Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Evaluating New Pond and New Fish

BoonDog - If your current pond situation were my pond I would welcome the lack of small bass because I think the fishery will be easier to manage with fewer very fast growing bass compared to having well reproducing bass with way too many bass that ALL are not getting enough food to eat. Thus lack of growth.

Look at the smile on the lady angler. That alone is well worth your efforts and testimony to what you have done so far and the current pond situation and balance.
100% agree. I just had the one rod in the truck and I think I had more fun watching the Mrs catching those LMB than I would have fishing for them myself. She had a great time on light tackle with fish testing the drag on the real as well as some fancy acrobatics from one of them.

1. The goal of most pondmeisers and probably you is to grow BIG bass and one does that by VERY good bass population control so there is a good constant supply of PROPER foods for the favored individuals so they grow to trophy sizes. With the lack of lots of small bass you do not have to spend lots of time and electroshock money trying to remove enough bass so remaining bass get BIG and fat. I consider this lack of many small bass as a win win for growing big bass with less time and money.

2. If your pond gets to the point of lack of bass recruitment, I think just going out and buying some stocker bass each year or two to have some "normal year classes" present is in the end cheaper than the time and money needed to remove too many bass. IMO Too many bass have many more disadvantages than too few bass if your goal is growing BIG Bass.

3. Dave Beasley in PBoss mag writes about growing trophy LMB using all female LMB. Population control is a very important key factor for growing trophies especially when it comes to keeping all the LMB well fed. At this point in time your lack of abundant year classes is similar to an all female bass pond. IMO Lucky YOU.
I think you and I talked about this when I was working through my initial stocking plan. The all female LMB was very interesting to me at the time. I didn't end up pulling the trigger on it for a couple of reasons. 1. I did find a supplier that indicated they did an all female LMB supply but after asking a few more questions about it they were not sexing the LMB via cath tube and the LMB were not listed as female until they were approx 2lbs in weight. If even one of them was not sexed properly.....it's a failed operation from the start. 2. NE KS is a tough one in my opinion for finding hatchery support to go outside the box on trophy LMB. There are hatcheries around but the offerings they provide are more limited than what's available in the Southern US - Tilapia, threadfin, trout, crawfish are doable but challenging to find access to for sure.

See these articles by DaveBeasley from your old issues of Pond Boss magazine
Jan-Feb 2023. TROPHY LARGEMOUTH BASS FISHERIES. Beasley provides detailed ideas for what it takes for trophy bass, feeding needs, ways to have more big bass by stocking forage and benefits of growing only female bass.

Mar-Apr 2020. MISTAKES MADE MANAGING FOR TROPHY LARGEMOUTH BASS. Beasley – Numerous do’s and don’ts.
Sep-Oct 2020. PUSHING THE LIMITS OF A SMALL TROPHY FISHERY. Beasley producing biggest fish in 1 ac pond.
Nov-Dec 2020. GOOD TIMES DO NOT LAST FOREVER. Beasley tells To Dos when first stocking dies of old age.

4. Having yellow perch in your LMB pond is not a good way to grow YP. YP are slender bodied, slow moving, idle at night and very easy for LMB to catch and swallow. YP you know are slender bodied similar to LMB. IMO the only way you could get 'good' results with having YP in an LMB pond is to have lots, and lots and lots of cover/habitat as big refuge areas for the YP to be able to grow to 9"+ so they have a chance to do daily activities and not worry about being dinner for a bass. Too much cover in a pond,,,,, then imparts other pond management issues. Then as the LMB get to be 4lb, 5lb, and 6+lb those YP have to be even bigger to not be dinner guests for those big momma bass. I would abandon your goals of having a good YP fishery in a pond sized area with regular habitat with always present hungry LMbass esp with LMB bigger than 2 -3lbs.
I agree with you on this one Mr Cody. While I do hope to catch an adult YP from time to time their use the in the pond is really more for early spawn and forage to the LMB. That said....they have to be present to be able to spawn. We are a bit challenged on the the weedy cover needed for them. The dry summer last year really took a toll on the plants we were trying to get established (pickerel weed, duck potato and detective erika lily as the water levels dropped 18-24" in the summer months. It does look like the pickerel week is trying to make a comeback in other areas for of the shallows. I'm hopeful that there is some success for it.

5. I think for you to grow big bass in your pond, focus your efforts to grow more BG as the "backbone" of LMB fisheries. Once your bass get to be larger consult with someone smarter than me to get another forage species to help the BG keep the big bass growing at an optimum rate. Maybe gizzard shad?? Your adding trout in the Fall is a very good practice to keep those managed bass growing well at least during Fall, Winter, and Spring until trout are gone. Maybe in a 1.5 acre having more 4lb to 5lb bass with the occasional 7 or 8lber is plenty good of a fishery than trying to grow those difficult and rare 9-10 lbers in just a 1.5 ac pond.