Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Okay guys....How's the fishing???

Just a fun string to see how the fishing is in other parts of the country. Here in the greater state of Mississippi (central) bass just about to spawn, weather is warming just right, and the bass are starting to go shallow.

How's your fishing?????

Lot's of work ahead but the fishing is great. A friend was over fishing while I was working and he caught 41 LMB. When I finished I caught 5 more in about an hour.

More work ahead to reduce the number and increase the weights.

I live in Northern Alberta and the lakes are all closed for spawning season. Only allowed to fish private or Gov't stocked Trout lakes. My pond is newly constructed and am awaiting snow thaw to fill it. It's -10 celcius today with new snow falling, ice thickness on lakes is still over two feet and won't clear up until around the end of May. If that doesn't blow your oars outta the water then consider this.... LMB & SMB, don't got em, can't have em, won't survive. And my wife wonders why I'm cranky!

Wood - Tell us a little about your pond.
1. How big and max depth?.
2. What do you plan on stocking?
3. What seems to survive the harsh winters in ponds in your area?
4. Does anyone aerate around there to try and keep some open water during winter? Aerating during winter would cool the overall pond water under the ice below 39 degrees (4C) and cause additional stress to fish.
5. Is it feasable to keep snow off some of the pond during winter?
6. Any trees/woods in your parts or is it mostly open spaces?.

7. How far north of you are the closest eskimos?. WOW. You are almost to the NW Teritories.

You are probably "our" farthest north pond owner! Welcome to the question and answer pond forum.

Bill, first off I'm still at the planning (dreamin) stage, that's why I frequent this place, amazing amount of info provided by guys like you. Our "dugout" was excavated last fall, approx. 150ft x 50ft x about 12ft deep,( I had the contractor come back and slope the sides after I came home and found a perfect rectangle with both sides at 90 deg. I was nervous walking close to the edge. To answer question 2, I originally expected to stock r.b and most likely will, but I still like the idea of Perch. I have two small boys and perch are a blast to catch, and they are "native" species here, I don't want to introduce anything that doesn't belong. Speaking of that, regardless of what I stock, I would still like to put some forage base in. Should I set minnow traps at local lakes? Legality is questionable.
2, local farm ponds have rainbows.
3, the only aeration I have seen is windmill and I'm not into that really.
5, I have a snow plow on my 4x4, it will be clear of snow, trust me, I sold the wife on skating already to justify the additional size of what was first "discussed"
6, We have 10 acres,Mature Poplar trees surrounding the low ground where dugout is.
7, Native people are not uncommon here, NWT is about 12 hours north of us. Once you get to -40, 20 degrees, either way really doesn't matter.
We had this dugout built mostly to abate a problem with backflooding of our land.....it was me that capitilized on it, and brought the whole fish thing into it. If it never becomes a fishery, I'm not worried, If a few ducks and misc critters choose to hang out, fine by me.
Thanks for interest Bill. Wood

Biting good in Fairfield, Texas as of last weekend.
Thread fin shad started running the banks.
Took two guys fishing Sat. morning. They boated 30
bass. However, no monsters were caught. 5.5 lbs.
was the biggest bass.
Sunday I took my 3 year son and 5 year old daughter out on the pier. They caught 33 crappie.
I'm off work the next three days....life is good.

Fished at one of the tanks at the deer lease last Sunday the 13th. Used perch from another tank and some artificial crawdads. The fish knocked the eyes out of the perch, and hit the artificial but I could not hook any in about two hours of fishin. That is the way it goes at times, but all fun. The highlight of the mornin was that a 300 lb. Boar came to bathe next to me about 30 yards away while I was fishin. Ya never know what to expect in South Texas (near Freer, Tx.). Also there were lots of bait fish, probably shiners, jumping out of the water for the couple of hours I was wade fishin.

Wood,
How far north of the US boarder are you? Right now Im in Duluth,MN. We just had a snow storm, Duluth style. On monday the 14th it was 87 deg fareinhiet. Wed it started to rain/sleet. Right now thier is ice in the harbor and ice on everything else. We don't even get to fish for bass untill May 24th.
What are your stocking options that far north? Ive heard that northern canada has monster Northerns! Id love to tie into one over 40", skrew bass I'd rather catch a 50" northern anyday!

Casca,

Why do you southern folks want to call bluegills perch? I'm sure you're not talking about yellow perch. LOL

I don't know why we call them perch. When I say "sunfish" I get looks so I have to say "perch". Why do we call a "pond" a "tank"?

