Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Weight/Length Ratio Chart for LM/SM Bass

Can anyone direct me to a website that offers a weight/length ratio chart for LM and SM bass for the northern part of the country. Thanks in advance.

Bottom of the page......

http://www.bassresource.com/features/big_bass_ponds.html

Warnberg, the article and chart is just what the doctor ordered. Thanks for your help. Is there a chart for small mouth bass or would it be the same as LM for weight/size? Is there a size/weigth chart for bluegill/redear sunfish?

The URL I sent you too is for Large Mouth Bass, but from what I have read the small mouth have approx. the same growth rates. As far as the Blue Gill are concerned I'm still looking for that one as I have some questions of my own. I just stocked my 5 acre pond about a month ago. I stocked 3 inch florida strain large mouth bass and 2 to 3 inch blue gill. Just for curiosity I went fishing the other day and caught 10 to 15 4 inch blue gill. So I am in a quandry as too how fast these fish are growing.....

Glad to help

Dave

Rowly & Warnberg. All your questions about various lengths and weights of different species of fish are answered in the Fish Calc program from Inspired by Nature. www.ibnature.com
See this under the heading Adjusting Fish Populations - Fish Lenght-Weight Calculator.
Just what the doctor ordered. BC

Bill, great chart I found it when it first came available. Thanks

Rowly

Don't get me wrong B Cody I use the fish calc. Great idea and it is free so no complaints. Does everyone know how to properly use it??? It is not an accurate assesment tool by itself. It only gives what a fish should weigh for a given length or what it should be in length for a given weight. Cool to see if your buds are lying about the fish they caught. To analysis the health of your fish in the pond you need to know the length and the weight then look at what the calculator says it should be. What your looking at is the Relative weight average (RW) over time. Is the RW going up or down, is it over 100% or down below 70%. THe link in a few posts above only goes to the nearest inch, not accurate enough on small bass. I use a chart to the nearest 1/10 inch. I have a chart for both bass and bluegill to the nearest 1/2 inch and an article on how to do RW and what they mean (lakework.com then look under articles). I love the fish calc., but use it as only one of your many tools for populaiton dynamics. Sorry for being so wordy.

Pondmeisters,
When managing your own pond, keep length/weight data of your fish. Use the charts and graphs for comparison. Look at your fish, compared to "average". But, after a year or two of data gathering, you should see patterns of growth (or lack of) of your fish. The comparisons give you an idea of your fish compared to standards, but decisions you make will be affected by growth rates of your own fish. So, as you watch your fishery, and collect data on your bass, keep in mind the entire process of population dynamics is influenced by what you do, or do not, do. The key word here is "dynamics". Bottom line is this...the charts are an excellent tool for comparison. But, even without a chart, you can still evaluate your fishery, and see where changes need to be made, with enough data.
If you weigh and measure 100 bass this year, compared to 100 from the last year, and 100 from the year before that, it will be quite obvious what is happening to your bass fishery. So, look at the charts as another "tool" in your pond management tool box.

I just downloade the Fish Calculator and it sure is fun to use. It would be nice if it could generate a printable chart for selected species, that I could laminate and keep around the lake. (OK, pond)

It does accept decimal inputs, like 4.5 inch bluegill and calculates corresponding weight. I guess they could have had the program give the weight in lbs and ozs, to accomodate this antiquated weights and measures system that we use.

One thing that interests me, that I see missing from all these charts is age. I know why - because they are trying to cover any fish anywhere. Depending on wheather the fish grew up in the South with it's longer growth season, or if it was fed, there are HUGE differences in the size of fish of the same age. I would still like to know

1) How can I tell how old a given fish is? (do I look at it's teeth? ;-) Older fish may not grow as quickly when fed.

2) With a good feeding program, how long can I expect to take to produce 12" bluegill, Crappie etc., in SE Texas?

That is really what I need to know when I evaluate my fish to see if I am on track.

Hey Ed, check out the PDF file on my website. It gives relative length/weight for bass, bluegill and redear sunfish. There are 3 tables and you can print them out and laminate them.

Bob

Thanks Bob and Greg. I checked out the tables on both your websites.

There is also a cool little website that you can check for these standard weight values. These folks have about 30 fish species listed. You enter the length of a fish in inches, and it will give you the standard weight in pounds.

It's actually set up to print certificates for "trophy" fish of various species. However, it's any easy place to get a quick standard weight on a fish.

http://www.jltool.com/fish/fishform.html

Dave