Naïve newbie here in Deep South Alabama. I have an acre and a half pond (4-9ft deep) that I stocked Spring of 2020 with fathead minnows and 1000 cnbg. December 2020 I stocked 100 fingerling largemouth bass. FHM are all gone as expected. I regularly fertilized the pond and fed the bluegill during the summer months. The bluegill population is and has been absolutely exploding since day one. Even today I see tons of 1 inch fingerling BG minnows in the grass is near the bank. I assume that the small fingerling bluegill are very young and hatched recently this winter…..?? We have had no significant harvest of any fish since the pond was built. The oldest BG aren’t even 2 years old yet.

Last year I was concerned that I did not have any bass from the original stocking because I saw Zero bass at all until last summer. Now I can regularly catch two or three bass I am hour. Rarely have time to goof off any longer to catch more but I thought if most of the 100 LMB survived the original stocking I would easily catch quite a bit more. All the bass seen and caught are in the 1.5 lbs range. I am still concerned that most of the bass from the original stocking did not survive. Are they that hard to catch and good at hiding?

I plan to start harvesting bluegill this spring after the bass spawn so I don’t accidentally catch a bass while fishing for the bluegill and harm its ability to have a healthy first spawn. A few bass I have caught and released will occasionally hit small pan fish lures. My concern is that I do not see a large population of bass to control these bluegill. I understand that bass fry survival rate after the spawn is very low, Possibly even lower with the number of bluegill I have. On occasion I’ll see three maybe four bass near the bank eating small bluegill. It’s just nowhere near the amount I thought I would see or caught by now. Yesterday I saw 8 bass schooled in one small area. Do I have enough bass that I have not seen to spawn the spring and and keep my population in check. When should I consider adding more adult LMB? Thanks in advance for your thoughts and expertise.

If this post is under the wrong topic let me know and I will copy and post it in the proper place.

I would not add any LMB yet. Wait and do a seine survey after the spawn. In the interim read on the forum about fish surveys and population analysis. It is far better to have too few LMB early than too many. In the spring look for LMB nesting and post what you see. Also watch for BG spawning and post that as well. Do not harvest any fish yet. Wait until you get the survey results.

Agree with Eric. You probably have more bass than you are seeing. How big are the BG? And are you feeding the BG? I have so many BG that they are stopping recruitment of my LMB and BCP….

100 bass over 1.5 acres of water is a nice low number, and considering the LMB were fingerlings when you stocked them, imagine what kind of surface area or displacement those 100 fingerlings would have had in the 1.5 acre pond.

Now, if you consider that each LMB is maybe 1.5 lbs, imagine the full 100 LMB evenly spaced around the circumference of the 1.5 acre body of water. In that scenario, you might expect to see a bass every 10 feet.

So, what you are describing sounds about right, and you may not have had any more mortality than normal in those 100 LMB fingerlings you stocked.

Pat not sure of BG stopping Crappie recruitment but they sure can stop LMB nesting. We are learning that more and more things can seriously impede spawning. Article on that in the next PB Cutting edge.

Meanwhile you guys might have never seen one of these.

Beautiful fish!
I have seen BG overwhelm BCP on beds by running in when BCP chases one off. This was happening all the way on dam in shallow water. The same thing happened with LMB when they spawned last two seasons. My BCP are almost gone now from no recruitment and LMB eating them. Have some 10#+ to get rid of….

Great picture, ewest!

Does it only eat goldfish?



In all seriousness, are you going to give us the back story on the Golden Crappie?

I have BG ranging 8” to tiny fingerlings. Most are around 5”. I feed and fertilize till around the end of November when it’s starts getting cool at night. I see a dozen or so old BG beds now that winter has cleared up the water quite on the shallow end. I also made a half dozen or so 5’ pea gravel bedding areas in the shallower end that I was hoping the bass will use this spring. Just deep enough I started to see them in the winter draw down. Obviously won’t see if the bass use them when my water warms up and the algae bloom turns the water a greenish hue.

Since I may have missed it, what is the fishery goal for your pond?

If you want large bass, I'd say you don't want to stock any more.

If you are one of us deviants trying to grow large BG, you do.

I can't give you a good answer to your question, but can relate my experience.

After my initial stocking, like you my BG population and early growth went wild. The BG early on did great. They did so well I think they discouraged my bass from spawning. The following years I could catch some nice size bass but was catching zero recruits of young bass.

I did some supplemental stocking and from another pond with only SMB took a bunch of SMB recruits from that pond and stocked my main pond. I also stocked some HSB that I raised in yet another pond.

Long story short, I eventually got enough bass pressure to keep the BG in check and the LMB finally started reproducing. Can catch small LMB recruits.

Now I suspect I am over heavy on bass population and need to harvest a bunch this next year or I will be bass heavy. Which I don't mind because I am more of a BG angler rather than trophy bass fisherman. I get bored easily and I like catch rates over huge sizes.

At some point that I can't possibly identify, for probably about 30 seconds, my pond was probably "in balance" with some undetermined amount of each species. That point rapidly passed and I went from BG heavy to bass heavy.

My point? Probably nothing other than a "proper balance", at least in my rather poor quality management system, is a fleeting moment. If you get there, enjoy it. It probably will not last. Or maybe (probably) it is just me.

Don’t remember who said it first. Balance lasts for a day or two. Then it all changes.

I just want to have a properly balanced on for maximum enjoyment. I don’t want to grow any monsters but it would be nice to catch the occasional 5 lb bass and 1 lb BG

Maintaining balance in a BG/LMB pond is like balancing on the knife edge. Constant management is required (proper harvest, understanding the food web, determining spawning success and being able to assess what will happening next in advance). If you can't see what's next in advance (extremely hard to do as there are too many variables) then you are constantly behind the curve. Best advice - enjoy the journey, manage as best you can and learn to play the population swings. It is a journey worth making and you will have fun. Like John Wayne said - the measure of a man is not how many times he gets knock down but rather how many times he gets up !

Today on the way to the tree stand I saw about 9-10 good sized bass schooling together again. They looked very healthy and some about 2 lbs. I assume they are feeding more since our weather has been very mild for about a week and they are getting fat for the spawn. I’m feeling a bit better about the situation for now. When should I start yanking out some BG?

It sounds like your LMB stocking was successful.


Are you looking to take some bluegill for eating, or for a culling necessity? I ask because there may not be a fishery-based need to cull them. Then again, there could be if you are way overpopulated with bluegill.

Well said Sunil

You need a solid population analysis once the weather warms. That will let you know about harvest. I never harvest the biggest/best BG.

Today I saw two different schools of bass fry. One school about half an inch long and several hundred fry. Second school was much smaller in size and number, barely able to identify them as bass. Happy to see them and hoping several dozen make it through the summer. Any chance they will make 5-6” by the end of the year?

If those new LMB are not too crowded and with lots of good food they could be 8"-9" by late fall. Less than that there were too many of them with not enough food. It is the correct and amount of food that grows the best fish. In your region those new bass could be growing 1.2" to 1.5" per month.

Heck yeah… that would be awesome. There is plenty of food and room for them. Just caught an 16” post spawn female last week that was from my initial stocking of fingerling in Dec of 2020. I fertilize during the summer and feed the bluegill. I believe the bass are under populated at the moment. I’ll update this thread from time to time and hopefully I’ll have a good update before years end.