I don't think it is them consuming plastics. I have had a few bass break off with crappie jigs but I didn't see any jigs in the dead basses jaw. I let a kid fish the pond a bit but that is nothing new.

The water has been on the cooler side this august - july was super hot - Id say the water temp has been in the mid 70s as the nights have been cool.

I am leaning toward lack of forage simply because none of the bass have been real chunky and the last bass I hooked this week was definitely emaciated.

I have other grass and cattails on ponds edges. I also have several brush piles for small fish to hide.

One site I read said you shouldn't have excessive brush piles as it would hurt the ability for bass to eat . That was one of reasons I'm leaning toward removing some of the shallows of water shield.

I have a lot more BG than bass and it seem like they should be able to breed faster. I'm thinking the water shield may be so thick in the shallows and cutting off all light to the extant that it interferes with spawning. Hence I think I'm gonna remove it from one of the shallow ends and see if that improves anything.

I also added 10 lbs of baitfish last friday and hope to have 70 lbs of shiners delivered next friday.

Last edited by nvcdl; 09/01/24 10:14 PM.