Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Help on Bass Heavy Pond

Less LMB mean more food for the remaining LMB to eat which increases growth rates and produces larger bass...

Its sounds like you need to start keeping every LMB you catch. After you have caught about 50-75 lbs of LMB, which would be about 100 to 125 8" bass, then you can think about adding more forage.

Hemna its your birthday and you have to split the cake with 10 guest how big slice you goign to get? What if 50 show your slice will be much smaller, get it? less competetion for same food source means more to go around the remaining bass will be happy you took out brother and sister.

Cool thanks guys. I guess I figured that the LMB would just eat each other when the population got high compared with the BG. I think I'll start pulling some of the fish I catch out and put in another pond I know has no fish in it (it went dry this last year due to low rainfall).

They will have to eat, too. Better build a forage base before you begin transferring.

Its about energy conversion... Its takes about 10 lbs of prey fish to make 1 lb of LMB. So if your 5 LMB is eating a 1/2 lb LMB, it took 5 lbs of BG to make that 1/2 LMB. So your LMB is only getting 1/2 of food that took 5 lbs of BG to make it...

Welcome to Pond Boss Hemna, it's good to have another Californian aboard!

thanks jeff. It looks like you are up in Weed, CA. I know right where that is. My folks live up in Happy Camp, so I drive by Weed often.

I'm going to start culling the pond when I float it now and hopefully I'll be able to catch enough to make a difference.

he he he....yup JHAP is in weed......

hemna, welcome to pondboss. i'm about a half hour to 45 min. south of you - here in lovely el dorado. you have received great advice on this text book thread started by our other CA brethren mtalley.

you probably wont be able to catch enough by rod and reel to make a difference quickly, but keep at it, and over time, you will see changes. while you are culling several hundred of those small bass out, you might consider screening off a portion of the pond that stays with water year round or use that other smaller pond w/ no fish in it, and grow out some BG and GSF forage. keep them separated from the adult bass for at least a year so they can grow big enough to not get eaten. once yer matured BG and GSF have successfully spawned over a season in yer 3 acre pond, and you have culled as many bass as possible, the following season you should start to see some real positive changes in the body conditions and growth of those bass you want to grow big.

Now I feel guilty. Actually Hemna, my place is down in El Dorado County near Dave in El Dorado (aka as DIED). It's a long story as to how I ended up putting Weed, California in my profile but I feel sufficiently guilty as to being motivated to change it.

DIED and I are glad to have another Californian aboard. I'd like to arrange a get together of the Californian Pond Bossers at some point. Sort of a California Regional Pond Boss Meeting. We wouldn't have as many folks show up as they do in Texas but it would be fun.

Happy Camp, now that sounds like a fun place to live. I love all the names in the motherload area.

Welcome hemna.

Dave,

We were talking about using the "other" pond in my original post as a grow out pond for the BG. We were going to plant small LMB in it this fall but have decided to hold off. Our current plan is to use it to stock BG in the bass heavy pond until they can get established.

hi mt.

man, you expect me to remember what was discussed on page 1?

no really, sounds like an excellent plan, i just wish my pond kept more water over the summer let alone have another pond to play with.

the ranch pond below me had a major fish kill last summer. this pond was also a classic bass heavy pond w/ huge GSF (few and far between). i got permission to fish it just this last weekend and the surviving bass look incredible.....fat and happy. a really nice case of a totally human unmanaged pond perfectly managed by mother nature.

Good to know there are other pond guys near me here on the board. My buddy and I are always looking for more public ponds to float tube. I presume you guys have ponds near you that you manage? The pond I mentioned in my first post here is part of the Auburn Lake Trails community. I don't manage it, but fish it quite often. It's a community pond that is run by the ALT management. They have a few bubblers in the pond for oxygen, but it doesn't get much actual management throughout the year.
We were just stumped as to why it's so full of bass, but nearly 99% of the fish we catch are tiny...12" and under. I'm probably going to float it Sunday

I pulled 20 LMB from the pond today and transplanted them to a smaller pond near my house. Each of the fish was 6" to 8", which is pretty standard size for this pond. I'm going to continue to move every fish I catch this summer and see if it makes any difference.

hemna, I dont know the size of state of the pond you are taking the fish to, but be careful that you dont create the same problem in the other pond. Unless thats what you want.

The pond where I put the fish had dried out by the end of last summer. I'm hoping it will hold up this year....