I had my pond surveyed and the LMB are over populated and were told to keep all the smaller fish especially the 10-12" LMB. So if I catch a 10" LMB what should I do with it?

It's not worth cleaning and eating. I don't want to throw it in the trash because it will stink. SO what do you guys do with these fish?

Thanks!

Bury them. Whenever we have some dead fish I dig them a shallow grave. Also, along the same lines, use them as fertilizer in gardens.

Bury them alive or kill them somehow first?

That just depends on your personal philosophy and feelings about live creatures.

Well I would prefer to kill them but not sure what the quickest way is. Anyone know?

What does everyone else do with the small ones they remove? I can't be the only one on here with an over populated pond.

Any suggestions? Thanks guys!

Since growing double-digit Bass is not part of my management plan, I prefer having a pond full of 10-12" largemouths. However, I do cull BG quite regularly, and simply give em' a toss over the dam, still kicking...I would do the same with the Bass were it beneficial to my goals, although a 12" Bass might find its way into the skillet.

I understand that this issue may be difficult for some, but I am of the belief that being a good pondmeister may well involve making decisions that are....uncomfortable. I think by necessity everyone draws their own line in this regard. If we didn't, how could we fish with live bait?

If you check with your local agency on the legalities, you cold create an inexpensive cage to house the excess largemouth. Often the local game and parks commission biologists know of a home, perhaps public waters for bass of this size. Just a thought. Completely agree with sprkplug in regards to euthenizing fish, but sometimes there are other options as well.

I'm ok will killing them but just not sure how to do this or what to do with them afterwards. What if I stick a pin all the way through their eyes...will that kill them?

Could I throw them back in the pond dead? Does this cause any harm to the pond, ie. bacteria, disease, etc?

I'm afraid if you blind them, they may live, which would be the worst of all scenarios. I also wouldn't throw the dead carcasses back into the water...we all try so hard to minimize the nutrient loading in our ponds. Cage idea to keep them alive? There's actually a lot of people who would like to take live adult LMB off your hands. Maybe you could trade them for another more preferred species.

I'll bet almost anything that there's somebody...either a private landowner or a pond manager who would love to take live largemouth from you.

That's a good idea. Finding them another home would fill the bill nicely, for all parties involved. There's surely a new pond, or perhaps even a BOW with an existing management strategy in place, that would benefit from having some additional bass.

But I usually catch them one or two at a time. It wouldn't be worth the gas to take the to another pond or for them to get them from my house. I'm not interested in caging them.

Does anyone know of a quick way to kill a small bass? Why do you not want to load the pond with nutrients?

Chop there head off with hatchet. Throw them off back of dam. Watch your fingers!

Nutrients are like vitamins...good in moderation, but if excessive they can actually make things worse. Something in the BOW will try to utilize those nutrients, and that's usually in the form of advanced plant or algae growth. More work or expense for the pondowner trying to manage the BOW.

The hatchet idea would be quick and easy.

If you want to kill them first, I have seen "fish bats" for sale at walmart, just give them a whack and it kills them I guess. I have never tried it tho. I am usually on the toss over the dam team, or find another pond/skillet. The hatchet sounds like a winner to me.

Take fish... Hold it like a football, throw it at the ground.. Dead fish instantly.. I throw bucket fulls of small BG (live and dead) on a back fence line they are gone in a day or two..

Don't over think this buddy lol
PS- another great kill method is what I call the windmill.. Don't even take it off the hook just mindmill it on te hook flat into the ground not humane but deadly..

If you mix regular table salt in a 5 gallon bucket, (Bruce, how much?) it'll kill them quick. Wally World has 1# containers of table salt for less than $0.50 each, and it could be left in the bucket for a while - not necessary to dump out the salt water every day.

Then toss over the dam for the 'coons or 'possums to eat.

A cresent wrench behind the eyes wack em over the head and the die quick. Works great on steel heads.

jmed999, how do you kill fish when you plan on eating them?

I'm new to managing fish populations and I don't know what I will be doing with my culled fish either. I always wondered if you could make your own fish food out of them. Maybe gut the fish, freeze and then cut up into cubes to feed other fish (I've never tried this). When I had LMB they would readily eat the remains of a frog that I happened to mow. Maybe the fish cubes could be dehydrated. What about baking the gutted fish to remove some moisture, put it in a blender, add an egg, a little corn meal for a binder and bake again. Think fish cookies for the fish, lol. One does have an investment in their fish (initial cost of stocking the fish itself or even the fish it preys on, fish pellets, etc.) why not try to get that back instead of throwing it away.

I might consider freezing them and feeding them (gutted) to my dogs. I don't like the idea of leaving them for nuisance animals to eat, I have enough of those without attracting more.

Loretta be care that the dogs don't choke on bones.

