Firstly - One important note. IF you are really serious about moving your fishery toward your stated goals of the occasional bass in the 7-8 lb range then IMO you should be listing on paper or electronically EVERY bass that is caught. Also helpful is H for harvested or R for released. Recording lengths IMO are more important than weight, but both L&W do enhance the data trend and the accuracy especially during the later years as fish in the carrying capacity fluctuate as they always do with reproducing populations.. These data will accurately document the trend in fish size growth and relative abundance of numbers in the various size classes that are present. Having paper records are very important to achieving your goals. Casual observation and memory are not good enough for the long term effort and details that it will take to get and KEEP some bass at the upper sizes of 7lb-8lb. Seeing and watching the actual numbers change over the years will help decide how the fishery is progressing toward your goals. As the pond ages, the numbers will not lie but your memory of accuracy will not be reliable and will not remember the needed variabilities that are needed. All this is important when you need some serious advice about how to improve or adjust the fishery to keep in on the path of your goals. You won't get serious reliable advice or help if you don't have some serious accurate data for a knowledgeable pro to see the problem and the best way to solve it. A good example are the generalized current historical informational points you are posting now about the fishery. IMO when you have generalized information you will only get generalized advice which results in a general fishery and not some specific points to achieve or maintain or regain your specific goals.
Secondly - With feeding boosting the carrying capacity, I question if you with 8 ac of pond will be able to do with just angling harvest remove enough LMB per year to consistently achieve your goals of having the occasional 8 lb bass in Southern IL. This will take a concerted annual accurate effort of small bass or selective LMB removal. SE IL is noted as having a somewhat above average fertility rating of close to 80-100ppm Alkalinity. This means 250 to 340lbs of natural fish capacity (310 x8ac=2480 to 2500lbs of fish). Feeding the pond as planned, boosts the carrying capacity (CC 3X-4X) to 7,200-10,000lbs having around 1080 to 1500lbs of bass(15%). Keeping that bass population properly sized for 7-8lbers is a daunting task that will need good information achieved in the first paragraph.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 02/26/24 10:20 AM.
