Scott:
morts are all about 16-18" fish and NOT the biggest fish.
I should have taken otolith out of everything he's found but only did 1, the fish appears to be 7 yrs old as best I can tell with my fisher-price microscope.
Pond is aerated-efficiently, 4am to 7pm, various vegetation types are coming on, good macrophytes, should be good O2 production. 5:30am O2 check last week showed 6.3ppm at 3'. WT 59*. Water clarity is a good 3' . Several species present, including my YP, BG, a few RES and a few 3-4lb SMB. The only other fish we've found was a small 2.5" BG. Full of GSH, never see but an occasional wounded fish from GBH.
I have pretty much kept a tight rein on this pond as it's only 20 miles from me. The water tests that I can accurately check are good.. simple pH-7.8, "smell" of water is that of a very healthy pond-you guys know that smell if you spend a lot of time around ponds, some have no smell and are less productive.
Water looks super, but only morts are LMB in the above range.
My thoughts are fish that were not growing well were introduced, mother nature said no room for more, Bass tried to spawn but eggs in most nests, 3 did not have eggs but males stayed a very extended amount of time.
One thing he did change last year besides addition of the adult bass, was about 75-80 2lb trout.
jpsdad, I can't find an obvious issue with water. Cycle of pond is exactly how it's been for 9 years.
Another thing I should add is he rarely sees LMB production of any number. He pulls all 6-10" LMB but it's been very low numbers and has never purposely harvested a single large adult LMB.
In trapping, we see a few BG of varying sizes, a few YP, occasionally a small LMB or 3, but never have seen much for reproduction of LMB. BG seems to be very different every year
This is a 3/4 ac pond.
I'm starting to wonder if these as less than perfect bass that have reached end-of-life at a specific age.
Last edited by Snipe; 04/28/25 12:11 PM.