I can't say it is the most legal thing to do in most states,but you might want to ask your local Chinese restaurant.They love to get a hold of them alive,a friend and I where fishing some out of his pond.When I asked what he did with them he told me he takes them to a customer of his that had a Chinese restaurant in exchange for a free meal.

I've personally used them ground up for chum and cut chunks in crab/lobster pots for bait.While not as good as bunker,when chumming the more dead fish you can afford to toss over the side the better.

I used to bag them whole and throw them in the freezer, from there small LMB were donated to the local raptor recovery center.

There is actually several things you can do with them. I have traded some to pet stores for fish food. I have one church that has a mamber that will come buy and get them and clean them and store for church fish fry functions. Local private pond owners may need some and will take them off your hands. Many elderly in my area will take them for food, I even have local churches come pick them up and take them to people in need. Also check with some local resturaunts and see if any has a elderly food donation plan. I know I have a local resturaunt that makes plates once a week to send out to elderly and can use them for that. It is just up to you and how much you feel like putting into it.

BTW I have recieved TAX breaks by donating fish. ;0
A church can right you a reciept for the value of the fish you saved them from purchasing as a donation.

A couple comments... First off - what is wrong with eating a 10" fish? Cut the head off, gut em and fry em! Or even better, I guarantee there are many needy families that would love to take those fish off your hands for food. You probably get as much flesh as from a big BG!
The other point I would make is that several years back studies were done on fish brains to determine if they had the receptors to feel pain. 3 different studies showed that fish do not feel pain. While I vote for the "eat em" or give em away solution, fact is - throwing them behind the dam, clubbing them, etc. does not put them in pain.

Interesting that this came up at this time. My wife caught some wieners yesterday and I cut their throats like you would for trout and tossed them on the bank so the resident heron would pick them up on his next visit.

I had a thought this morning of building a small corral near where the heron hangs out that we could toss them in so the heron could "catch" live bass instead of the BG he most assuredly goes after when he's there.

-RFL

Waste them if you want,but the last thing I would want to do is attract a nuisance animal to my pond or property by tossing a free meal on the banks.

The rule in my house from when I was old enough to shoot a gun and hold a fishing pole was was if you kill it you should eat it.Yes there are exceptions to all rules but that's the rule I was raised by.Don't get me wrong,I have no problem blasting a snake or problem coon or even a bear to it's next life if need be,but I won't offer these guys a free meal around my place either.

I've never had a problem with culling live fish,(pitching them over the bank), but I understand that some might, and I respect that. I'm not sure where I stand on attracting nuisance animals, as our ponds are surrounded by woods, in some cases right down to the waterline. Animals that are native to this area visit them every evening already, with no attractant other than the water itself needed.

Of course, we don't have bears here in Indiana either.... sounds like it depends on where you live, and the geography of your pond/land as to whether or not culling fish on the bank would cause a problem.

Robert, I sent you a Private Message in regards to the crab fishing.

It's funny because I have no compunction about throwing bullheads on the bank to whither and die near a pond that I am trying to rid of them. They always seem to be gone by the next time I go there. I suppose raccoons and perhaps wild turkeys(?) get them.
However, throwing a bass or some other higher form of life on the bank to die would bother me.

I have always used side cutters to cut the skin between the gills under the bass' head. If you cut it all the way through, the fish will bleed out and die very quickly. I always just cut them and throw them back into the lake. Something will eat them. I have had large bass come to the surface and bust them before they die. Now that will get your heart rate up. I would not do this if I caught a hundred bass a day, but a few every week or so is not a problem.

Here's another idea. If you have a issue with allowing fish to die then do it in the name of science. Pull otolith's so that you can age some of those fish. That could tell you some valuable information about population structure in the pond.

sprkplug...............Having bears WILL change how you feel about all nuisance animals.Officially there are bears in NNJ and officially they arent in South NJ.Now I cant get into details without getting folks on both sides of the law(good folks)into trouble on a public forum,but rumor has it a bear in my town met some hot lead


Esshup,I sent a reply

I've never really thought about it before, but I consider my pond management technique to be pro-active. By that, I mean taking a hands-on approach is what works for me. I think that everyone who subscribes to this way of thinking would agree that getting your hands wet and muddy is an integral part of active management.

However, there are occasions when I may need to make what some might regard as unpleasant decisions, ones which may involve getting my hands bloody... whether it be in a literal, or figurative sense. Certainly there have been some excellent ideas discussed in this thread, so it's likely there are viable alternatives if one should so choose, and I do think these should be explored first, if at all possible.

If I were to eat bass, I perfer winter time when the meat is a little firmer.

One way to quickly kill most fish is to squirt their gills with a little vodka. Really cheap vodka in a kitchen squirt bottle are all that is needed. The fish die almost immediately. I first learned this many years ago while on a salt water charter where the captain didn't want large fish tearing up his boat.