 bass caught this summer that were above 9 pounds.
Right now, I am letting people keep any bass that is 18" long and under. I am just wondering if that is the right way to approach a size limit on the bass to try and have a nice number of large fish in my 10 acre pond. I have been keeping track of how many were taken out, and for the last three years it has been between 100 to 200 bass, and about 50 channel catfish per year.
What do you experts think I should impose as a size limit on the bass to try and get the 10+ pound fish to be more common?
Last edited by Lynyrd; 07/17/23 01:44 PM.
