Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations My Pond

Well I wish it was mine. It was made about 55-60 years ago. It was stocked by the state truck coming around to anyone with a pond, with LMB and BG about 50 years ago. They filled up a milk can with whatever ratio it was.

That's it, no management ever except light recreational fishing. And the farmer tells me no one has fished it for at least the last couple years.

Its my pond to either muck it up or make it great. He gave me permission to manage it. I hope you all can help.

Anyhow its 4 acres and it looks sorta like this...

Start by fishing it!

I assume you want to focus on big LMB in this pond? If not what goals do you have in mind?

If you catch lots of skinny short bass then you probably have a stunted bass population due to lack of forage. If you catch lots of big bass then you don't need to do a thing (if big LMB is your goal)!

A 4 acre lake should be able to grow good size bass if abundant forage is present.

Where in MD are you?

I'm sure the experts will chime in once they get an idea of what you want to do with this pond and what is already in there.

Looks great! Looks like even if the farmer didn't manage the fishery he sure did a nice job with the BOW itself. Clean shorelines mostly, which won't happen if a pond is left truly alone for 50 years. I've fished many a farm pond that was abandoned for decades...the first thing you have to do is cut a path through the trees that grow all the way around the shoreline.

RockvilleMDAngler I just found this pond in Oct. Fished it 4 times and it is very bass heavy. Yes I want a trophy LMB pond. I'm in Calvert co. I'm sure you know the last 2 state record LMB came from this county. Both over 11 lbs. The current record, caught last year, came from a pond 1 mile away and the former record came from another pond 7 miles away. Both these ponds are just like this one.

This pond might very well have a real whopper in it, and it might be a great trophy BG pond. I just have to evaluate it better.

Dlowrance, Yes he does keep half the shoreline clean as you can see the other half is almost inaccessible and has a steep bank. I also know some farm ponds just like you said, they are so abandoned that you have to cut your way in.

I know that from posting earlier here I have to first get at least 100 small bass out.

Because I want to add GSH and crayfish. I also want to see if there are any big LMB in there.

I have not even fished for BG yet but caught one on a small bass lure.

MSC, first get a tape measure/ruler. Then get an accurate scale that will weigh to the 0.1 of a pound. Then download the relative weight chart from the archives.

Catch, weigh, measure and consult the chart. Remove any LMB less than 90% relative weight. If many LMB are under WR (RW) start with removing 120 pounds of LMB as soon as you can this year.

Yes thanks Esshup. I will do that I did have a chance to take about 20 LMB out last fall. Didn't even need a RW chart, they looked skinny and less than 14". Then I caught a nice one about 18" that looked much fatter, he went back in.

Can't wait for iceout to go fishing again.

Weigh them. If they are skinny, you might have to remove 200+ fish to reach the pounds per surface acre goals.

Thanks I do have a digital scale. Right now the ponds have ice cover can't even fish. I am going to hit all 4 acres this spring wih everything I have in my bass fishing arsenal.

Then there's always hoop traps.

Unfortunately, not for LMB. I've never caught one in a fyke net.

electroshock is the quickest way when the LMB are just about to spawn. (pre not post)

If the action slows down on the lures, 3" long golden shiners or 2"-3" BG.

Another thought. If the water is clear, sight fish during the LMB spawn. Yank every male LMB that is guarding the nest. Best way? 6# test, and a coffee can full of live nightcrawlers. Hook once thru the collar with a #4 or #6 hook. No weight, no bobber. Cast past the nest, reel it in with the worm just under the surface. Before it gets to the nest, let is sink down to the nest. When it hits bottom, it'll start crawling. The LMB can't resist it. Set the hook about 2 seconds after they pick it up. Repeat.

In my state fishing for LMB is closed for all freshwater/non tidal from March 1st till June 15. They do not want you messing with bass when they spawn.

But I've been fishing for 45 years and we use to do just that. We used live nightcrawlers and pitched them to spawning bass that we could see. It was deadly.

Esshup, have you tried baiting your hoop net with a big glass jar full of live goldfish?

Just kidding

Not quite, but I have used it in a pond that has a population of both goldfish and LMB. I've caught many, many goldfish but not one LMB. IIRC it's spent a total of 12 days in that pond over a period of 2 or 3 years.

