Pond Boss Forums Thread Like Summary - Too much forage?

I am wondering if I am either feeding the wrong food or too much food.

Pond is 1/8th an acre, 5ft deep and in Kentucky (water temp is over 70).

The pond had/has Green Sunfish and many small frogs. 3 months ago I stocked 150 BlueGill 50 Shell Crackers and 10 Large Mouth Bass.

Almost every morning I go out and spread 1/2-1lb purina game fish food.

Issue I see is that this food is not being consumed (see some on bottom of pond). The frog population seems to be growing, flying insects are plentiful and I now have two resident Snapping Turtles.

During feedings I see little, if any top action and during fishing I have not seen the average fish size increase. I have seen small Bluegill so I assume they are breeding.

Wondering if it is possible for the pond to be too healthy or if most of the large fish died and the turtles ate them.

Might just be a little impatient...any feedback would be appreciated.

It would have been beneficial to have stocked the LMB larger than that (because of the abundant GSF forage). How have they grown over the 2 1/3 months? I haven't worked up a climate for any Kentucky locations but just assuming it is equivalent to Kansas City (they have very nearly the same average annual temperature) ... a six inch LMB would have grown from 6" to 10.2" ... while a 3" LMB would have grown to ~9". If they consumed all they needed to achieve the average potential ... they should be 9" - 10.2" in length right now with some variation outside that range. Can you confirm this growth has been observed of your LMB?

With regard to the 1" BG sizes you stocked. They may have had a considerable amount of mortality due to their small size and the GSF population. But the larger of the BG should have had very good survival. 5" BG should be 7" now. 3" BG should be a wee bit larger than 6" now. Here again assuming that they consumed as much as their potential would have required. Is this the growth you observed over the period?

Hopefully you are aerating. I think I would want aeration with a feed input approaching 8 lbs/acre-day. Beyond 10 lbs/acre-day you may be risking a kill. I did run a simulation for the 150 BG assuming they were 3" at stocking. If they were growing at potential and deriving all nutrition from feed ... the feed rate they would currently be on would be .76 lbs/acre-day. So the feed rate isn't excessive considering the potential weight of fish and the goal of maximum growth (growth at potential). That said, considering the feed is not being fully consumed may be a sign of other important factors. The most likely of which may be ... excessive temperature ... low DO. So right now, a time when water temps are elevated and sunlight is diminishing rapidly every day ... this is a more risky time to overfeed. The problem would be compounded in very shallow old ponds (if that happens to be the case).

Considering this ... I would work on ways to reduce the waste of feed on the bottom. Some thoughts ... If aerated, try to spread the feeding across 2 or 3. If the pond is very shallow and somewhat already old and fertile, consider reducing the fed amount and killing some GSF. If small enough to be swallowed by your LMB, injure by fin clipping and release. The larger GSF can be consumed by you or you can chop them in pieces that can be swallowed by the LMB. LMB will consume chunks laying on bottom (caught many that way) ... also another member Pat Williamson has caught them on jugs using cut bait too. I wouldn't do that because you will not want to be removing LMB but yes ... the LMB will consume cut bait if you recycle them. Removing the GSF will have the effect of leaving more food for the BG. This will make you less dependent on feed. Harvest or enforced mortality is going to be important to your management. There will be a balance between the food it takes to support the standing weight and mortality. You may have already reached this balance.