Well, this past Sunday I caught about 10 bass in the 1-3 pound range early a.m. and a few more late afternoon. About dark, my neighbor shows up with a friend and the friend's Girlfriend who's fished only a few times in her life. I'm packing up to go home, but they want to catch a few Bluegill so we wait around a little while. She's got a Zebco 33, bream hook, and a dead cricket, fishing right in front of my feeder. It's so dark, you can't even see the cork. About this time, she giggles "I think I've got one!" Then we hear a splash that sounds like SHE fell in. Not so, but she barely gets the fish to the bank and my friend grabs it. We can't believe this thing. It's by far the largest bass I've seen yet in my 3 year-old pond. I get out my trusty BogaGrip and it measures 6 pounds! Bigger than anything I've caught in my pond or elsewhere - Life is just not fair. We released the bass and I'll be after him from now on (unless the neighbor's already snatched it!).

I'm a proud papa, but just wonder if I can expect others of that size. I picture this mama hanging out around the feeder, having a banquet on the BlueGill.

Anyway, is a 6 pounder normal for less than 3 years of growth?

Dave I think you asked this on another thread but I'll answer about the 6 lb bass in 3 yrs.
This is a great fish. However for Birmingham I think it should be what to expect if you did your stocking and management correctly. I expect 2 lbs. of growth per year on the original stocked bass. Subsequebnt generation 1.5 lbs is good. I believe strongly in F1 largemouth bass and Florida subspecies as well. Was it a F1?

I know most folks will not believe my story but I shocked a pond on one of my Plantations. It was an existing pond but had tons of intermediate bluegill, 3-5 inch golden shiners and tons of large tadpoles. To the landowners surprise no bass were shocked. I was stocking a 70 acre lake a month later (June)and got some extra for this pond. We stocked the fingerlings (2") Florida subspecies in this 12 acre pond at a rate of 25/acre just to see if they would make it. At 4 months they were 11 inches and .8 lbs. At 9 months 3.2 lbs. At 1 yr and 3 months 4.6 lbs and this last month when we were fishing the pond I caught a female with eggs that was 6.2 lbs at 3 months shy of 2 years. I tell this to show folks, b/c I was surprised myself, at the potential bass growth you can have with enough forage to go around.

South Dakota fishing update: Walleyes have just started spawning in the larger lakes, probably within the last week or so. That probably means that northern pike are done. We found a few yellow perch egg masses in some small wetlands (they warm up more quickly than larger waters).

So, what does this mean for fishing. The post-spawn northern pike bite is just underway. Walleyes are tough during spawning, although some will undoubtedly be caught.

Water temps are still in the low 40's, so not much action yet on the largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, or bluegills.

Dave

Greg, that's an amazing story. Not sure I'd go swimming in that lake!

I'm not sure if mine are F1 or not, as I've just heard them referred to as "Florida Bass".

Thanks for the reply and all the info you share on this board.

Dave

Dave, did you stock the bass in the pond? If so how many did you stock/acre?

Greg, Yes I stocked it in 2000. February: 2000 Bluegill from State fisheries. In June, I followed with 200 Bass. It's a 2 acre pond.
Dave

Wow, late spawn. We had a cold front move through central MS. about 2 weeks ago and delayed (some of) if not most of the spawn. I caught a 5 pound bass on Sat. April 19 that was still full of eggs. This is not a deep lake. Our new lake record (as far as I know is now 7 1/2 pounds in a only 5 year old lake (this spring). I have personally caught 3, 5 pounders. Here's to good fishing!!

Thanks for the info, Dave. If they were state fish from AL they are not "Florida bass". They are probably what is considered a natural intergrade a mix of both Norhtern and Florida subspecies of genetics. This is what folks have in their ponds once F1 bass start reproducing. So yes having known this the growth on your bass shows me you have been doing some good pond management thus far.

Bought 3 to 3.5 acre pond that is old have not been able to find out just how old . it had Bluegill-Bass-and some type of minnows . I have stocked 500 diff. sizes of bluegill & 500 C-Catfish.A year ago ,when first bought grandkids were catching a lot of bass on minnows 1 to 2 pounds.have caught a 5lb. & 7lb. on plastic & one 24" long [not weighed].now fishing with artifical lures .pond was electroshocked a year ago around the shore from a boat at night,collected 25 bass. all about 13" aged them and was advised to lime & start to fertilize, catch & release thru 2003.I did this, but can't hardly catch them now. lots of shoreline . due to a point sticking out into the pond formed by two inlets apprx. 35 ft. wide coming into the pond with a lot of over hanging brush on the shore. Guess the bass are hugging the shore under all the brush and i can't get to them. should i stock more bass ? Fishing for bass is lousey! Harvey