Pond Boss Forums Thread Like Summary - odd inquiry for those of y'all on large properties

hey all,

Ive got kindve an odd inquiry for those of u guys with a a lot of property & ponds. Before everyone annihilates me, let me say I am not trying to degrade or poach anyone else's ponds as I know we are all managing for success. I know some of you all have a lot of water, and I'm currently looking to source a couple 3lb+ largemouth for my 2acre existing pond. Will drive anywhere >2 hours of Dallas to catch and pay whatever price$$$ per pound you deem fair. If someone has a pond you don't actively tend to, or just a lot of water acreage, etc. let me know and let's see if we can do business. Not trying to be a pos, I know most of us have 1 pond and the last thing we are thinking is shipping out quality bass. But for those who have more water than they can care for lets talk if your interested!

Sometimes people don't realize just how many bluegill a single bass needs to eat to grow, and they stock too many bass, or too few bluegill or CNBG in the beginning. If the goal was to grow big bass, I'd have recommended stocking 50 bass and 3,000 CNBG or Bluegill per surface acre. It will be interesting to see what was actually stocked.

To the OP: The problem with stocking 3+# LMB, is that they don't know the pond and don't know where the best place is to hang out and be successful catching fish to eat. You may see that they lose weight after being stocked. I'd first spend my $$ getting the pond electroshocked to see how the forage to predator numbers are. If the forage base isn't large enough, then you are wasting money putting in larger LMB - they won't grow. If the pond is fished frequently, and bass caught and released, they may already be getting hook shy. Electroshocking will also show you the fish that aren't interested in biting on a lure.

It will also stun the BG/CNBG to show you how they are doing.

What was the original stocking numbers and sizes of fish that were stocked? How big is the tank/pond (surface acre wise)? What is in there for cover for the LMB to sit and ambush their prey?

I’m no professional but reading through this thread, something seems off.
Dallas area, warmer climate, LMB stocked 2 years ago and only 1 lb in weight
I don’t care what strain they are, they should already be approaching 3 lb.

I've been following along watching this one and I'm confused. Is the pond 1.25 or 2 acres?

Is it possible to provide the electro survey results and/or any recommendations that were made?

I'm definitely not a pro here. Every time I've heard about people adding additional LMB to a pond it's been more for genetic refresh. Adding more into an existing pond they can do on their own through spawning. If the LMB have been in there for 2yrs they should be capable of spawning on their own. It seems like a very short window for the need on a genetic refresh.

If it takes 10lbs of forage for a LMB to gain 1lb, and you have 100 LMB that's 1,000lbs of forage. Once they have pulled off a spawn it would be mind boggling to calculate how many made it through and how much forage is needed to maintain them.

Here are a couple of pics from my place last year. I caught one of our original stockers on 09.23.24. Had a nice thick back, tail was thick but the stomach looked a little thin to me.



I could see forage in the water of what I thought was the appropriate size, and for the life of me I couldn't figure out why the LMB were looking a little on the thin side. Rather than fight it I did the only thing I could think of that would help despite what I thought I was seeing with my own eyes. Adding forage of the appropriate size to the LMB I was trying to push through. We ended up adding 150lbs of Golden Shiners and 400 2-3" BG correct what I thought was a problem.

Here's a second pic approx 1 month later. It was the last fish I caught for year, of similar size but note the belly....No longer seeing the recessed or drawn in condition from the pic above.



If you feed them....they will grow. If you add more LMB and you already have a shortage of forage...they won't. Hope this helps in your quest for a few larger fish.

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Jonathan,

Curious, why +3 lb bass, do you just want females?

Perhaps if you posted a picture or two of your project you might garner some support.

Also do you have the equipment, etc. to move LMB safely and correctly?

Best of luck.

I like that idea to be honest, some people's ponds have to be thinned, might be a great way to do it without the effort needed. Im in Canada...pretty far from you but if you ever want pumpkinseeds I'm your guy lol.

Cheers.

I'm around 5hrs north of Dallas... Not sure if I can be of help to you or not.

I wonder if you wouldn't be ahead of the game if you got some Florida genetics stocked in your pond rather than already grown Northern?

From a post late last fall Jonathon provided this information:


The stocking that has taken place:


So if the pond is 1.25 acre, the original stocking was 2400 BG/Acre and 80 LMB/Acre. If two acres, 1500 BG/Acre and 50 LMB/Acre for the original stocking. With a follow-up stocking of 85 1 to 2 lb LMB last year.

Good advice above.

2 quick questions. It looks like you have a feeder on the bank, so what are you feeding, and how much? Is that pond close to your housing, or is it remote from your home? If so, winged critters can be a problem also.

Adding LMB won't help unless you want hungry skinny fish. Added BG will only help for a short period of time unless adequate cover is added to the pond to protect the BG fry/fingerlings. Stacked cedars are a good choice for cover.

Feed trained LMB, F1 or otherwise, can start at $22 to $30 each and require a huge amount of fish food to fill them out. I've done this for the last few years, and have hand fed them daily, so...

Also, the river run is active, and stripers, LMB, and white bass are catchable right now. The Brazos is fairly close to you, and that might help you if you do want more LMB. I'm heading down there tomorrow for most of next week. I'm taking my fly rods, but bright road runners work almost all the time with conventional rods.