Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations First year removal of LMB-how many?

Your bass at 11"-12", I think will spawn this spring. The offspring are the ones that will cause a big part of your future bass over population problems. I agree with those above if you are looking for generally larger bass; remove 50-100 from the 2 acres this spring and summer. Your advisor was looking to sell fish, not necessarily in your best interest for growing larger bass. Pay attention to how many small bass you have this fall. If they appear commonplace, remove a quite a few of them over the next 1-3 yrs. Do you seem to have numerous 2"-4" forage fish??? Do you use fish tarps or seining to monitor relative numbers of forage fish??

let me say I have no personal experience when it comes to pulling LMB from my pond, but the stocking rate of lmb u mentioned was the same rate I was recommended @ 50 per acre. And from all I have read, I do not plan to pull any lmb from my pond until it's 3rd yr. And I will try to pull every male lmb I can catch at that point at lest over 100 minimum. I am pretty sure I can pick the males from females starting in February through April. I think from what I understand, it is all about the forage fish for the first 3 yr's. But I am no expert when it comes to growing big lmb
Tracy

Consider this. In my opinion a new pond with lots of forage prior to stocking can initially have too many 90 percentile LMB due to overabundant forage. Everything in the fishery appears fantastic. As the too numerous fat bass (predators) continue to grow they eat more annually. If the predator numbers of even fat fish are not thinned / adjusted early enough the forage eventually becomes over consumed - almost always. This I think happens often due to the bass annually recruiting too many bass. When bass weigh loss occurs, the pond owner's first response usually is ADD MORE FORAGE which is great for the fish farm. The key here is knowing the balance point. It is not easy.

Because too many fat predators were allowed to eat and grow, the forage community sooner or later becomes too few and the pond owner has to play catch up by either adding more forage or scrambling to remove bass that are now too numerous and loosing weight. Do you recall ever hearing this same story? It is a common one. I think it is often better to have too few fat predators with ample forage which is sometimes achieved one way by removing fat predators before the forage is depleted to the point of predator weight loss. Knowing proper harvest is important to maintaining balance. Once weight loss is recognized, it is back to playing catch up for the forage community. Maintaining a great, balanced, high quality fishery long term is similar to raising kids - difficult.

It's a short term band-aid at best. The aeration is a good idea regardless... Definitely try to get as many bass out as you can. The tilapia should take pressure off your BG but bass need to be removed as it's a compounding issue over time.

You want another good idea? Go to a nearby sportsmen club and tell them you have a bounty on your bass of a certain size range such as 8"-12". Tell members that you will pay a certain amount for each bass they catch and remove. Make them follow your angler rules (on a hand out) if they want the privilege to fish.

Another way is to go to a local bait shop or most any store (grocery, sporting, or even an army vet place or retirement center) that has a bulletin board and post a note with your phone number asking for people interested in fishing for money. You will be flooded with people wanting to fish. Make them follow your angler rules and maybe tell them they cannot fish unless supervised by you while you are around. Pay less for each bass removed than what the electroshocker will charge you - maybe $0.50-$1.00 each. Many will even fish for free if you give them the bass to take home.