Large Natural Pond in Canada Stocking Strategy Question - 07/10/07 09:10 PM
I'll start by saying I'm new to this forum. A friend of mine has a fairly large pond in South East Ontario (about 1/3 mi. long, 1/10 mi. wide) that he's interested in managing a little more actively.
It has a fairly good mix of habitats, but is probably best suited to SM Bass. It's about 30-40ft deep with a flat, featureless, probably muddy bottom. The edges are mostly rocky with fast, deep drops and the back end is fairly shallow with a good mat of lillypads in mid to late summer. About 10 or so years ago he had a really bad Rock Bass problem. Not many SM Bass, and a very rare LM Bass. Over the years, selective harvesting of the RB has produced a very robust population of SM Bass, though he's been worried about the size mix. The LM have all but disappeared - one hasn't been caught in several years. Within the past few years, Bluegill (at least I think they're bluegill - might be some other variety of sunfish) have been introduced and a couple of pike (we boated the first one last year - but think we've been bitten off once in the each of the two years prior). And two years ago he stocked with a few hundred LM Bass. I think he'd like to have a wide variety of fish in the pond (LM and SM bass, perch, bullhead catfish, bluegill/sunfish, forage fish (mud minnows), an occasional pike, etc.).
So like I said, it's a pond that is probably best suited to SM Bass. Does anyone have any general suggestions for a good mix of fish species and maybe some advice on how to improve habitat for LM bass or other fish species in certain sections of the pond, like what to look for in terms of natural structure and how that might be improved with the addition of artificial structures or the like for fish like perch and/or LM Bass? Also, is there a rule of thumb for selective harvesting of SM Bass populations? If there's a large population of SM between 5" and 10" and a few larger ones between 16" and 23", should he be harvesting some of the smaller ones and what size should he target?
Thanks for any advice.
It has a fairly good mix of habitats, but is probably best suited to SM Bass. It's about 30-40ft deep with a flat, featureless, probably muddy bottom. The edges are mostly rocky with fast, deep drops and the back end is fairly shallow with a good mat of lillypads in mid to late summer. About 10 or so years ago he had a really bad Rock Bass problem. Not many SM Bass, and a very rare LM Bass. Over the years, selective harvesting of the RB has produced a very robust population of SM Bass, though he's been worried about the size mix. The LM have all but disappeared - one hasn't been caught in several years. Within the past few years, Bluegill (at least I think they're bluegill - might be some other variety of sunfish) have been introduced and a couple of pike (we boated the first one last year - but think we've been bitten off once in the each of the two years prior). And two years ago he stocked with a few hundred LM Bass. I think he'd like to have a wide variety of fish in the pond (LM and SM bass, perch, bullhead catfish, bluegill/sunfish, forage fish (mud minnows), an occasional pike, etc.).
So like I said, it's a pond that is probably best suited to SM Bass. Does anyone have any general suggestions for a good mix of fish species and maybe some advice on how to improve habitat for LM bass or other fish species in certain sections of the pond, like what to look for in terms of natural structure and how that might be improved with the addition of artificial structures or the like for fish like perch and/or LM Bass? Also, is there a rule of thumb for selective harvesting of SM Bass populations? If there's a large population of SM between 5" and 10" and a few larger ones between 16" and 23", should he be harvesting some of the smaller ones and what size should he target?
Thanks for any advice.