Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Fish population?

How do you find the balance of a pond? I have tried to seine, but my pond drops pretty fast to 12 feet, so it is not a good seine pond. I try to fish, but I am lucky to catch a single fish. I have noticed that all of the perch I catch are on the large size. Also, when I throw some food out for them in the morning I can count about 10 splashes going for the food. I did just start feeding again after stopping last year, so maybe I screwed them up. Last year at this time I could count 250 splashes eating the food, but that was before I put the mean LMB in the pond. I hardly ever catch a HBG or CBG under 7 inch. I don't see any perch around the 3 to 4 inch size. I do see a few 1 inch babies around the bank. I have also noticed that the LMB I cath are on the skinny size. I was thinking that I had too many bass, but I am not catching enough bass to make that conclusion. If there were too many bass and not enough food for them, wouldn't they be really easy to catch due to being very hungry?

dbw you might add the size of your pond and the numbers and types you stocked, if available.

My similar experience has been that the predator will eat any fish it can catch large or small, whatever is available. Mines' catchability has been the same, difficult. Which leaves me with the same forage base you describe, only parents or babies.
I have raised a small number of fish to use as live bait and will try to use them to determine the size of my predators. If stunted I will remove them.

It sounds like you are bass heavy. The usual sign is a lot of skinny bass, mostly large bluegill and seldom catching a small to medium sized bluegill.

I have the same problem and am trying to solve it. So far, I have added about 1,000 bluegill of all sizes from a forage pond to my largest pond. In the last month, I have tossed about 40 bass from my 2 larger ponds.

My pond is .33 acres and I stocked 450 (HBG,CNBG,RES) and 50 LMB 1 year later after they spawned. How many and what species of perch should I add. Also, what size. I guess I also need to keep as many bass as I can catch. Why are the bass hard to catch since they should be pretty hungry?

I expect your bass are conditioned. That often happens in small ponds.

Try some live bait.

I have very good luck catching conditioned bass by trapping small, 2"-3" bluegill and using them for bait. I hook the bluegill about a 1/4" in front of the dorsal fin just deep enough that they can be cast but also so that the hook can be jerked out easily for a solid hookset. I use an octopus hook and fish the bluegill with no weight by gently tossing it out about 10 or 15' from shore and using the line to make it swim like it is injured. No bass can resist an easy meal that looks natural. Bluegills won't steal your bait either.

dbw1968,

Left alone and without our intervention, Nature will achieve a balance in your pond. The balance achieved may or may not be what you consider desirable. In my experience, a small pond stocked as yours was will tend toward small LMB and large BG, as the eventual balance...much as you described.

If that balance is not desirable to you, then intervention is required. What would you consider a desirable balance condition? If its larger LMB, then many of the small ones must be removed. If you also want the large BG along with the larger LMB, then overall fish populations must be maintained at relatively lower levels...only so much biomass can be supported.

Regarding catching conditioned LMB, as Ryan suggests small BG work great....but I have found something that works even better than small BG and that is small live Tilapia. They are incredible LMB bait, simply incredible.

I am really not even sure what Tilapia are. I see a lot of people who have them here, but in Tx I don't hear a whole lot about them. Is that a fish I should stock along with my Bass and Perch. I understand them to be really good eating. How big do they get?

dbw1968,
I have a few 7 pound tilapia, at about 2 1/2 years old. As for taste, my experience, when fed pellets they taste fine, left to forage for themselves they become quite fishy.