Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations fixing overfished bass

This just a question I was wondering I have a one acre pond and fished it alot last summer catch and release, Now If my LMB get intelligent on me, Which is very possible, Is there a method making them aggressive once again?? What can one do if this does ocurr????

Frontal lobotomies come to mind....on the fish of course

NOW I REALLY NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT ONE!

In a recent magazine (Infisherman?), they write about about educated bass. Basically, you can try different lure types and all that to catch them. Eventually and if memory serves, they theorize that the bass may become less aggressive and grow more slowly after being conditioned that many prey appearing items are not.

broncofan - From my experience, once you educate or condition your largest LMB to your fishing lures you are pretty much limited with the amount of future jaw jerking that will occur of those conditioned "smartened up" fish. Keep in mind that there is some variability of the quality or amount of "memory" posessed by each individual fish. Some will "remember" longer or better than others; similar to people and animals.

If it was my pond with fish in this situation, here is what I would do.

I would strategically fish to catch out the oldest wisest fish so they can be replaced with younger more naive fish. Easier said than done. Remove the oldest and wisest fish by finesse fishing, using large forms of live bait such as larger bgill, pond resident forage fish or some other form of larger live bait. As I mentioned earlier do this only rarely and keep all the big fish caught; remove them from the system. If yo fish with live or dead bait often you will again condition the resident fish to be even harder to catch. Then netting, electroschocking or complete eradication will become your primary means for large fish removal.

If bass become hard to catch, you can de-condition them by adjusting their feeding habits. In small ponds, this is one of the few times I recommend adding a fish such as fathead minnows. One fishing club I know, next to a big fish farm, would bring a truck load of fish and drop a small load of fish in each corner of that lake. They did it each week. Fish fed in a frenzy, and kept them from becoming so conditioned as not to bite. It's a sort of "counter-conditioning" where they chase something not normally in the pond and are rewarded with a meal. Try stocking small amounts of minnows or sunfish from time to time in different areas of the pond.

Bob - Great idea!

Hey bob, I agree , that does seem like a pretty good Idea, It makes since. now about fertilizing? Any suggestions of liquid fertilizer, or things I shouln`t do or beaware of when applying fertilizer, I understand little at a time is best, how much is needed for the 1 acre application?

Hey bob, I agree , that does seem like a pretty good Idea, It makes since. now about fertilizing? Any suggestions of liquid fertilizer, or things I shouln`t do or beaware of when applying fertilizer, I understand little at a time is best, how much is needed for the 1 acre application?

I tryed the crappie fishing last weekend , causght nothing so I thought I would go try them on my bass pond. First I walked all aroud it once with a plastic worm caught a good sized green sunfish but no bass? sO i TRYED THE REST OF MY REMAINNG minnows and caught 3 bass at 3 pounds in the same spot with- in 15 minutes. They think They are too use to a lure.

broncofan,

Be very careful with fertilization....you may end up like I did...over run with weeds and algae. Many folks recommend fertilization as a way to control weeds/algae. That approach was a disaster for me.

Every situation is different, but I will never fertilize a pond again. Thank God for grass carp and Tilapia.

I've also sworn off fertilizing. It is Ok in a perfect world but droughts generate DO crashes and fish kills.

I am no expert, but I will share my personal experience. I found that the problems with properly and judiciously applied high phosphate fertilizer in a pond with minimum flow-through result from attempting to get a bloom when the water is too cold.

In my area it is generally recommended that fertilization begin in February. I found that it was almost impossible to get a lasting bloom early and then, even with recommended rates, a stew of too-thick green would suddenly appear when the water warmed. You just can't judge how much total is enough when you begin that early.

The combination of throwing a lot of fertilizer at a pond and a drought year means too much phosphate and no way to fix it. For me, it works a lot better to wait a good deal later and then to add fertilizer in recommended doses per acre. My cue to begin is the dogwood bloom. At first the alga bloom will be a bit shaky as the phosphate levels rise and fall while equilibrating between water and mud, but then it will even out and the water will stay the perfect pea-soup green until late October in our area.

Of course, even in a drought year, we may get more more inflow than in many parts of the country.
Lou