Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Big bass

MSC,
Does that closure affect private waters?

Not that i've heard of. That sounds a little rediculous. I saw a pond yesterday that had a lot of cypress around it. Pretty dang cool! Might be something good to plant?

Yes. I contacted the director of fisheries of the state DNR and he said private ponds are still subject to the state laws. The only exception is if you get a permit to turn your pond into a public pay to fish pond. Then its a circus.

In the 50 some years that the pond has been here, only one time a game warden showed up. You cannot see this pond from the road only on maps.

To clear things up, catch and release is permitted during the closed season.

But that's not what I need to do.

MSC, we can do JUST about anything with our private ponds. We have to have a permit to stock Grass Carp. They get pretty paranoid about the private stocking of sterile fish. And, of course, we have to have a depradation permit to shoot cormorants. But we can fish 12 months of the year and do anything with our fish as long as it doesn't affect anyone downstream.

I have a Cormorant depredation permit. Have only seen a few of them high in the sky. Do they get a notice about the permit?

No. Once the greener pastures are populated, Bremer pond will look more inviting.

Have y'all ever stocked a pond with Shad?

Sure, I prefer threadfin but they are really tough to handle. Gizzards are better but get large enough to be an egg eating problem. All in all, I'm not wild about messing with them.

One thing you need to consider is the allowable biomass of a water hole. At some point, you can get too many fish and foul the water. When or if that occurs, you wind up with a dissolved oxygen shortage and a die off. The larger fish go first.

Srj79 - If you are interested in growing big bass and using shad,, I suggest that you buy the book 'Raising Trophy Bass'.
http://www.pondboss.com/store.asp?c=8

Using shad is discussed in that book. You could also Google search: Pond Boss shad and get quite a few threads about shad. Since you are in the south you could use either threadfin shad or gizzard shad. Learn the pros and cons of each for growing bass.

Two examples
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=310016

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=281599

This is probably a dumb question, but after reading everything I'm confused. Filamentous algae is bad right? Either way i want to get rid of it in my pond. But if a fertilize for an algae bloom wont that make FA worse?

In theory, no. If you fertilize, it helps to jump start a phytoplankton bloom that decreases the sunlight penetration that the algae needs.

However, I've seen the theory disproved too many times.

Ok I think I've got it. I got a little confused from reading so much different stuff.

SRJ79
While not in Central Texas I am about 2.5 hours Northeast of you in Nacogdoches and have been stocking Tilapia for the past 3 years. I have seen Tilapia in my pond as late as Christmas/New Years so we have a considerable growing season for Mozambique Tilapia compared to many other states. The Tilapia dieing off every winter is definitely a good quality not only to prevent over population but also they don't immediately die they sort of lose their faculties about them becoming easy prey for your LMB. This allows the bass to put on some serious weight just before winter. I also would not be nervous to go ahead and add them this year while you are lowering your bass population.

Since Tilapia stocking started here in Texas around the first of April you will mostly receive larger Tilapia that will be able to avoid predation by your bass and also able to immediately start producing little Tilapia. 2nd week of April a 5 lb bag of Tilapia would have approx. 35-40 fish where now a 5 lb bag only has 20-25 fish or at least that is the case from the grower I use. Overton Fisheries in Buffalo TX is only a little over an hour North of College Station and I'm sure Todd would be more then happy to fix you up.

If you want quality over quantity you have to do two things for sure and that's remove the amount of bass at the dinner table and increase (or at the very least keep it the same) the amount of food at the dinner table.

I've culled a good amount of bass. But I have no idea how many more or the size of the fish. Or the baitfish number. Has anyone done electroshocking? I know you can get someone to come do it for you but I'm sure there is a cost. Is there a less expensive one that I could buy or a better/different method to get a good idea of where my fish population is at?

There has been many who have done electroshocking.

Also, seining for fish surveys of what you got.

And catch records.

It's my understanding that they all are important tools to gain a broad view of what's in the pond.

Have you come across this thread with links:
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=255372#Post255372

recent Electroshocking thread
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.ph...true#Post369590

Good articles. I've read about people using home made shockers. I wonder how well it works, or if I trust it or not.

You can get a very good idea of what your fish population is by keeping catch records.

Also seining is another inexpensive technique and the proper time of year to do it is right around the corner.

The homemade electro shocking devices I know about are (so I've always been told) more effective on catfish then bass and bluegill.

It just out of my budget to have someone come in and electroshock for me. I didn't know if maybe there was a net or trap you could use to catch a good amount of bass. Gonna give seining a try here soon. So far I have removed 32. And the bite has dropped off. I don't know what that means, if they aren't biting lures anymore( I'm going to try minnows). Maybe it has to do with post spawn? I'm looking to restock BG but it seems pointless if there are still tons of 13" bass swimming around. The water is clearing up, I assume due to all of the FA and weeds growing now?