Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction New to forum, 12 acre lake

Hello
My name is Don, From Missouri. We just purchased some land with a 12 acre lake. deepest part is 20Ft. 1/4 of the lake is 4ft or less. the lake has a small spring running into it.
the water level never drops more than 6". We have a problems which got me searching the internet and i found this awsome site. We have a stunned bass growth all between 9"-13" bass(most bass have black parasites/and a few yellowish worms)
Water is clear most of the time, some rocky areas, stucture is limited.no farm animals drinking from the lake. it also never got fished much. so far i have taken some 2-3lb catfish out, about 20 bass around 10-12", bluegill are medium sized, nothing big/small. crappie have been reported in the lake, but nothing yet. here in beginning Dec water temp was 50deg.

i can tell im gonna be on these forums alot, so much more information and hand on experiance.

also, note... i have noticed larger size crayfish and some minnows here and there(but not much)

Thanks
Don

hey d...welcome! dont know where in MO you are, but id be happy to help you remove some bass if you're near stl.

the pros will be along shortly for your official welcome.

Sounds like you need to remove largemouth bass because there are too many and not enough prey. Also some shellcrackers would help on the pararsite, I do believe. The crappie are also competing for the prey like the bass.

shellcracker = Redear Sunfish

They eat snails, which are part of the parasite life cycle. Remove/reduce snails and you'll reduce the grubs/black spot.

Take out every LMB that you catch that's less than 14". EVERY ONE. You probably won't be able to take out enough just fishing by yourself, but you can put a dent in their population. Ditto with any Crappie that you catch. Adding food in the form of forage won't help much, and you'll probably go broke doing it. To put 1# on one LMB, they need to eat 10# of forage. Multiply that by the number of small LMB in your pond and you get the idea.......

Skinny, im SW of STL about 2 HRS.
Thanks for the tips, do grasscarp eat snails also ? there is a population of bluegill in the lake. but maybe not enough.
it seems there is a thin film of green moss/algae on the bottom i noticed also. you cant see it, but after fishing for awhile you notice it comming in alot (always having to remove it after so many cast).
as soon as i can ,im gonna place some pallets in the water and help the flathead minnow population.

GC might eat snails, but only if they are on the plants that they are eating. RES will specifically target snails, while BG will not. RES have pharyngeal teeth that are made to crush snails.

The stuff that you are seeing is probably filamentous algae - it starts by growing on the bottom, and then eventually will float on the surface. FA isn't high on the list of things that GC like to eat.

The pallets will help the FHM population, but usually a BOW that has predators in it won't be able to sustain a FHM population - they move too slow, and are easy targets. They are great for getting a new BOW established (building a forage base).

Good Info, Im gonna start with the RES first. is there any other small type minnows/baitfish recomended ? im located in Missouri.
I have a perfect site to raise baitfish, i could maybe tackle that also. small body of water rite next to the lake.

thanks for the input, it was much needed

Depending on your location in Missouri, Shawn Banks manages ponds and may be able to help you out. I know he is in charge of several ponds in northern Missouri and northeastern Kansas.

Shawn Banks is great. You also might want to talk to the Pond Boss himself, Bob Lusk. He makes occasional trips through Missouri and might be willing to evaluate your pond for you.

Fathead minnows also happen to be somewhat predator stupid and that's big reason they disappear so quickly. A FHM will almost always "run" when it detects a predator nearby and then the chase is on. A small BG on the other hand will freeze and go motionless when it detects a predator nearby in hopes that it won't be detected.