Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations time to start culling?

It is now the second summer of my 1/2 acre pond. The BG, LMB and perch are doing great. They love to feed when I hand feed them, and the BG are getting to be eating size. When and how do you start culling? What are the rules to follow? Everything I catch seems to be nice and healthy, so it is not a need to do thing. There are lots of baby BG swimming in the FA.

My goal is to have a good fishing lake (not looking for monsters) for all three species.

im in just about the same situation, i would like to hear what the gurus have to say on this one

Weigh and measure your target species. Over a period of months, compare lengths and weights. As fish growth levels off, prepare to cull.
What you'll see will be clear, especially with largemouth bass. Learn the "standard" chart of lengths compared to weights and compare your fish.
As you weigh and measure bass, you'll begin to see (usually after the third year) that your bass in a certain size class (10-14" for example) are beginning to show slow growth and a few indiviuals are actually declining in weight compared to the chart.
Always keep this in mind...a 14 inch bass must weigh 1 lb, 7 ounces to get to 14". If your bass weigh less than that, they've lost weight. As you see a certain size class begin to decline in body condition and their relative weights begin to drop, that's your signal to consider a slot limit and begin removing fish in that size class.
Listen to the fish...they will tell you when it's time to harvest some.

Bob, so a LMB that is 14.25" and weighs 2 lb. 4 oz. is doing O.K.?

Coach, shoot me a PM. I want to hear about your Blues now that some time has elapsed.

My fish have been steadily growing, so all sounds good. Bob, it sounds like culling should start around the third year after the bass have their first spawn (I stocked them last year at 4 inches)?

Thanks for the info.

How many 4" bass did you stock originally? If you stocked the right number, the need to cull any of the original stocker bass shouldn't be there. They will for the next several years be your trophies. You will most likely never see the growth rates you will experience from the first class of fish. Seeing impressive growth rates in a new pond or one that was drained and restocked is expected, it's maintaining over several generations that becomes impressive. You could consider removing some of the bass that in that original group that are showing slower than average growth rates though. The most issues start when the original stocker bass reproduce and their offspring become too abundant and over eat their forage. When that happens usually depends on the size your bass were when stocked, how many were stocked, latitude of the pond and fertility of the pond.

Ordinarily, you are culling the slowest growing batch of the first young of the year hatched from your originally stocked fish. However, there are often a few originally stocked fish that just don't grow as you want them and they fall into the same size category as your slowest growing young of the year. By the third year, your originally stocked bass should be (in Michigan) at least 12" long...some will be 14 and a handful could be 15". So, you'll want to be picky about which ones you leave and which you remove. That's why you keep good catch records along the way, so you'll have a comparison as your fishery matures.

So if I'm reading this correctly, no need to start culling the LMB until year 3? My BG seem to be doing pretty good now. They were stocked 12-4-09 at about 2 inches. I'm catching them about 4, 5 and 7 inches. Are these from different spawns or will the size be that varied from the stocked fish?

I stocked 40 4" LMB in April of 2009. this is what the typical one looked like this spring.



I guess my question is about the BG as well. I put 200 in at the same time, and wouldn't mind a BG dinner every once in a while. Should I wait to year three on them as well?

Coach B;
Pretty fish there. I'm no biologist, but I'll put my 2 cents in on your question. If you stocked the BG and Bass at the same time, I believe the BG you initially stocked will be safe, as they will grow at a rate which your bass won't be able to consume. As far as the ratio of bass to BG you stocked (5-to-1), your bass are going to clean out your young BG when the are spawned. If your looking at a productive and continuing harvest of BG for the table, I would consider cullling some of your bass and/or stocking more BG/RES, depending on your pond size. I think a 10 to 1 ratio is the suggested stocking ratio (at least from VA DGIF).

Good luck and happy fishing;

Joe

Joe, thanks for the input. I know that my pond is a little bass heavy. I forgot to mention that I also have 125 perch in there as well.

Interesting to see Brain. I have a 3/4 acre pond around tawas (cabin live down state) that i stocked in May of 09 with 50 LMB, 300 HBG & 60 CC along with 50lbs of FHM. I also added a mix of about 75 common aduld panfish from a local lake to establish a forage base. My LMB in the spring were simular to the size of yours but they are quite a bit bigger now. I had a pretty good spawn of panfish and have been feeding once a day since May. I am heading back up Labor day and will try to get some info. Would be interesting to compare notes on growth rates etc.......

Brandon

CoachB my pond is the same size and a year ahead of yours. I stocked about 30 LMB and a few more BG and YP than you did.

My biggest LMB is 15" with a few 14's and a bunch of 12's all nice and fat. I have had too spawns of LMB but my other bass and pike have done a good job of keeping them under control. I have an abundance of 5" BG right now, too small to eat but big enough to make babies. My original BG are 9-10" now. I would like to cull some BG soon, and from now on every skinny bass I catch (which is very rare) comes out

Guys - Going back to what Bob mentioned in his 2nd post, if your goal is bigger bass, you can cull some of the original stocked bass. The ones that are the smaller of the group. Catch records, weigh & measure or just measure for a more general size/length. This harves from a 1/3-3/4 acre will not be many bass. Look for the ones that are slightly smaller than the normal or larger.

For BG harvest in a general fishing pond and the goal is larger or trophy BG, I think in year 2 or 3 you can harvest a few of the females for 1 or 2 meals (depends on # stocked, their size, & pond size). Replace males to encourge optimum growth rates. If the BG are spawning you should be able to recognize the males & females. IMO if you goal is high production of forage for better LMB growth then wait another year or two before harvesting BB females.

Hey, you guys with LMB and some YP in the smaller 2-4 yr old ponds. How the YP doing? You seeing new crop small ones in the 3"-5" range? Or primarily seeing the original stockers?

I have seen no evidence whatsoever of any YP recruitment. No YOY at all. This spring I had some egg strands but apparently not much success.

I have stocked additional YP every year as well, and will probably continue putting about 25 a year in.

Bill, My pond will be 4 yrs old next spring. Perch have been in about 2 1/2 yrs. The only small perch I see are around the pine trees I put in the pond.

One more thing, The 6 to 8 inch walleyes (only 8 of them) that I put in about the same time are doing fine. My son caught a 14 inch WE in the pond last month.

I'm in a somewhat similar situation - except I put in SMB (about 50 I think - 2/3 acre pond) and 200 BG - a year ahead of you (2008). This fall I'm going to harvest BG for the 1st time - for several meals.

The SMB are 8-10" and doing a very good job on BG young (along with about 20 Brown trout if they made it this summer). I also put in a few dozen YP last year - and had a great YP spawn this fall. Had lots of 1-3" YP early summer - but I got to tell you - when the water dropped and cover was less this summer - small fish are hard to come by this fall. My predators are keeping up - or my younger fish are hiding in the deeper areas.

I also had some SMB spawn - and had dozens of 3" SMB a few weeks ago - but I'm not seeing them either right now. I have a good bloom - so as the water cools and clears - I'm hoping to see the smaller YoY fish again.

I was thinking I'd have to sein BG to keep up- but so far - the young are ate with great fervor.