Comment was "if we expect the carry for LMB to be 5-10 lbs/acre, then there is a significant under-supply of forage. Enough, under supply of forage that mortality would necessarily do some balancing." and continuing " "Other options would be to remove some LMB or increase forage and or feeding."
If it were my pond and having the same goals of large BG, I think there is probably now or soon to be a shortage of the amount of BG forages to keep the bass fed so they grow. However Mr. Biller's goal is not bass but large BG.
So thinking out loud, I would be manually removing during short work sessions some of the surface mats of green string algae so small fish including bass have fewer hiding places. Keep some FA algae growing to help maintain clear water which is also Biller's goal. Maybe stock a few tilapia each year to help thin out the amount FA and provide some angling action in the early Fall (Sept before the water temp drops below 70F). Growing larger bass is not Biller's goal but growing large BG are his goal. I don't think Biller's goal is to have large numbers of big BG but to have some examples of BIG BG.
So my thinking is,,, it is okay to have numerous stunted bass to effectively crop each year's year class of newly produced BG.
Give the fishery time to do its natural mortality of the current LMB population.
Monitor the sizes of BG by continuing the sessions of fish trapping and angling.
During angling sessions remove the female BG and release male BG.
Keep catch records of the fish sampled and removed. These data will provide a good indication of how the fishery is progressing for maintaining good numbers of BG 8" and larger.
Let's hope Brad Biller returns to the PB Forum with the progress reports of his goal of growing some big BG in his 0.5 ac clear water pond. I am curious if our advice is helping achieve his goals. Thus if I don't forget, I will periodically check in with him for the progress of his pond.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 07/21/26 08:20 PM.
