Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Update on Keith's Pond

Well, things have been tight so I've been a little off of my game with gas and all but with some new marketing I've just started I think money will get better. I sure cant wait for mid September to get here temp wise. Well, my plan has been to let the bass overpopulate in my little pond leaving larger sunfish and lots of small to medium bass. The bass have spawned twice now with younger generations being caught. The largest original stocker bass are about 2 lbs now numbering 10 in my .25 acre pond. No telling how many younger bass. I am still catching many small sunfish with a few larger ones . I stocked gams last year but all got eaten by this last spring. I decided not to restock so the bass could focus on the small sunfish. Weeds got bad on me at beginning of summer so i fertilized and it was like magic. I didnt over do it. Water murked up a bit and weeds no longer on surface. I still get some on my lure under the surface so theres prob still a lot of cover sub-surface, not real sure. I've had good success on the bass the two times I targeted them and i just released them back, one deep hooked(prob should have kept). I guess the current situation could have been a result of too much cover for a couple of months, or maybe even now under the surface. The sunfish on the 4th of july were mostly 4-5 inch range. I'm sure the water level is way down, was a foot low on the 4th and only 1 good rain since. Maybe the drawdown will help with weeds close to shore before it refills. With the size of the pond I would have thought the bass would have happily overpopulated by now. As soon as the temperature is bearable outside I'll get us a new update. Do you guys have any insight to my situation? Maybe just too much weeds there for a bit? How long for bass to overpopulate? Sorry I've been gone. I enjoy talking to you guys but haven't had much to contribute. I won't be such a stranger. Thanks for the interest guys:)

When they start looking scrawny, you'll know they're crowded. I suspect with 2 LMB spawns in the can, you are well on the way if not there.

If you are crowding bass to grow big BG, you need to think about removing the largest bass so the smaller bass 1) don't get eaten as much and 2) have the room for more of them to live. Remember that LMB refer to eat BG 1/3 to 1/4 their own length; your original stockers will be large enough to be bigger than optimum for small BG predation sometime. If it were me I would get one more spawn out of them next year, then evaluate if it was time for them to go.

Thanks for the advice! I was thinking I should start keeping them at 15 inches. I need to fish for them soon. They bite good when they haven't seen a lure in a while and this pond is wayyyyyyyyy under fished. I didnt even think about them eating the smaller bass to tell you the truth. That is a very good point. I have caught some little 8-10 inch chunks that may make it and be big enough to spawn this next spring. I guess I just need to start measuring and culling the bigger ones.