Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations SM BASS

I put in about a dozen smallmouths (10 to 12 inches long" about 2 months ago in my one acre pond. There are a lot of gold fish in the pond as they have been breeding there for about 7 years.
I have not spotted any bass since I put them in. I assume that they don't jump because there is lots of food. I see the goldfish jumping all the time. There are also hundreds of frogs, leeches and I assume other minnows.
Also the clarity of the lake is not great. you can only see down about 18 inches.

I am anxious to see if they spawn in the spring. Could someone tell me the depth of the water that they spawn in and also whether it has to be close to the side of the lake or can they spawn anywhere.

Hey Bob, I have only ever seen SMB spawn in the shallows ... 1-4 feet on a gravelly, rocky substrate. May spawn elsewhere... I just haven't seen it.

With that many years of goldfish in the pond you must have thousands... might want to think about selling them to pet stores.. might be profitable.

I've been wondering lately if Smallmouth would make it down here in Tennessee. Unfortunately we're not really deep south or far north so I think either stocking pure Florida LM or Smallmouth could be risky. Any suggestions? I thought for SMB having a spring fed pond or well fed pond that is constantly trickling water out of the spillway might be a good thing but then I'd be spending way too much $ and time trying to replace all of the fertilizer always being flushed out.

Hey Mark, I don't see why SMB wouldn't do well without a spring, as long as you have enough water volume/depth to keep it from becoming terribly hot. SMB have a prefered temperature range just a little cooler then LMB so if LMB survive in your area SMB should stand a good chance as well. Now for breeding just be sure to provide adequate rock/gravel beds for them.

Mark,
You don't live much further south than I do. I live about 10 miles north of the TN line in SouthWest VA.
I have about 10 Smallmouth and 15 Largemouth in my pond (1/3 acre) ranging from 12 to 20 inches. My cousin and I caught them out of local rivers and lakes and stocked them in my pond. They have lived through 2 summers and one winter so far with no problems that I can see. The pond is about 20' deep at the deepest point. The pond is springfed but doesn't constantly overflow in the summer. We are in the 4th year of a drought here in VA and the pond dropped about 5' at one point this summer. Both species spawned this spring and the pond has a lot of small bass in it now. I assume that the big bass will eat most of them, but if they don't I intend to remove all the Largemouth that I catch next year. That's assuming that the Smallmouth continue to prosper.

I also stocked Coppernose bluegill and Redear sunfish from a hatchery and they are doing well also. Coppernose aren't supposed to make it this far north but so far, so good.

I believe that if I were you I would give the Smallmouth a try.

Larry

Thanks Larry,
I am encouraged about the info on the coppernose too. I've been thinking they might be risky as well. It's not the average winters (Fla.strain/coppernose) that I worry about but the 1 in 5 to 6 winters that may have more than a couple of weeks below freezing. Well I guess that's why many call owning a pond the great experiment. It might not hurt to have a handful like you've done to see how they do for a few years before stocking any more. I'm more inclined to stock either SMB or LMB in a pond but not both only because I'm not aware of much information on their compatibility in 1-5 acre ponds. Thanks for the advice.
Linder

Mark,
From the info I have read on this site, it is not likely that both SM and LM will survive in a small pond like mine. Most experts don't recommend stocking any kind of bass in a pond of less than one acre. My pond is only 20 months old, and its too early to tell if either of the bass species will do well. My plans right now are to remove the LM if the SM fry survive until next summer. If the SM fry don't survive, then I will just leave both species in the pond and see what happens. I intend the pond to be strictly catch and release as far as the bass are concerned, so a high rate of reproduction won't really be necessary.

On the Coppernose, I stocked them on May 1, 2001. They spawned in September and early October last year. The Coppernose that hatched last fall are now about 4 to 5 inches long. At one time last winter the pond was covered with ice for about two weeks and the Coppernose came through fine. The pond is springfed and is about 20' deep in the old stream bed, this may have helped them survive. I really don't know. I also had a good spawn this spring.

I did have about 20 or so of the bigger Coppernose die this summer when the water was so low and hot, as far as I know none of the bass or redears died. I didn't see any dead bass or redears. Don't know why only the bluegills died. The only explanation that I can come up with is that the pond is springfed and during the hot part of the day the bass and redears seemed to stay in the area where the springs were coming in. This area was also shaded and the rest of the pond isn't.

Hope this helps,
Larry