Proud new owner of a 2/3 acre pond in central Virginia. My goal is to have a healthy population of BG and LMB with a few bass getting to 2-3 lbs and the remainder being smaller. Long term I'm planning on aeration and feeding bluegill to boost pond productivity. I recognize a 2/3 acre pond will require closer management.
However, I first have to figure out what I got today...
Pond appears healthy having done the basic water testing of Ph, phosphates, nitrates, etc. with everyone coming back in healthy levels. Water clarity is about 24’, good depth throughout with 3’ at banks dropping quickly to 8’-11’ for most of the pond area, it’s light on aquatic plants, some filamentous algae (not bad but watching), and decent structure with numerous downed trees. I've seen plenty of frogs, newts, toads, turtles. A toad spawn(?) last week was both impressive and raucous.
So onto the fish. Over several days of fishing I’ve only caught or seen small LMB. Of the 30+ fish I’ve caught only one or two was much beyond 10 and none of them were fat. They were not tough to catch. Despite targeting bluegill while fishing, I’ve come up empty. I haven’t set a minnow trap but that is next on my list. So far looks it like LMB need to be culled.
I’ve caught and release everything to date, but haven’t done any length and weight documentation.
What are recommended next steps give what I’ve done so far?
As an aside, I’m not willing to do a drain and start over.
Last edited by 1997pond; 04/01/2109:57 AM. Reason: Clarified goals for LMB population
I can understand unwillingness to drain. Who knows the vagaries of rainfall & how long it might be until the pond refills?
Would you consider using rotenone to kill off existing fish population? I fear that it will be difficult & time consuming to turn things around, compared with restocking. Even after culling LMB, what's left might be too old to make up for lost time.
Other people here are real experts, which I am not. Maybe they have better advice for you. Personally, I'd be excited to restart a pond in your neck of the woods, with fish like F1 LMB, SMB, RES, BG, Tiger Musky, perch, etc quite doable. You have more options than we do here in Texas.
If you push the reset button and kill the fish, you could get a piece of equipment in there (if the land allows) and dig out the muck that has accumulated over the years. It would be a LOT quicker if there wasn't water in there. Do that this year, stock minnows in the Fall, stock panfish in the Spring and your predators in early Summer. If your goals are to grow large panfish, you can have 8" Hybrid Bluegills in 2 years or less, depending on the size of the stockers. In a 2/3 acre pond I wouldn't recommend going with Largemouth Bass because of the low numbers of larger LMB that the pond can hold. They would be hook shy in a few years.
I don't know if Hybrid Striped Bass are available or legal there, but usually you can get some in the 10"-12" range as stockers. They grow very fast on good food, and they fight like crazy. I've stocked 4"-6" HSB in the Spring and had them 10"-12" by the Fall, and 14"-16" by the next Fall.
I appreciate the feedback and options but want to go back a step or two.
1) Is several days fishing alone enough to make a judgement? I was expecting recomendations of catching, measuring, recording and reporting back. The responses (to date) move on directly to solutions.
2) What is the longer/harder solution? I'm not in a rush and enjoy the process as much as the result. Do I cull LMB, add BG if there are no/few resident, do I need to collect more data as I go, etc. I get cutting the knot is easier than untangling but would like help in understanding (at a high level) the work and timeframe of untangling.
I appreciate the feedback and options but want to go back a step or two.
1) Is several days fishing alone enough to make a judgement? I was expecting recomendations of catching, measuring, recording and reporting back. The responses (to date) move on directly to solutions.
About the bass ... yes. But you will find the BG action to pick up as the water warms. They are probably very large.
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2) What is the longer/harder solution? I'm not in a rush and enjoy the process as much as the result. Do I cull LMB, add BG if there are no/few resident, do I need to collect more data as I go, etc. I get cutting the knot is easier than untangling but would like help in understanding (at a high level) the work and timeframe of untangling.
