Thanks esshup!
To clarify, I haven't stocked any fish yet (unless you are referring to the Grass Carp, which, yes, are already in). As a side note that I think is kind of funny: I am 50 years old and been bass fishing at this particular location, and other places, all my life. You mention the stunted growth of the bass, which was also explained in the evaluation I was given. I never realized that bass actually STOP growing, but still get older. I always just assumed that, in an overcrowed situation, bass just grow and, as they age, they get too big to compete with the smaller bass and die of starvation LOL.
The BG are scheduled to be stocked this Fall and they are Coppernose Bluegill (CNBG). I have never noticed any snails at all. I suppose they could be in there, but I have never seen or heard anything about snails. What are the signs?
The stocking plan for the upcoming Fall is for intermediate sized CNBG (3-5 inches). As for the current bass harvesting efforts, I actually had something come up yesterday that prompted me to reevaluate the progress. As I mentioned in the original post, during the electro-evaluation, 50 bass were taken out that totaled 13 lbs. Since then, I have pulled out 144 bass, but have not been weighing them. I didn't have a scale, but figured I'd just go by the ratio of 13lbs per 50 bass (like the electro-evaluation), which equals .26 lbs per bass. So, 194 total bass = 50.44 lbs. I bought a scale yesterday, went to the camp, and caught two fish. They were small and skinny, but weighed .55 and .51 lbs each. That has me thinking that I am actually closer to my 24 month goal of 90 lbs than I thought. I have caught some fish that are smaller than that over the past couple of months, but also several that were bigger than those two.
You mention not having enough cover and being marathon runners. I suspect you are correct on both counts. There were some cover areas in the pond, but not enough (likely not close to enough). Basically, the cover areas that were in there were overhanging parts of trees in the water in a few places. I cut a bunch of large limbs and small trees and placed them around in more areas, but that was only a couple of months ago. I have a general idea of the topography of the bottom, but nothing close to optimal. I know there is a stream bed that runs across the bottom, but I don't know really where it is. I know that there is a deep trench near one of the banks, but that is about it.
I'd like to, and I am trying to implement, an organized plan to pour pea gravel in 5-6 strategic areas for CNBG spawning along with placing artificial and/or natural cover right around those areas. I mentioned the bass are hard to locate, but I suspect it's because they are dispersed all over due to not having any real concentrated areas of forage (marathon runners LOL).
The drainage pipe broke down deep during a Hurricane (mom thinks it was Katrina, which was 2005). Water was draining out of the pond. Whoever installed it tried to find a way to fix it, but determined it couldn't be fixed, so that is when we started just using the spillway instead. I put in some stakes and 1/4 inch hardware wire which has worked fine so far, but that was after finding the dead CNBG, so it still hasn't faced the test of a day-long Spring rain.
I had the same concern about the fertilizer prior to the lime. He said to go ahead and start putting it in to get some color into the pond. I assumed that means the fertilizer would react with the lime once it is in. I've put in two rounds of fertilizer (one in June and one this month) and it is definitely turning a nice greenish tint. I will plan to hold off on any more until the lime is in, which will hopefully be next month anyway. He did say to hold off if the visibility exceeds 18-24 inches.
I appreciate your taking the time! Look forward to hearing further thoughts.