This farm also has another pond. It is about 1/2 acre.







This would make a great forage pond. The pipe had to be redone about 5-6 years ago, so the pond was drained. One of the farmers friends then caught some LMB and BG from the other pond and put them in this one. No idea what ratio. I have also caught a few small bass out of this pond.

Would be interesting to know how the fishing is with that kind of stocking. That is what I am looking at doing with my sons and my daughters pond this year. Stocking with larger fish out of my pond.

This is just a guess, but I wonder if he put both the LMB and BG in at the same time (and in larger sizes instead of fingerlings), I wonder if the pond is not LMB heavy, and that is why you are catching small bass. Of course in three years, that might be normal. If the LMB reproduced to quickly for the BG to populate the pond, you might need to remove a lot of small bass. The LMB may have reproduced too fast for the BG and ate themselves out of food. You might have a few big BG in there and not many small ones.

In my case, I will only put in FHM and BG this spring/summer (and RES if I can catch them). Then wait till next year to put the LMB in to give the BG time to reproduce. Who knows, I might end up going the other way. Too many small BG.

I'm not an expert and only trying to envision in my minds eye what I have learned here on PBF and other publications what might happen. Mine is 90% "book learning" so far, so am only hypothesizing.

Just some thoughts, as what was done with that pond might be similar to what I will be doing with a couple ponds.

Snrub, To be honest I was so fascinated by the big pond, I only hit the small pond once. I parked where my truck is and as I snuck up on the pond, I could see small BG moving away from the shallow end. They could see me, and I was wearing camo.

I walked all around the pond casting a small white crankbait and caught 4 small LMB all about 11" and healthy looking. They went in the woods. So there must have been a spawn in there and there might be a big LMB in there too. I know the guy who put the fish in. I can ask him if he remembers what exactly he put in there.

You might find the small pond as enjoyable as the big one.

I have heard several people on this forum state that they would rather have several small ponds than one big one because then they could manage them each better and individually. That made sense to me but I had never thought about it before they said it. I always figured bigger was better.

At least that is what my wife thinks.

She was talking about ponds guys, ponds, get your mind out of the gutter.

"They could see me, and I was wearing camo."
Those little suckers can feel the vibration from my Polaris Ranger about 30' ahead. You can see the FHM swirl the water about that far ahead when I drive around the crushed rock road we have around the perimeter. If I want to see fish, I have to either walk very quietly and only see a few, or shut the 4 wheeler off and siting for about 5 minutes perfectly still. then I start seeing BG, FHM and if I throw a little feed out even the CC will sneak up in the shallows and steal some feed. I don't think the camo helps with the bluegill (but I could be wrong). You might need "water camo" so they think you are part of the pond.

You may want to consider having the pond electro-shocked by a professional pond manager. That is just one part of having a pond professionally evaluated. Just an option that hasn't been mentioned yet.

I'm kinda curious about the electro-shock thing. This pond has no boat ramp. How much do they charge for a 4 acre pond? I know the State DNR goes around and does that to take surveys in State waters.

The pond at Big Cedar doesn't have a boat ramp either, and they got a pretty good sized shock boat in it without any damage to the manacured lawn.........

I am 99% sure that is for public waters not private ponds. I know when my club fishes tournaments at Deep Creek or Black Hills before June 15 we have to have paper tournaments to comply with the law. Do not let that low prevent you from managing your pond before the spawn!!

That law does not cover private ponds in MD.

I contacted the MD DNR. They said that private ponds such as farm ponds, are subject to the same regulations as everywhere else. The only exemption is if you are issued a 'Fee Fishing Permit' for the pond, which allows the owner to charge admission to fish.

I guess every state is different. The only way to be sure is to ask your State DNR.

That is insane! How can you manage your pond if you cannot cull largemouth when they are at their most active (prespawn)??? That is a law I would never abide by.

Did you talk to a DNR Agent/Official or perhaps just someone answering phones who doesn't really know what they are talking about? I cannot believe that it could possibly be illegal to harvest your own fish as you see fit... Then again nothing in Maryland would surprise me and that's why I moved to Virginia...

I sent the question to the Assistant Director of Fisheries Service, Chief of Inland Fisheries. I ask the DNR questions all the time.