Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Frustrated.

I do not have a minnow trap. Honestly there are so many fry in some spots I could catch several with a net.

What size are the bass that have been caught? What size are/were the bg when stocked?

In a strange turn of events I caught two giant bluegill today. Back to back in same spot. Then nothing fishing the same way around the entire pond. Haven’t tried the cats again yet. These fish did not look just a year old.

Good job on the giant BG. Post some measurements to get some age estimates.

Also, net some of the fry. Take a picture in a water-filled baggie and also on a simple background. That will get you some more data.

The bass being caught are around 12-15 inches. Not very many though. The bluegill we stocked were very small, probably 3 inches. I did catch two very nice bluegill last night which is the first sign of bluegill in the pond. I have been feeding optimum junior so I dont know if these were already there or if if they have just grown that much in 1 year

A 15” bass can eat a 3” bg real easy…. Sooo a lot of what you stocked could have become chow….. do you have a source for larger bg?

And I had considered that too. But there are not many bass. We stocked 10 lbs of fatheads last year and the pond is absolutely loaded with minnows still. I think my next step is to try and locate some larger bluegill.

It wouldn’t take that many bass to eat 400 bg. But I would bet some bg got off a spawn this spring and I would think that will jumpstart the process somewhat. Wouldn’t hurt to add some larger bg that can’t be eaten

Yes I think I am going to do that soon. Something has had a successful spawn and the pond is covered in fry. Hoping they are bluegill and not minnows.

Watch the way the fry moves around and you can see after a while bg and minnows act different