The original goal probably conflicts with what you would ultimately achieve through culling. Instituting culling, the 2 to 3lb bass would probably be the exception as opposed to the rule even after many years of culling. Its a small pond with lots of littoral relative to size and LMB spawns will keep the supply of LMB too large to achieve a population dominated by 2 to 3 lb fish. Pond like you have can be fun to own and fish for small LMB and large BG but whether that can meet your expectations doesn't seem plausible given your original post.
I very much liked esshup's ideas with HSB because you could easily grow a population that is predominately the size you are interested in having. And yes culling bass to have 2-3 lb bass isn't as easy as the alternative of starting over. Provided HSB are not illegal in your state, they are a good option for a predator that can be easily managed. If you have no local supplier of advanced fingerlings, they can be purchased as 1.5 - 2" fingerlings very affordably from the source the suppliers would get them from . . . Keo Fish Farm in Arkansas.
It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so - Will Rogers
I can understand taking a slower approach to greatness or at least approaching goodness. Look into Relative weights as a good tool for determining what is going on with your fish. Once you get a good sampling of the types and relative weights, you can start managing them. I am very green at the "longer/harder solution", but a PB rule of thumb is to cull out any fish that suffer with their relative weight. You have to decide where the "suffering" line needs to be drawn. eg. A well managed pond owner may choose to shoot for that 100% plus RW mark, whereas a neglected pond owner may need to lower the bar to 80% at first. Those fish that are suffering are lacking their preferred size of forage. So, you cull as many as you can in that poor condition to help the remaining fish in that size class and try to improve the numbers of their forage size preference. It sounds simple until it's time to hang your hat on a decision to cull and/or stock more fish (at least for me).
Another concept is to cull like crazy with some RW considerations and then try to improve the age and genes of the pond's inhabitants by stocking larger fish in the absent or lacking size classes. HBS come to mind or Male LMB.
There is always the idea of stocking something that can take advantage of the, possibly, overpopulated and stunted pond population. I have read of some folks stocking Blue Cats (or dare I say Flatheads) to clean house. Just beware that it could be a fast track to great cats, but would most likely be a quick decline once house cleaning was achieved.
I'm sure this is not the high level you are looking for, but, hopefully it will give you an initial direction and some research ideas.
Get a measuring stick, a scale, a camera, and a note book and get some data. Photos of good examples of the poor, the average, and the best fish in the different size classes will help the more experienced PB members help you decide if stunting is a problem. You'll know when enough data has been collected...you'll get tired of it...lol!
JP makes a good point (as he always does). It reminded me of a thread on growing large BG. It opened my eyes to how fish populations react with one another. Here it is...
1997, it sounds to me like you would consider the challenge of turning your pond around by hands on management called fishing. IMHO, nice problem to have, and just how I've approached improving our 1/4 acre pond.
12 years ago our primary fish were YP and LMB. I fished it for a couple of years just to be sure what really was in there. I wanted to understand the entire ecosystem, not just what fish were present.
What you could do without "hurting a thing" is remove each and every bass you catch, 3" ones, 12" ones, every one. Eventually your catch rate may go down and bass condition may improve.
After a few years of mainly having only small bass here, I began the cull. We took about 300! out. Concurrently we stocked about 25 adult GSF and 25 7-8" BG that were ready to spawn. We now have recruitment of both sunfish. And, our YP are bigger, too.
All of this is to say, start a ruthless, merciless cull. It is unlikely you'd ever kill every bass. Any survivors could be brood stock for the future. They may have lost growth, but they haven't lost their genetics. That is to say they might not reach their potential size before they die, but their offspring can grow to your desired 2-3 pounds once there is more forage for them and fewer mouths to gobble that forage.
With several more fishing excursions using small hooks and pieces of worm for bait, you'll get a good idea of what else, if anything, is in there, and if and what is needed for forage fish addition.
Great stuff! Very helpful. I am going to edit my orginal post to clarify my goal is to support "some" 2-3lbs LMB. My expectation was not that my pond could support a population that was predominatly 2-3lbs.
