OK Guys. Help me out here. I kow this is a common topic but I want to make sure I am on the right track. A 3/4 acre farm pond that I helped stock 10 years ago has evidently had a summer turn over in the past couple years and killed all the fish except the green sunfish.I fished the pond yesterday and caught 51 sunfish in 30 minutes. I talked to the farmer and he says he doesnt catch anything else either. He has agreed to let me do whatever I want to the pond to help it out. I was thinking about getting 50 bass from other ponds that I fish, along with maybe 200 bluegill and 50 channel cats to put back in here. I would also continue to eliminate the sunfish as quick as possible. There are thousands of minnows swimming around the shore so there should be plenty to eat. Does this sound like a decent plan.

Sounds like a decent plan to me airborne, but wait a bit and an expert will be along to confirm or elaborate.

Airborne3118, I'm no expert but it seems to me if you wanted to devastate the GSF population (which as Commander in Chief of the GSA Armed Forces I must admit causes me grave concern) then I would think that you would not want to add the BG immediately. Add the predators and let them eat through the GSF, then add the BG. But I'm certainly no expert and for obvious reasons don't endorse this plan at all.

Also remember that CC and LMB are two major predators both will get big and hungry and in a 3/4 acre pond you'll have to actively manage them.

But once again wait for some expert opinions.

What JHAP said (Where is he getting the good posts from lately? )

I'd be careful not to stock too many fish at first, you might overload the pond and they might all die again this Summer. That pond can only hold about 175# of fish, so keep an eye on how many fish you put in since you don't know how many are in there now. I'd put in about 50# of LMB and wait 'till September and see how many GSF they consumed - the LMB should be fat and happy!

What Jeff and essjup said. Add adult LMB if possible. When you add BG and RES next year, your best bet is to add adults.

Edit: A pond that size can be fished into balance. GSF are reliable biters, and it should be easy to take a large percentage out by fishing.

Thanks for the help. I talked to the farmer and he did an arial photo. The pond is actually .81 acres. When we stocked it 10 years ago, we put in 75 LMB and I think 300 BG. The pond was a great fishing hole for a few years but algae took over probably from all the phosphate runoff from the hog manure in the surrounding fields and that probably helped contribute to the turnover that killed most the fish. I do understand the catfish and bass are both predators, just hoping they will put a quick dent in the GSF population and then I can reap the benefits of the catfish on my dinner table. One more question. What do you all consider adult LMB. I have another pond that is 4 acres that is bass heavy. We have been catching 12-16 inchers all summer and eating them as fast as possible to thin them out. Would this be a good choice to get our bass from? Thanks for all the help and look forward to hearing more from you all. God Bless you and our servicemen and women.

Counting the one above and my new fresh off the press, still hot from the oven, first ever, "sticky" post I'm up to 34. And that ain't bad.

If you really want to put a dent in the GSF, add some adult LMB. I added some 10" LMB just a couple of months back and I am already seeing a reduction. I am keeping my larger GSF "hogs" in the pond to produce feed for my LMB.

If you have access to 12"-16" LMB, those would do just fine! They should be adults at that size, I've caught Males that were guarding a nest that were 12".

Greg Grimes just posted that an acre pond in Ga. will support between 30# and 50# of LMB, so I wouldn't go crazy with the stocking numbers considering that they should be growing pretty quickly on all those GSF.

I doubt that the pond turned over. It sounds like the pig manure, as you have realized, created a problem of over fertility and a dissolved oxygen crash occurred. Larger fish always die first with only some very small fish, green sunfish in this case, surviving along the shoreline.

If the runoff situation hasn't been corrected, expect a repeat performance.

I see nothing wrong with green sunfish. However, if you have too many of them, that evidently doesn't meet the farmers goals. Bass will eliminate a lot of them. However, sooner or later, expect the bass to overspawn in an 8/10 acre pond.

Thanks for all the input. I am going there tommorrow to fish out some more GSF and put in 2 LMB that I caught today and have in my holding tank. I will post updates and once again appreciate the help and support.

I went and fished the pond today. I pulled out 26 more GSF and then they just stopped. Totally stopped and didnt bite anymore. I also threw in three LMB that I caught in other ponds. The good news, I caught 2 LMB while fishing out the GSF that probably went 2 lb. and had huge bellys. I also caught a small one about 5 inches. The farmer also said he isnt going to spray manure around this field for about 3 years so that should give me a chance to get the algae in control. Thanks again for the help and I will keep posting updates.

I have a similar problem with a 1/2 acre pond - everything disappeared except GSF. You might try trapping the GSF if you're in a hurry to reduce their population. I set out two size traps (homemade), one for very small fry and one for larger size fish. These are funneled floating rectangular traps made with pvc and plastic mesh and can be baited with floating catfish pellets. After only a couple of hours, I trapped at least 30 GSH and 2 water snakes in the large trap and more than 200 in the fry trap (far to many to actually count).

Often times when your ponds seems to have a take over of GSF it is due to a fish die. Many times caused by DO issues where more sensitive fish which are more desirable die first allowing the few GSF that were present to take over.

I would not stock catfish unless you are willing to start cleaning fish the very first year and are willing to stay dedicated to removing them. I am having a difficult time removing enough of them from my pond.

Ditto. I set out a trotline the last few nights and haven't caught a one. It's time to move it to a different area and try again. I should have over 100 CC in the 1 3/4 ac pond unless someone else has removed them for me.

airborne,

So have you been back out to see how the new bass you put in are doing the job? I just wanted an update.


As I will be starting this same approach in the near future since Mother Nature thought I should have some GSF in my pond as well, not what I was looking forward to, plus I believe they ate all the fish I stocked in December, that was an expensive snack.

As small as your pond is, I would kill it out and start over, green sunfish are bad news.

It would be very interesting to hear an update from "airborne3118". GSF can be effectively controlled by LMB and CC if predators are allowed to become dominant /abundant. The addition of BG will also help compete against and out populate the GSF. Numerous pondowners have proven that GSF can be effectively and successfully managed without renovating the pond.

I agree with Bill here. I did this exact same thing. I put a few (7) 15 inch bass in my pond and 250 CNBG and I catch very few GSF anymore. And I have culled about 50 GSF in that 4 to 5 inch range. This combo seems to work pretty good in reducing GSF populations.

Jeez I must have been on my meds the day I made the post above. What the heck was I thinking?

A moment of weakness perhaps in which I lacked the energy to defend these magnificent fish.

People discover GSF in their pond and they run around proclaiming ITEOTPAWKI (its the end of the pond as we know it).

Relax, count your blessings that you have been graced with this superior fish.

Resistance is futile.

Allow yourself to be assimilated.

Ya JHAP - I wondered what happened to the fire of the GSF Association?. Renovating a pond because of GSF - sacrilege. I should go back to and check the status my local GSF dominated pond that I presented my results for sampling and supplimental bass stocking for the 2nd PBoss conference (Effectiveness Of Bass Predation on Green Sunfish" or What To Do With Too Many Greenies".

Ahhh, Pond Boss 2 conference. Those were the good old days.

I think I kinda freaked out the crowd when I stood and saluted our glorious symbol.

SalUTE!!!!! to the GSF Association. Roger that.

Bill, I'll be doing just that (renovating a pond because of the greenies) this Fall. JHAP must be slipping, he declined the offer of all the GSF caught being sent COD to his place.

I already have GSF. Mail them to someone that doesn't.

That being said, I probably am slipping.

JHAP, I thought that the GSF Society had a list of people that wanted to join, but were lacking GSF's. You could make up welcome starter packs.