Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Help The Fish???? Waht to do????

Robert:

This is a big order, as you must know since you posted it in three sections. You might want to consider editting the posts under feeding and creating sturcture to leave just the portions pertinant to those sections.

Since you just got the property, and since 50 acres is a lot of water, my first advice is to determine as much as you can about all the different kinds of fish you have in there. What are the different species? What forage species do you have - in addition to bass and crappie, are there any bream/sunfish? How about shiners, minnows, or shad? Rough fish like common carp? What weight/length ("relative weight") do the bass and sunfish have?

This information can come from fishing (my favorite source), asking the previous owner (if available), netting/trapping, or a professional electroshocking survey. The last method will cost some money, but 50 acres is a lot of water to try to get info from by yourself - I would certainly price out how much electroshocking would cost if it were me. Also, if the owner(s) of the big lake upstream from you know what all they have, you'll know what all can (and will, sooner or later) wash into your lake.

What part of the country are you in? That helps the experts here tailor advice to you climate and circumstances.

What are your goals for the lake (the Greg Grimes Memorial Question)? Trophy Bass? Big Crappie? Jumbo catfish? Big bream? Or a balanced fishery with the chance to catch nice fish from several species?

50 acres is probably too much water to make a big difference in just by adding a couple of feeders (although you CAN have a localize impact on fish conditions near the feeders). I think you should take a step back and develop a good picture of what's going on in your lake and develop a comprehensive plan to improve it towards your specific goals.