I am intrigued about the HSB so will need to check regs and suppliers. I assume they will help reduce the current small LMB population.
Great stuff! Very helpful. I am going to edit my orginal post to clarify my goal is to support "some" 2-3lbs LMB. My expectation was not that my pond could support a population that was predominatly 2-3lbs.
I am intrigued about the HSB so will need to check regs and suppliers. I assume they will help reduce the current small LMB population.
HSB are a great idea. What fighters!
One item to think about re merciless culling of 2/3 acre pond: As you take out most of the aggressive, catchable LMB, those that are left tend not to bite artificial lures. Research shows that tendency is passed on to future generations. Thus, you may want to occasionally stock a few very aggressive LMB, perhaps northern strain, to preserve catchable genetics. Just a thought.
So the grand plan this coming holiday weekend/week is to do a fish-a-thon and take inventory. I have my brother and his young son visiting for two days so we'll catch as many as we can and do WR for all. There may even be a contest or two. I agree with JP that there has to be a few gaint bluegill and that will be first prize!
I'll post data and pics once again after we take stock and see how bad/good it is.
I do like the concept of having a kid friendly pond where there is more catching than fishing but one step at a time!
So results are in from 5 days of light to heavy fishing (kids were involved).
Caught a total of 51 bass: - 42 were 6-10" - 7 were 10-11" - 2 were 13-14"
For the bass 10" or larger the RW averaged about 80% with a high of 90% and a low below 75%.
I can post pics upon request, but with these numbers I'm not certain that adds any additional value.
Almost all were culled. Each day there was a single pardon granted for the detainees.
So far no BG caught or even sighted in shallows... I'll keep looking for the suspected big BGs that could be lurking.
1997pond,
Using RW of 90% for the 8" LMB and 80% for the >10" LMB, I made an estimate of the total weight of fish that you took out. It's ~14 lbs or about 21 lbs/acre. I'll mention this is a really good dent of the LMB population in a 2/3 acre pond. The remaining LMB will gain as you may have removed about 25% to 30% of the LMB standing weight. According to the creel, the population is predominately less than 10" in length comprising 82% of the population. The less than 10" LMB also comprised 42% of the weight of the sample. If food limited carrying capacity were 67 lbs (not out of line but could be less) ... and if the sample is reflective of the remaining distribution (2 big ifs) ... we could estimate the number of less than 10" fish that are remaining. 53 lbs X 42% is 22.25 lbs of < 10" fish that average 0.21 fish each. So there could be as many as 89 or so <10" LMB still in the pond. I think what you have taken is going to make a difference. I think I might give them a chance to grow some before harvesting more. What kind of grow they make will give you a good sense of numbers and possibly even carrying capacity. This fall would be a good time to thin again if growth and condition suggest further thinning at this time is necessary.
As for the BG ... I can tell you that I target them specifically most outings and I use a fly rod with flies I used to use a lot for trout. Lately I've been using a size 10 scud. Its been a really cool spring and the BG just aren't biting as well as the LMB are. Yes, I have been catching LMB up to around 13" on that tiny fly. Its been a hoot much like you guys had last weekend. It is possible that there are only LMB in your pond but it still remains a possible that they just haven't started biting or were focusing on other foods in the pond your lure didn't mimic well. Anyways, a very good harvest, well done.
PS. Please correct the estimate of the total weight harvested if you happened to get a total weight. Would like to know.
It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so - Will Rogers
I strongly suspect that my sampling was biased towards smaller fish with small minnows and bobbers being predominant on one section accessible to kid-friendly shore fishing. Regardless, I'll pause the cull and continue to fish and record catch.
I did not weigh anything under 10 inches as the RW chart did not include, but should have in hindsight.
In case it helps, below is a more detailed breakdown of what I did capture:
So maybe you have harvested a little more than I calculated ... 15.47 lbs or about 23 lbs/acre.
