I have been lurking for over a year and finally took the plunge. I look forward to picking the brains of all the experts to hopefully make my pond the best it can be.

Welcome Warrior Coach. Good to have another Hoosier on board. It's kinda slow on here tonight, as you're probably aware many of the faithful are away "broadening their knowledge". I'm afraid you may have to be satisfied with the ramblings of a junior member such as myself for the time being. Never fear the enlightened shall return, and probably ask you many questions about your pond. And they usually expect pictures!!

Welcome to the site coach. I live one mile east of Butler, how close are you? We are VERY fortunate as to live within an hrs drive to Cecil and Bill Cody. Bob-O

I live in north central Indiana between Akron and Mentone. Which is close to Warsaw or Rochester.

Welcome! About 30-40 miles away from me.

I have a taxidermist I do wholesale fish for near Rochester. Nice rural area!

40-50 miles from me. Welcome Aboard! Great to have another Hoosier on the site.

Do you have a pond already? Planning to dig one? What goals do you have for your ponds?

It wouldn't happen to be Wild Wings Taxidermy would it? He lives around the corner from my parents.

I have a 1/4 acre pond. It was dug in 2006 initially for my geothermal to dump into. In '07 I stocked 150 BG,30 LMB, &15 CC. According to DNR recommendations. Before I found this site.

How's that combo working out 5 years later?

CC are around 24" and I am wanting to remove them this summer. I would like to concentrate on improving the size of the LMB and BG. I am going to feed AM 500 this year. I have used various other brands from the time the fish were stocked. Last year the largest LMB we caught were around 14" and probably 1.5 lbs. and larger. We caught several 6-8" that were fat. The BG were 8-9" and fairly thick. in the summer of '09 we caught and transplanted 70-80 BG of assorted sizes to my brother in laws pond. We have been catch and release except for those we transplanted and a few LMB my father in law kept to eat. What should I remove a year?

I would remove all of the CC's. They compete too much with the bass that you want to improve.

On culling: The rule of thumb is to remove all bass under 14 inches after the 2nd year.

Regarding the larger fish: You have to worry about the pond biomass of living creatures. Too many can cause a dissolved oxygen crash. The "average" closely managed pond can usually carry about 100 pounds of predators per acre. That may be a little bit ambitious. Remember that you need the larger BG for spawning but they are also part of the predator base. However, as a Northern pond, you also badly need LMB to control the BG spawning numbers. The LMB needs 10 pounds of forage fish to gain one pound and needs that forage to be 1/4 to 1/3 it's body size.

It's a balancing act and every pond is unique.

My plan is to remove all the CC. I believe my pond is naturally spring fed. My water level never went down last year. When we started digging, water literally shot out of the ground on the first scoop. It was full during the entire process of digging. I also get a tremendous amount of runoff. I am in the process of putting together a aeration system similar to what RC51 used.