Forums36
Topics40,990
Posts558,269
Members18,516
|
Most Online3,612 Jan 10th, 2023
|
|
9 members (Deancutler, Boondoggle, phinfan, Fishingadventure, catscratch, lafarmpondguy, FishinRod, Joe7328, liquidsquid),
1,039
guests, and
169
robots. |
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 3,794
Lunker
|
OP
Lunker
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 3,794 |
Beautiful fish Cheyenne - thank you very much for the photos of my favorite pond fish... What a way to begin a beauiful spring morning...
N.E. Texas 2 acre and 1/4 acre ponds Original george #173 (22 June 2002)
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 7,615 Likes: 5
Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
|
Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 7,615 Likes: 5 |
JHAP ~~~~~~~~~~ "My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives." ...Hedley Lamarr (that's Hedley not Hedy)
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 13,762 Likes: 302
Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame 2014 Lunker
|
Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame 2014 Lunker
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 13,762 Likes: 302 |
Excerpt from Robert Crais' "The Monkey's Raincoat:" "She took another microscopic bite of her sandwich, then pushed it away. Maybe she absorbed nutrients from her surroundings."
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 1,721
Lunker
|
Lunker
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 1,721 |
Looks like you were using a swim bait?
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 4,025 Likes: 1
Lunker
|
Lunker
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 4,025 Likes: 1 |
some of cheyenne's and George's fish look to be ready to spawn. Do the females actually develop eggs in ponds? When would they normally spawn? White bass very early. What about wipers and stripers?
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 8,854 Likes: 1
Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
|
Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 8,854 Likes: 1 |
some of cheyenne's and George's fish look to be ready to spawn. Do the females actually develop eggs in ponds? When would they normally spawn? White bass very early. What about wipers and stripers? Yes, the females develop eggs in ponds. Fewer than 50% are females however. My experience is that it's somewhere between 15 and 25%. The female hybrid striped bass go through a strange ritual when they're ready to lay eggs, and this is true in both ponds and reservoirs. They will just kind of randomly find an area near a rocky shoreline, or windblown point, then they'll go to the surface and start swimming in kind of slow circles. The males will then gather around her and swim around her in bigger circle in a kind of frenzy. Another interesting fact is that when we catch hybrids in reservoirs in the spring we generally catch the males and females together. The females are almost always clustered together, and almost always turn on and off as a group in regards to angling susceptibility.
Holding a redear sunfish is like running with scissors.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 10,458 Likes: 2
Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame Lunker
|
Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame Lunker
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 10,458 Likes: 2 |
Some people don't realize this but HSB are fertile and can back cross back to white bass and striped bass. This is the reason they are illegal to stock in VA. The VDGIF is afraid they will escape the pond, swim their way to the Chesapeake Bay and spawn with wild striped bass and screw the gene pool up. However, few if any ponds would have the correct spawning locations for HSB to successfully pull of a spawn.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 8,854 Likes: 1
Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
|
Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 8,854 Likes: 1 |
Some people don't realize this but HSB are fertile and can back cross back to white bass and striped bass. This is the reason they are illegal to stock in VA. The VDGIF is afraid they will escape the pond, swim their way to the Chesapeake Bay and spawn with wild striped bass and screw the gene pool up. However, few if any ponds would have the correct spawning locations for HSB to successfully pull of a spawn. All true, but the biggest hole in the reasoning by the VDGIF is that white bass can and do naturally cross with stripers as well, and they've never screwed up the gene pool. There's a reason these fish stay apart. The bluegill gene pool hasn't been screwed up over time and there may be as many as a dozen other fish close enough genetically to cross their DNA with the BG. I understand their reasoning, and support it up to a point, but if they're going to outlaw HSB stockings they may also have to undertake a massive white bass eradication program if they're going to be consistent.
Holding a redear sunfish is like running with scissors.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 10,458 Likes: 2
Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame Lunker
|
Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame Lunker
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 10,458 Likes: 2 |
I agree, its a narrow view. There are not many lakes I can think of with naturally reproducing white bass populations that are part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. White bass are native to the Mississippi drainages but not Atlantic drainages. Although the world record white bass was caught in a lake not 30 minutes from my house which is part of the Atlantic drainage. Funny thing is, no one has any clue how white bass got there! World Record White Bass LakeWorld Record White Bass
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 258
Lunker
|
Lunker
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 258 |
I was able to find these after work on Friday. And these on Saturday. Fridays fish tasted mighty fine Saturday evening.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 13,762 Likes: 302
Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame 2014 Lunker
|
Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame 2014 Lunker
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 13,762 Likes: 302 |
Excerpt from Robert Crais' "The Monkey's Raincoat:" "She took another microscopic bite of her sandwich, then pushed it away. Maybe she absorbed nutrients from her surroundings."
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 644
Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
|
Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 644 |
Some people don't realize this but HSB are fertile and can back cross back to white bass and striped bass. This is the reason they are illegal to stock in VA. The VDGIF is afraid they will escape the pond, swim their way to the Chesapeake Bay and spawn with wild striped bass and screw the gene pool up. However, few if any ponds would have the correct spawning locations for HSB to successfully pull of a spawn. CJBS2003 - Along those same lines, how likely do you think it is for pure white bass to pull off a successful spawn in a larger pond of 8 or so acres? A friend of mine has a pond that was flooded by a large rain event. He's in the drainage area of a large lake that has a TON of white bass, and he's now confirmed they are in his pond a year later. He expressed some concern about them being in there, but I told him that I personally didn't think I'd worry about them too much as I didn't think they'd overpopulate.... and they are a lot of fun to catch anyway. Was I correct in saying that?
