Hello my name is Louie Fisher. I work overseas and am out of the country a month at a time. I live in NE Louisiana and have recently (2 1/2 years ago) built a 1+ acre pond on my property. My daughter shamed me into building it for my grandson who is now 5. It has been an experience for sure. Once the pond filled I stocked with fingerling BG and LMB. Almost immediately the pond was taken over by duckweed and watermeal. What a nasty set of plants those are!!!!! This spring it appears I finally won the battle against them. I had knocked it way back and then released some Koi into the pond. Within a couple weeks there was no sign of the wretched stuff. I have also fought FA during this time but have been able to control with copper. I later found out the Koi are intolerable to Copper so not sure if they are still in there or not. This spring we had a nesting pair of Canadian Geese who has a clutch of 5 little ones. We thought it was great to have them there. How quickly did we change our mind. They seem to have brought in Azolla and man that stuff is worse than the duckweed and watermeal. I think I finally have the stuff under control now but we shall see when I get back from overseas.
So to the fish: My LMB seem to be doing pretty good. They eat the bream up at feeding time and it appears that some are even eating the pellets. I have been feeding Optimal since stocking.
My BG are something to behold. These things reproduce like crazy and some are growing like wildfire. I do think I will need to start keeping some soon before they get too over abundant and start to stunt. I also have yet to see any YOY bass this summer so am a little concerned the BG and GSF(will get to them suckers in next part) are eating the fry. Also going to place several 5#+ LMB in the pond and the BG are outgrowing the LMB. This should help control the BG some as well.
Somehow GSF got in the pond. This pond does not catch any runoff and yes it was a bare dry pit before starting to fill. For now we have made a decision to remove any and all GSF we catch. This is proving possibly futile as in the shaded areas on the North side of the pond you can literally catch 100's of them. I think they are more prolific reproducers than the BG. My Grandson knows the GSF when he catches one and he hollers "Papa this one them bad ones" and throws it over his shoulder.
I have been lurking here on PB for a while and reading up on things and enjoying the wealth of knowledge here. Glad to be a part of the group and hope I can maybe share a few of the things I have learned so far.
Welcome Louie Nice BG! What size are your LMB? They should curb the GSF if they are big enough. With BG that size if you have lots of them it’s possible that they are keeping your LMB recruitment down. They did in my pond , so you might need to remove some
Welcome to the forums! It looks like you have a great start to growing some big BG. Here is a lot of reading on growing BG that I think you will enjoy...
Welcome Louie Nice BG! What size are your LMB? They should curb the GSF if they are big enough. With BG that size if you have lots of them it’s possible that they are keeping your LMB recruitment down. They did in my pond , so you might need to remove some
The LMB vary from 2 1/2 to 3 1/2#. They were all 3" when put in pond. I think the bigger ones are the ones that are sampling the Optimal at feeding time. The BG have certainly outgrown the LMB.
Your pond is beautiful Your grandson is beautiful Them BG are beautiful
Bro you are heckin BLESSED
Q for the experianced people- should he try to stock a dozen or so big boy LMB? Either bucket stocking or purchasing?
Thanks for the kind words City. The plan is to stock a few 5# plus LMB. I am lucky enough to have a few lakes around that provide the opportunity to catch LMB in the 5-9# range. So I plan to catch a few and bring them home in the livewell of my Phoenix and place them in the pond where they should be able to feast easily and often to help control the BG and keep growing themselves.