Since you are making a diligent effort to take measurements, I've attached an excel spreadsheet that you can log your catches in. Necessary fields in the data tab are DATE, #, & AVG LEN. You can enter the actual total weight or allow the SS to calculate based on standard weight and your estimate of RW. Their are two pivots on the other two tabs. After entering new data, you need to right click them and choose refresh to bring new data into the pivots. Hope it helps.
It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so - Will Rogers
My advice - keep catching and recording for this year. Catch as many fish as you can...fish lots of different baits/lures. My bass over 12" wont touch a minnnow but they will CRUSH top water baits between June and July, especially frogs. Try some small floating crankbaits for the bluegills along a weed edge. Throw some senkos for bass.
With that water quality, keep an eye out for beds. Observe your number and size of beds, where they are located, how many fish are on them. Fish the deeper water beyond the beds to sample female bluegill. Look out for LMB bass beds and observe the females as they move in - this is by far the easiest way to assess a population of bg/lmb on a pond vs catching them. It will give you a great idea of what your breeding population of both fish are. Keep in mind that the bg will pull off several spawns with other males moving into vacated beds month to month throughout the summer. Mine can pull off a cycle of 3-4 spawns easily. Watch for big bulls around the full moon cycles
Trap some fish with cloverleaf traps that are easily made at home for cheap
attend to them at least once daily if you want to safely release your bg - you might find other species of fish. You can build smaller traps to catch fry or minnow species as well
Log everything, review those logs at the end of this year and formulate a plan.
Excellent spreadsheet. I like having the formula behind RW=1 and not being tied to charts! Yes, I am a bit of an Excel geek.
I'll keep fishing and logging. Still surprised I haven't gotten or even seen a bluegill but this is a marathon and not a sprint.
The two bigger bass were taken on topwater along banks with deeper water so Matzilla's prediction is dead-on. Virginia warms up before IA. My surface water temp can already hit 75 degrees in the afternoon on a sunny day.
Matzilla, One question on feeding fish. LMB don't eat the purina fish chow and I may not have BG, so throwing it in may not be doing anything productive. Do you mean something different or I have gone done the wrong path?
I will also keep an eye on the beds. Right now I'm also montoring the emergence of watermeal. This is my first summer and I'm certain there is no such thing as "a little" watermeal. I'm getting suggestions on that in a different thread: Just a little watermeal
try tossing a half pound of pettetized food at the same spot, same time, each day for a week when water temps are around 60 - those young lmb might feed train if you are consistent
Matzilla is giving you good advice. I had a Texas Hunter feeder throwing pellets at exactly the same time every day for several weeks before the BG really responded much. But when they get the idea, watch out!
Sampling (fishing and minnow trap) and observation is still pointing to no BG in the pond. So far I have only found LMB plus assorted newts, turtles, tadpoles and frogs. The toad spawn a few weeks back was impressive!
I'm not ready to finalize the no BG conclusion and will keep looking but want to start thinking about what I could do if that continues to be true.
I'm already culling LMB, would it be productive to add BG in the Fall? If so, what sizes and numbers make the most sense? Seems like adding a variety of BG sizes, to include some larger ones that would be to big for forage for the current LMB population (biggest to date 14") would ultimately add forage for the LMB and add some fishing variety.
If I did add BG I would definitely invest in a automated feeder specifically for the BG.
I'll stop here before I go to much further down this hypothetical path.
Reminder: 2/3 acre pond (mostly 8-11' deep w/some 2-5'), lots of small LMB, already culled ~50 bass with most less 10" or smaller, currently pausing the cull and monitoring.
I'd just add BG that were AT LEAST 1/3 the length of the biggest bass in the pond. If those aren't available, I'd add the biggest ones you could get (BG NOT HBG) and hope that at least some of the BG will survive LMB predation.
Still zero BG catches or sigthings. I have an opportunity to buy 4-5" BG this week and I'm tempted to pull the trigger. I explained my situation to the stocking company and he recommended adding 100-200 of the 4-5" BG. I have seen no bass bigger than 14-15" but suspect there are a few. I'm hoping that enough of the BG will survive and grow to establish a breeding population.
