Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations First bass caught!

The first bass was caught in my pond during a backyard party I held for my staff. Hopefully, I was successful in attaching the photo.

We dug this small pond early October of 2006 and stocked 10 lmb (6 to 8 inch), along with 100 cc (6 to 8 inch) and 100 bg (2 to 3 inch).

Do you think this bass is one of our original 10? Or would this be a baby? I don't know how fast fish grow.

Our cc are about 12 inches now and I've caught one bg and it was small, about 5 inches.

We feed floating fish food regularly, although we're not sure how much food to throw out there. We feed for our recreation as well as to feed the fish, so when we are tired of watching the show, we throw the remaining food in the pond and leave. We probably throw about 2 cups of food when we feed and I'm pretty sure it's all gobbled up. Should we feed more?

I appreciate your input.

Janan

Congratulations Janan.

I expect that is one of the original stockers.

I would feed all they could eat for about 15 minutes. You might consider getting a couple of pounds of fathead minnows for the bass to eat. They don't eat the feed and have to hustle baby bluegills which probably haven't spawned yet.

I love that picture!

Thanks for the advice and the compliment on the picture. That is one of my "shy" employees *grin*. I'll get the minnows today.

Speaking of the blue gill spawning, I hate to change topic in the middle of a thread, but I would like to ask your advice on shelters.

Our pond is not very big. It is about 40 ft. long and 50 ft. wide. I've attached a picture of an aerial view. The smaller end of the pear-shaped pond is 2 to 3 ft. deep. I considered throwing in a few stones (to make a small pile) I had left over when I bordered my flower bedding around the pool.

I had been told that if we planned to use the pond primarily for catch and release, we shouldn't put in any spawning shelters.

What do you think?

Bluegill could somehow spawn in the middle of an interstate. They spawn on gravel, sand or just plain mud. Somehow they will get it done. However, they don't spawn well in turbid or muddy water without photosynthesis. They don't use any kind of shelter for spawning.

However, the fry and small fish do use anything they can find to hide in to escape predation. By keeping the bottom clean, it will help cut back on survival.

Hi Chandler1. Your friend Aerial is HUGE! Do you think she might come over to my place and take some photos?

Thanks for the advice, Dave. We filled our pond with well water and have not had much luck in clearing it up. Barley has helped some. What do you think about gypsum? Do you think that would be better?

GW, that photo was taken during my backyard party. We are fortunate to have a neighbor with a chopper and he gave us all a ride. It was quite an expensive little excursion, to say the least! I'll never complain again about how much it costs to fill my car. ha!

Gypsum worked for me. We added approx. 450 lbs. per acre foot. Put most of it in some eroded areas and it gradually found it's mark!

Thanks, Agent, I believe we will give it a try.

Does anybody have a good guess from the photo, the acre foot of the pond?

If you look at the pear or lightbulb shape, it's 2-3 ft. deep at the narrow end and 9 ft. deep at the bulb or large end. About 50 ft. long and 40 ft. wide.

Form my calculations you pond is no more the 0.05 acres now using that as our size and 6ft as an average depth we would come up with 0.28 acre feet. which if we use Agents 450lbs per acre foot then you would need 128lbs of gypsum but since your pond is smaller then 0.05 acres being that it is not completly rectangular you could exspect to use around 100lbs of gypsum with Agents numbers. im not an gypsum exspert iv never actually used it so idk what good numbers are but im sure someone could give you good numbers for different situations.

This link will show you how much you need. All ponds are different.

http://wildlife.tamu.edu/publications/taexponds/0905a.pdf

I did some calculations and figured you had 90,000 gallons. Whatever it takes for one gallon, should be close to what you need for the rest of the pond.

Thank you so much, Chris and bcm!

You all have been so helpful. This pond was built on a whim, but we love it and want to maintain it well so that friends and family can enjoy it with us for many years.

What a cool photo. Like Dave, I'd be willing to bet that fish is one of your original stockers as well.

You'll get a lot of satisfaction out of watching them grow. It's been my experience, however, that with sufficient time a pond like yours can actually get overpopulated. Fish get stunted, with heads disproportionate to their body size.

Some people people shudder at the thought, but that's when it's time to keep out the makings of a modest fish fry.

Good luck, and good fishing ...

Larry

From reading Pond Boss magazine and reading various posts on the web site, I figured there would eventually time to have a neighborhood fish fry!

In fact, I've already seen smaller cc than others. Have the cc spawned yet? WOuld there be any second generation cc in the pond this soon?

When would be a good time to start culling out the little ones?

I doubt that the CC have spawned. You're just seeing a variable growth rate. Some fish, no matter what the species, will out hustle the others and grow quicker.

I alluded to it and Larry Bozka said it. You're biggest concern will be over spawning. That can lead to real water quality issues. You might consider aeration.

Your bass will convert forage to weight and size gain at a 1 to 10 ratio. In other words, it takes 10 pounds of bluegill, minnows or baby ducks to put one pound of weight on a bass.

If it were me, and it's not, I would try to control bass reproduction. That means don't name them. Don't under feed the CC and BG.

Thanks for the words, Dave. We do have aeration in the pond. If you look closely at the largest end of the pond in the photo, you can see the spray of our fountain.

We spotted a large turtle yesterday and are regularly visited by a blue heron, so nature will take care of some overpopulation.

How often will the fish spawn? What is a good size to consider the frying pan?

Thanks for your help!
Janan

They won't spawn much until the water clears somewhat.

Size for the frying pan is a personal preference.