Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations I know things are relative.....

I have a quarter acre+ pond at the deepest is 5-6 ft. The water is a good tea color. I have bluegills that run in the pound category. More of them are showing up. There are quiet a few 2-4 inch gills.
There are some large CCs that I have been thinning out.

My question is on the average how large should my LMBs get? <2 lbs? 2-3lbs 3 or more? Right now they are the 1.5 lb size. I see and have caught a few that are in the 5-6" size.

How many LMB do you have in there, J_F1949?

I really don't know. I stocked 50 about 12 years ago. Then about 5 years later I stocked a dozen adults.

Un-invited "sportsmen" keep them caught out even though the pond is within 75 ft of the house.

On a good day I can catch 4-6 12-14" LMBs. Here lately I've been catching a few 5-6". All LBMs are returned to the pond.

I catch BGs from about 3" to 1� lbs. All of the smaller BGs are not returned to the water.

I feed the fish almost daily. I did have some LG CCs that would come up to eat when I fed them. In July I took 33 lbs of CCs out of the pond. One CC weighed 11 lbs. Now when I feed I seen BG and grass carp. There could be some LMBs but they are pretty quick.

I would think I should be able to have some 3-5 lb LMBs in there but none yet.... thanks to my un-invited "guests".

In order to get in contact with the local game warden we have to call a 800 # in Frankfort. Most of the time the GW is working off in other counties. The sheriff says it's not his job to enforce Fish & Game laws. So I'm left "hanging out to dry" with the un-invited catching all of my fish.

Thanks for your help.

If you are interested in maximizing LMB size, you should probably return the small BG for them to eat and high-grade the LMB by removing the smaller and/or low RW (thinner, presumed slower growing) ones.

Can the sheriff not enforce tresspassing laws? They do in Arkansas.

I would think the amount of LMB for your pond is too high.

That may be shown by the smaller size of LMB that you are now catching. 50 LMB stocked twelve years ago would have exploded, population wise, several times over, especially with no higher end predator to keep the LMB in check.

The CC might have helped in keeping the LMB in check up to a certain size of LMB.

I'm sure a fairly concrete plan can be worked up if you give us some detail on the goals for your pond.

I'm wanting to maximize the growth of LMBs. The BGs & CCs have exceed my expectation in their growth.

I've been trying to thin out the CCs to make more room for the LMBs.

Thanks for your help....