Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Which predator?

Recently I bought a property in central Wisconsin with a 1 acre pond, so I am new to the pond life. Great site, learning there's a lot I did not know!

Looking for some feedback on what the experienced members would do.

Basically a blank slate. Almost. The pond is loaded with Bluegill, we're catching some real nice 10" ones, all the way down to tiny ones, and a lot of them! Too many, from what I am reading. The previous owner had a winter kill a couple years ago that seems to have taken out everything else. A minnow trap is coming this week for another species sample.

An aerator is now installed. The pond is an isolated 1 acre in size, decades old, mostly 5-8 feet deep with a couple 11 foot holes. The bottom is fairly firm with no real structure to speak of.

The goal is a healthy bluegill population, without overcrowding.

My thinking is to add some sort of structure before the predators arrive. Which type of structure and how much?

I see LMB are often discussed when it comes to BG, is there any reason SMB should not be considered instead?

Anything I'm missing, what say the pros?

Thanks,
Joe

The bigger you want the BG the more #s and smaller you want the bass, if you want big bass you want fewer bass, but larger. To the person wanting big bass, you can't have too many BG, bass will reduce your BG #s. Smallmouth are great, but they have smaller gap and so the size of BG they can control is smaller, but I would think it is doable, just a little harder to do. LMB are easier to get to overpopulate for BG control.

I'm no structure expert or pond pro for that matter, but I believe structure in the way of brush, rock piles, cinderblocks, and the like will all give the YOY (young of year or baby fish) a place to hide. If overpopulation of BG is a concern...structure as described above only encourages more fry to survive predation leading to a higher population. I may be missing something here, but I would think thoroughly evaluating your fish types and populations would be a strong first step. Now, if you are talking structure like boulders, gravel piles, logs, ditches, and such then you would be providing places for the fish to hang out and feel comfortable, but not really aiding the survival of the young.

It depends on goals and the current situation. If you add structure for now make it loose open structure (see below).You will need some method of reducing BG numbers and/or added food for BG (feeding or increased productivity). BG reduction can be by fishing , seining , trapping and by predation. Read here about the balancing of pond populations with LMB and BG present before you decide to add LMB. You have options in your location for predators including cool water predators.