Do I pull the trigger or should I sit on my hands for the summer and see how things are going this Fall? If I do pull the trigger now I was going to go with 150 fish, but another $50 for 200 is an option from a budget perspective. Lastly, I am going to set-up a pellet feeding program after stocking the BG to help them beef-up quickly.
I don't see any big downside of stocking now and the cost is acceptable to me if it doesn't work. Are there other issues I should consider?
IMHO >4" BG are not very vulnerable to <16" LMB. I base this on findings of numerous DOW where prey are sampled and then the data normalized to relative predator length. These data indicate that LMB rarely take prey larger than 1/4 their length. After digitizing the curves of the frequency distribution, I found the curves to fit a log normal distribution where 95% of the samples were less than 25% of the length of the LMB.
The mode of the data was ~ 18% the length of the LMB. IMHO this mode, the peak of sample frequency, represents the most energy efficient prey size for LMB taking into account both vulnerability of prey and energy content. Though larger prey have more energy content, there is probably a declining benefit owing to the greater difficulty of capture. Given the condition of your largest LMB, I do think >4" BG would be very resistant to predation after an acclimation period of 24 to 48 hours. I can tell you that the study to which I refer is changing how at least some DOWs are stocking advanced fingerlings in impoundments with existing fish populations. These findings are giving them the confidence to stock fingerlings of shorter lengths than they previously thought would be successful. This is having the effect of decreasing costs, increasing numerical yields, and increasing fishing opportunity in the those states.
What would be missing in your pond is the presence of the YOY that would be optimal for the LMB that might be large enough to successfully predate the stocking. Even so, these LMB have low RW and they may avoid the risk of expending too much energy chasing prey that are difficult to catch. Furthermore, if BG are not currently present in your pond, these older LMB may lack the learning necessary to capture BG of this size with efficient costs of effort and energy. If you are concerned, you could cage the BG to grow out to a larger size. Another option is to feed them behind a blocking net where they would produce YOY while you grow them out. Under the option of a blocking net, wading birds may be the greater predator and some protection from them may be in order. All in all, I think you would lose a few BG either way but that the stocking rate is a good one that will allow the establishment of a population of BG and that will produce copious quantities of YOY prey for your existing population of LMB. Were it me, I do what you were advised but may use a seine as blocking neck to acclimate the BG for 24 to 48 hours before releasing them to swim freely in the pond.
It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so - Will Rogers
Given what I have taken from JP's post regarding the BG being on the safer side of being eaten, stocking now makes more sense than stocking in the fall and the suggestion of caging or corralling the new fish for a few days makes good sense too. This will give them some time to get used to the water and settle down. Most fish that I have seen being stocked into new waters tend to drop straight to the bottom and sit there. To personify them...they act scared, nervous, and unsure of themselves. This will leave them vulnerable to being eaten by the existing well established predators. I think stocking in the fall would also leave the new fish open to being wintertime snacks because the growing season would be about over and the fish would not have that time to try and outgrow your LMB's gape. Your bass are hungry and will eat through the winter to some degree.
I hope your 4-5" BG are on the larger size. My recently purchased "4 to 6 inch BG" where delivered with about 95% at the 4" size with a few 5 and 6 inchers. They were out of Missouri, however.
As always, some very good feedback and considerations. I really do appreciate you both taking the time to share your experience and expertise. It's not often that I get to talk about fishing, bass, and a sample fit to a a log normal distribution.
Initially sequestering the BG is not practical for a number of reasons that I won’t go into here, but I would if I could. I'm getting 150 BG which should be enough to survive some initial losses in the first day or two. Secondly, I'm also adding 3 lbs of FHM at the same time. My theory, and I could just be making this up, is that the minnows will be a distraction and buy the BG a day or two to acclimate.
I also ordered a Texas Hunter feeding station. Waaay more expensive than it should be, but I could not find anything else that looked like it would last more than a few months out at an unoccupied pond in weather and curious critters. I'm hoping it is worth the $$$.