Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations managing for hawg bass

.75-1 acre pond-Our plan is to put 30-40 mature bass in this year and alot of forage fish as possible FHM and BG from other family owned ponds. We are going to start keeping any bass under 14 inches after next year and supplement more mature bass 14in+ when needed a few small bass may grow too 14 inches without getting caught but we will keep small bass when possible. We want our bass to grow fat and fast and this type of management seems possible with such a small pond. What do you think is 40 bass a good number of big bass for a pond this size if they range between 15-22 inches. Also no catfish, crappie ect. to compete with bass.

I would let the Forage base get established before you stock the bass. Unless you have some thick cover The FHM will probably be gone before they ever have a chance to spawn if they are stocked with adult bass.

I would also think twice about stocking fish from another pond. If you don't have any fish in your new pond you have a clean slate. This gives you an opportunity to start with your choice sport and forage fish. You may even qualify for a free DNR stocking. The DNR in IL will stock any lake that does not have fish populations already established. in general they stock a set mixture of fish that inclueds BG, LMB and CC.

If you do not go the rout of DNR stocking I would still consider calling a fish hatchery and having them deliver your fish. I have found that Patience is rewarded when it comes to pond management. If you stock all adult Bass this year you may be asking for trouble later down the road. It is usualy best to have a balanced fishery with fish of all sizes.

Basically, I am just suggesting that you consider all options and carefully plan out your population before you make any decisions and most of all have fun with it. Raising trophy bass is a tricky business and it's best to go at it with a long term view.

I'm sure there will be some expert advice shortly. Good luck and enjoy your pond.

If it were me, I would stock FHM and transfer BG from other ponds on the property this year. Get a mix of BG sizes, including 30 or more breeding sized adults per acre and many more in the smaller sizes (easy if seined).

Let the FHM and BG spawn and grow for a full year, to develop a forage base of diverse sized prey.

If I really wanted a trophy bass pond, I would want some new genetics in addition to what I had in the other ponds. Being cheap, I would stock intermediate LMB this Fall or next Spring (whenever the experts here say is the best time to get non-stunted small bass in that size). Make sure the forage base includes many, many BG 1/3 to 1/4 the length of the intermediate Bass you stock. I would put in about 20-25 new genetics intermediate LMB.

Then starting late next year, I would transfer in large bass from the other ponds - only in sizes that could not eat the largest of the intermediate bass (if there are any runts in the newly stocked bas, let 'em get eaten). It might take an additional 2 years to stock another 25-30 larger bass without jeopardizing the new LMB stockers, so be discriminating and only tranfer LMB with really good RW.

Then hope most of the transferred LMB do well in their new home - not all of them will. Among the new stocked bass and the transfers, only remove non-thrivers with low RW. Leave all the ones that do well in place to parent the future trophy bass for the pond.

That's my $0.02 on how I would approach it.

We already built the forage base with 300 BG 3-8inches they spawned this spring. Then we started adding bass this spring 15 between 12-15in and 10 between 15-20 inches are plan is to add BG every year of all sizes we are debating if we should add more bass. We want to stock a few quality bass every year from ponds we know produce big bass so we know we are getting good genetics and weed out the small bass the pond produces unless they just look like really chunky well built fish. Again its a little less than an acre so the bass population can be managed pretty easily especially the way we bass fish. Our goal is to take the best from a few small local ponds and make a great big fish pond. Priority#1 Big Bass #2 Big Bass and so on

You will need 25 lbs of forage fish for each lb of LMB you just put in. They will eat 10+ lbs per lb of LMB. The remaining 15 lbs will be your forage base. Do that on top of the FH. You have enough LMB (25 adults) for now. It is not the 25 LMB you will need to manage it is their thousands of offspring. That will be a big job. The LMB you just put in need BG in the 3 to 7 inch size to eat. Those LMB will not grow eating BG yoy and FH.

I agree with ewest. 300 3-8" BG are not enough to support the larger 25 LMB that you have stocked IF you intend for these stocked LMB to grow to meet your Priority #1 and #2. BG 3"-5" will average about one ounce each x 16 oz x 25 lbs = 400 BG; enough for one maybe two 13"-15" bass. I tell people that a typical 10"-14" bass will eat about 250 (2"-4") BG per yr. You have more forage fish to add if you expect normal growth of your stocked adult bass. Your forage base is too slim for adult bass in a new pond.

It would be beneficial for you to read "Raising Trophy Bass" available on this site. IMO for you to reach your goals you will need additional species of forage foods to successfully meet Priorities 1&2. First items that come to mind are golden shiners, redear sunfish, crayfish, bullfrogs, and possibly consider shad (gizzard or skipjack herring since you are in KY) and green sunfish or another sunfish. Threadfin shad could be an option and naturally occur in KY but would need to be periodically restocked when winter die offs occur.

Since it appears you and your allies are intense bass fishermen, it would be beneficial to use the search feature to read past topic posts here about creating hook smart (hook shy) bass and how to deal with them which is what I think will soon happen in your new pond when you try to manage primrily for those initial 40 stocked bass. Way back in the early 70's I was also gung-ho on doing your plan for my pond. Since then lots of fish raising and learning has occurred. Today I would not attempt your plan. There are better better ways to grow big bass or other predators.

You guys are great love the comments first I agree and we planned on adding more bluegill of all sizes and this will be a continuous thing and there are lots of spawning bluegill now. And as far as hook smart bass I too have read studies on this and to start with all the bass we put in have been caught by us at least once which is one plus but also we are not afraid of a challenge we are not average joes we bass fish lakes all over every weeked and would prefer a little bit of a challenge every now and then. I havent met a place I couldnt catch bass yet as often as we fish the bass will get smart anyway before long. I think the key to our management strategy will be adding forage till the sun comes home its nothing for us to catch 50-100 bluegill in a day and go throw them in and to keep taking out small bass. We need to add more cover I am thinking maybe a couple cedar trees and a sycamore or two. Any special structure you guys think stands out for big bass.

Bassman...

Go the the forum that says "Creating Habitat" and look for threads that have ideas about structure. This should give you a good place to start.

Yeah i would say that you need alot more BG . Like they told me when i was stocking my pond . You want the LMB to not have to travel far to get something to eat . That is is you If you want the biggest fish possible . In my pond i am trying to have 60 BG to 1 lmb . But you are in the right place . These guys will help you out . But to much foos is better than not enuff food . Good luck