Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations growing extra large lmb with crappie as a forage

January, February Pond Boss Magazine, Science & the Cutting Edge tells of the BG and lmb and TFS situations in a ponds first few years.
Tracy

Tracy nice to know someone reads the articles. The article looks at several factors wrt those waters. One key point was that adding TFS did not seem to help with large (trophy)LMB but did help with mid-size and smaller LMB. This should help as it relates to this thread.

"A surprise was that the stocking (of TFS) did not do much for the top end large bass. After threadfin shad stocking, weight and condition of smaller and intermediate largemouth bass increased. However, these values did not increase for fish over 380 mm (15 inch) total length when threadfin shad were present in the ponds. Possibly, these larger fish found sufficient larger bluegill to prey upon as gape width, hence prey size, increases with larger fish. One previous author noted that intermediate (250–380 mm, 10 -15 inch total length) largemouth bass were more often found offshore feeding on threadfin shad, while larger fish were solitary ambush feeders found closer to shore."

Tracy, I remember Lusk talking about a 60 or so acre private lake in NE Texas. Bass were all but nonexistent but it was loaded with small crappie. Bob did a shock job and found 4 inch crappie that were 7 years old. The owners didn't want to nuke it so they added HSB to bring it back into balance. Or so my memory of the story goes.

Sooner or later the bigger bass die and you're left with a mess with crappie. However, for a time it might just work.

I have fished one local 25 acre pond with abundant, almost healthy, LMB community with crappie that are under control. Neat place to fish with way too much bottom and top weed growth. The owner wishes it weren't so but won't spend the $ to correct it. I found very few BG forage. So, I figure that it in decent shape for a certain, short lived, time.

Good discussion. Guys look for the next cutting edge article. Don't want to give away to much about it right now.

Bill I would bet that the yoy crappie would cause far more yoy BG morts (eat more BG yoy/fry) than the yoy LMB because the crappie will be older at the time and far more numerous than the LMB yoy. I do question how the crappie yoy and LMB yoy will compare wrt gape size and how much difference that would make.

So now we have a pond with XL lmb feeding on BG and Crappie but little to no reproduction of lmb. So to improve the numbers of XL LMB you (me) could grow out lmb to 14" in the forage pond and then release them to the bigger pond that is overstocked with crappie in the 4 to 5" size. What say you, just thinking out loud. Any takers here on that situation?

Tracy

See info and dates below - assumption Harrison Co TX is similar to other locations with same north latitude (Dallas , Shreveport , Jackson , Birmingham )

Crappie Feb.

LMB most likely in March and early April.

CNBG (Res along with the CNBG) most likely in April(with 3 or 4 or 5 more spawns)

Tilapia in June. (spawning continues through the summer and fall)

TFS in June

---------------------------------------------------------

Crappie - Spawning occurs from about 59 degrees Fahrenheit to 68 degrees Fahrenheit ( 15-20 C )

BG - Bluegill start spawn¬ing in late spring at around70 F (21 C) and spawn periodically until early fall, providing a plenti¬ful supply of small forage. In small, east Texas reservoirs, female bluegill spawned an average of five times over the season.

RES - Reported spawning temperatures for redear sunfish vary widely, with several pub¬lications indicating that redear start spawning at slightly cooler tempera¬tures than bluegill (68 to 70 F; 20 to 21 C), while other literature indicates the opposite.

LMB - after the water temperature
has stabilized above 60 F.
Bass normally spawn at temperatures
of 65 to 75F

Tilapia - spawning normally occurs at temperatures greater than 22° C (72° F). Tilapias are mouth-brooders; the female picks up fertilized eggs and incubates them in her mouth. The number of eggs that can be reared (typically 300 to 1,200 per clutch) is limited by the size of the female’s mouth. Thus, although they spawn frequently, relatively few offspring are produced at one time.

TFS - Threadfin shad spawn starting at 67 to 70 F (19 to 21 ºC) and broadcast adhesive eggs over vegetation and woody debris. Prolific spawners, shad mature in less than 1 year and produce large quantities of eggs. The length of the spawning season is vari¬able and spawning can occur over a broad temperature range.

GS - Golden shiners spawn in the spring when water temperatures rise above 68 F (20 C). They quit spawning when temperatures exceed 81 F (27 C). Once spawning
begins, fish will continue to spawn even when temperatures drop below 68 F. Golden shiners spawn frequently, attaching their adhesive eggs to aquatic vegetation or spawning mats.

FH - Water temperatures higher than 64 F (18 C) trigger spawning. Females spawn at frequent intervals, up to several times a week. Once the water warms to 84 F (29 C) or higher, spawning
stops.

Craws – can alternate between sexually active and inactive forms. P. clarkii can spawn year-round in the southern U.S. and females may reproduce more than once a year. The life cycles of both red swamp crawfish and white river crawfish have evolved to allow them to adapt to the cyclical low-water dry conditions and high-water flood conditions common to their natural habitats. Crawfish can burrow for reproduction at any time of the year but do so most often in late spring/early summer in the South. The incubation period is temperature
dependent and it takes about 3 weeks
for eggs to hatch at 74 F.

Thanks for putting this together. Puts good information close and easy to get to. Is there a way to save things like this for quick reference? My memory is not as good as it once was.

Tracy