12 ac pond in NW Missouri. 28' max depth at full pool. Fish Present: LMB, BG, RES, YP, CC, WB, HSB, WE, BCP, WCP, GSH.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 10,458 Likes: 2
Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame Lunker
|
Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame Lunker
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 10,458 Likes: 2 |
White bass prefer to spawn in rivers, they often go miles upstream where they spawn at the base of a dam. Their eggs are adhesive and sink to the bottom where they attach to rocks. In some lakes, white bass are able to successfully spawn on wind blown shorelines, but this is extremely rare. In an 8 acre pond, I would be very surprised to see white bass naturally reproduce. So it sounds like your buddy will have a handful of white bass for a couple of years til they die out and then they'll be over with. He may grow some nice sized white bass though before they do die off... I would be more worried about other species that came in during the flood event, not the white bass...
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 644
Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
|
Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 644 |
It's likely he has some gizzard shad in there now too. They are thick in that lake.
12 ac pond in NW Missouri. 28' max depth at full pool. Fish Present: LMB, BG, RES, YP, CC, WB, HSB, WE, BCP, WCP, GSH.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 10,458 Likes: 2
Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame Lunker
|
Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame Lunker
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 10,458 Likes: 2 |
Well, the white bass will love em this spring when they spawn... Does he have any HSB in there?
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 644
Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
|
Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 644 |
Was a typical bass heavy mix of LMB, BG and CC prior to 2007 when he added some HSB... and a single common carp of all things. He should probably just have a shock survey done, so we know what the heck he's dealing with. Thanks for the info CJBS2003. Didn't mean to hijack the thread... was just kind of curious about the white bass reproduction posibilities.
12 ac pond in NW Missouri. 28' max depth at full pool. Fish Present: LMB, BG, RES, YP, CC, WB, HSB, WE, BCP, WCP, GSH.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,948 Likes: 9
Moderator Lunker
|
Moderator Lunker
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,948 Likes: 9 |
Went fishing at a friends 2 acre stunted bass pond on Saturday for 1 hour. I ended up catching 12-13 fish and all but one of them were fat. I don't know if it is because of the 150 adult bluegill we added last spring or them getting ready to spawn. I would have thought they would have spawned by this point. The biggest was about 2 lbs. and the smallest maybe 3/4 lbs. The small one was removed.
The friend wants a big bass pond. So should he be removing everything under 13-14 inches?
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 13,985 Likes: 281
Moderator Lunker
|
Moderator Lunker
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 13,985 Likes: 281 |
If the pond is not currently way overcrowded, I would remove medium sized bass of low & moderate RW. A big, fat 14 incher (if present) must be growing pretty well - let him ride.
"Live like you'll die tomorrow, but manage your grass like you'll live forever." -S. M. Stirling
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,948 Likes: 9
Moderator Lunker
|
Moderator Lunker
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,948 Likes: 9 |
I have been telling him to take out some bass but I am not sure how many he has actually taken out.
The next time I go down there I will get some lengths and weights.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 2,505
Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame Lunker
|
Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame Lunker
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 2,505 |
If your friend wants a big bass pond, you guys should remove as many as you can including the fat ones. Get the total number of bass in the 2 acre pond down to about 100 bass and you will grow MONSTERS! Keep dinking around with should I release this bass even though he is fat, and you will grow some nice 2 lbers.
I can consistently grow bass BIG, but I cant do it as fast or easily with much more than 75 per acre. Your definition of BIG needs to be defined.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 1,721
Lunker
|
Lunker
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 1,721 |
Chris at what time in the North Texas area would you expect the bass to have spawned? Does the fact we have had a cold spring play into a delayed bass spawn? My father in law told me the crappie are just now spawning in south Texas.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,948 Likes: 9
Moderator Lunker
|
Moderator Lunker
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,948 Likes: 9 |
I have always heard that the spawn was around the end of February-early March in Lake Fork and I was getting water temps right at 60 up here in Arkansas during the middle of March.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 1,721
Lunker
|
Lunker
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 1,721 |
Chris I just read on the internet that bass would be spawning in the north Texas area for the next sixty days and that the bass in a given body of water would not all spawn at the same time. Some would be early spawners and some would be late spawners. So some have spawned already but many have not.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 21,507 Likes: 269
Moderator Hall of Fame 2014 Lunker
|
Moderator Hall of Fame 2014 Lunker
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 21,507 Likes: 269 |
My guess is the LMB spawn in TX is in full swing now. As James notes some are finished and some just starting. Keep in mind that generally large deep lakes don't cool as fast or warm up as fast as smaller ponds.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 1,721
Lunker
|
Lunker
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 1,721 |
Chris my water temp just now hit 60 but only two weeks ago we had snow.
|
|
|
Moderated by Bill Cody, Bruce Condello, catmandoo, Chris Steelman, Dave Davidson1, esshup, ewest, FireIsHot, Omaha, Sunil, teehjaeh57
|
|
My First
by Fishingadventure - 05/05/24 09:16 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|