Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Help evaluating my fish growth

Jason, this is first I've read you mention culling fish. This is an integral part of good management and up to now I don't think anyone has documented culled fish with weights, measures, and dates. Considering you are making efforts to obtain metrics, noting which fish are culled and their metrics might be helpful to others.

PS. ML10, Lake8, Boondoggle, and Learningboutfish. You guys also have young ponds will at some point be culling fish. Information about the harvested fish might be helpful to others.

If I can get a feel for how much damage the cormorants caused last fall, I'll likely be on the culling train. Hopeful we may get a few female BG this year and if there are some obvious male LMB / underperformers...well they are likely going to come home for supper.

Hopeful that we might find a good weather weekend without crazy home projects soon to fish for a few BG.

Jason D's LMB will have some 4.5+ by summers end. The growth of his SMB and LMB both are the best I've seen in this part of the country but he was very smart about his approach to loading the forage barrel for bear.
He caught one Sunday I think was about 1/2lb bigger than what he posted the pic of...dude is flat growing some brutes.

There is no lack of forage for sure. Crunching with the climate model ... 3.5" LMB stocked 9/15/23 ... I get an average of 2.35 lbs average on 3/22/25. Not too awful far from the mark. Since the model is for ad libitum feeding, definitely fair to say that they are not wanting for forage to eat . There is no reason why the 2.52 LMB recently caught couldn't be 4.5 lbs September 15. That's 20% above average for females in Jason's climate and she fits that level of model outperformance. As long as she eats all she wants when she wants, I think it will happen.

Thanks for the kind words, I believe the biggest variable in this (as previously mentioned) is that I resurrected a body of water that was 30 years old. The nutrient load from the old, bad creek fish that were once established is playing a big role in fish growth. On the negative side of this, there is a lot of unwanted algae and weed growth, making it impossible to fish at times.
Next, Go with your gut feeling, Not everything you hear or read is right for your situation. Ask question, get a second or third opinion.
As you know, according to the general consensus, my stocking plan wasn't going to work.
At this point I believe it's more of a stroke of luck and circumstances that the fish growth has been what it is.

Lastly, Off subject. When are all of these minnows going to be gone LOL. I believe this years YOY are going to have a buffet waiting for them.





The average fish caught since Jan. 1, 2025 has been 1.92# @ 14.55", 8 fish sampled. In addition to this, not in my sampling, there were 3 fish culled that averaged 1.48# and 13.5", even though those still have a good RW, they were much smaller overall. Probably Males. Some want an all female pond so I don't think that pulling out a few Males is hurting anything. Of the 39 fish sampled since the 1 year mark, 12 of them have been over 2.00# , 3 of those being over 2.25# . I know there are a few giants swimming around. One in particular that was caught back in October was 2.22#
I believe I have mentioned this in the past. I do not believe the RW chart is very accurate for this part of the country. The weights are way low for any fish under 12"

Pretty cool Jason. Awesome growth.

I can't recall when you caught the 2.22 lb LMB in October ... but when I plug it in for 10/15/24 I get a weight yesterday of 2.495 lbs. So could have been the fish you recently caught, I guess we will never know. One of Learning's fish is tracking just like that. I know it's the same fish because he tagged it ... its also pretty cool to see Learnin's fish reaching their potential. There are other members enjoying ad libitum growth of their LMB too.

Already, your original stocking is old enough that the model will start overestimating the weight of males. By this time next year, perhaps the shortest female will be longer than the longest male. This eventually happens given enough age and growth. Anyway, averaging the dates between January and today (2/15/25) I get an average weight of 2.29 lbs. But keep in mind that the model is formally for the females and so the mature males diverging below the model will scew samples containing mature males below the modeled average. IMO, the model doesn't apply to males larger than 11". Underperforming fish will be comprised mostly of males.

Hey guys, I had a chance to fish this past weekend and caught a few more. I was able to get pictures of most of them.
CC A: 20"; 2.53#
CC B: 18.4"; 2.33#
CC C: 19"; 2.55 -- female loaded full of eggs
CC D: 21.5"; 3.94#

CC 16.75"; 1.43#
CC 16.5" ; 1.5#
CC 20.5"; 2.71#

Have not had a chance to check on the bass. Hoping to get some time for that this week.

Hi DPSMESA - What were those CC biting best on?

All were caught on chicken liver.

Excellent report, great pictures, we're getting ready to cull some to grease as well.

I increased the feed to add some extra weight to them. The water temp is 66 degrees and they are responding great.

I feed them in a shallow corner of the pond and plan on seining them out.

Learninboutfish - Let us know how the seining process works for harvesting your catfish. Length, depth and mesh size of the seine will be helpful info.

Back to the CC growth for your comparison,, My kid caught the first one in 10 months this weekend. 20.2” - 3.73#,
Stocked at approximately 6” on 9/15/23, May or May not be eating pellets, I never see them at the feeder

Nice CC growth! Did that one go into the hot oil?

I have a buddy near you (Kingman) that feeds on his LMB-BG-CC pond. The BG create a frenzy when the feed hits the water. However, if you observe to the very end of the activity, some large CC do come and hoover up some pellets when only a few BG are still feeding. Perhaps you should very quietly observe an entire pellet consumption cycle and see if some CC do come in at the end? (The CC do NOT come if you have little kids running back and forth on the dock giggling at the BG.)

The largest CC we have caught in that pond is 9.5#, but I have seen larger heads than that eating some pellets.

Up until early summer last year I observed the CC on the feed, nothing since, We never target them as they are a looked over fish in the pond, Also very lightly stocked, 10/acre
My feeders are set to go over 3 times per session, 5 minutes apart for this very reason. get the BG full and out of the way then the HSB and whatever else is hungry come in.
Obviously the LMB and SMB are lurking, they crush the forage and get a few pellets in the mean time