Originally Posted by Jason D
Originally Posted by esshup
Originally Posted by Jason D
When it comes to structure, complex or simple.
Is there anything wrong with having little or no long term stationary structure but have temporary structure as in
Pond weed, chara, etc. 6-7 months a year. Dense, as in 50% of the pond . Then almost nothing when it all dies off in the late fall ?


The downside to that is when it dies back the forage base in the pond get hits HARD. It can get over eaten and have a hard time recovering in the Spring. Without cover in the pond the predators have to swim more to find food, and since they cannot ambush prey they expend more energy because they have less success in catching prey. They don't catch something to eat every time they try, so when they DO catch something it has to make up for all the calories burned in the previous unsuccessful attempts.

Structure = fixed things that are part of the pond. i.e. drop offs, humps or underwater rises, points going out into the pond, etc.

Cover = Temporary, movable things, even though they may be hard to move. i.e. weed beds, fallen trees, artificial cover, pine tree piles/pyramids, piles of pallets, piles of rocks, etc.

I have very little to none of the above. It’s been running threw my head that some cover needs to be added, but what an undertaking it would be to even add 10%
Thought I read somewhere else on here that your LMB only eat something like 1/64 of normal consumption when the water is under 40* ?
I guess they get to eat crawfish during the winter 😂


Crawfish will bury themselves in the mud to sort of hibernate.

You don't have to add it all at once. Make a plan and start doing some every weekend, or at least every month. Bass in a pond with no cover are like marathon runners. Burning lots of calories swimming all the time looking for food. Not loafing near cover waiting to ambush their food, so they need even more food to maintain weight. Cover from shallow water for summer use to deep cover for winter use. There is a large thread about it in the archives to give you some ideas of what to use and how to place it.

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3/4 to 1 1/4 ac pond LMB, SMB, PS, BG, RES, CC, YP, Bardello BG, (RBT & Blue Tilapia - seasonal).