Successful fish management using the ideas presented above based on the effort expended will IMO be determined a lot by what percentage of the pond has hydrilla growing in it. Too much weed cover makes LMB finding and catching BG very difficult.
The 1 ac pond 3ft-5ft deep with water through the entire pond is almost crystal clear. This means light penetrates to the bottom throughout the pond basin. This means the hydrilla could grow on all the pond bottom that provides dense cover for the BG. Best BG-LMB management depends on the pond not having more than 20% to maybe 30% weed cover so LMB can adequately capture the edible BG to keep their numbers from being overpopulated and can grow well.
Without seeing the pond I thing one thing to be doing is reducing the amount of hydrilla in the pond toward the 15%-20% coverage. Hydrilla spreads as it grows so this will be an ongoing management concern or plan to keep the weed growth managed so the LMB can effectively keep the BG numbers in some sort of predator prey balance so both populations come close to your goals.
Since your pond is likely ground water level maintained I would not use chemical herbicides to reduce the hydrilla or any weeds. Herbicides will tend to leach from the pond basin. One herbicide that could be effective would be a granular form that sinks to the bottom and be absorbed by the weeds. Granular herbicide can also be effective for spot treatment for better control of what areas weeds are reduced.
I suggest using white amur (aka grass carp - GC) to eat the hydrilla. Number to stock will depend on how many weeds you want to be removed or managed. My experience is once each GC when 18-20+" can eat about a pickup bed of weeds per year. IMO start by slowly adding GC and allow them to grow (about 1.5 years) to 20" long before adding more GC to see what existing number of GC can do for eating the weeds. GC are a whole lot easier to add than getting them removed which can be very difficult.. I will do a little homework and return to help determine number to stock for control of hydrilla.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 04/21/25 09:46 AM.
