Lake8 - If you want those LMB to keep growing at the same impressive rate, start monitoring the amount of forage fish present for the LMB to continually eat and grow. In many ponds with your situation and as the LMB get above 2 lbs, then 3 lbs, then 4 lbs the pond runs out of enough forage foods and the bass hit a growth wall and growth dramatically slows down. This is because of two main reasons. 1. TOO many bass per acre and 2. NOT enough appropriate sized forage available to keep all those larger bass AND new recruitment bass well fed. LMB are adding numerous new bass each year to the pond.
As the original LMB continue to grow, they need more food than was originally present due to more lbs of bass present. Continued growth means more pounds of food that is needed for getting optimum growth. Tough job for the pond manager. One solution - remove numerous bass each year as the pond ages to keep fewer hogs that need to be fed for the forage being produced. Sizes of LMB to be removed is part of the management needed for having a quality fishery. Goals, Goals, Goals.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 03/10/25 09:57 AM.
