Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Texas Pond Issues

Hello,

I am a new member to this forum and looking forward to getting to know know other pond owners. I bought an old rock quarry that stays full of water year round out here in south Texas. It is just under 3 acres and the deepest part is about 15 feet deep. The first year I bought it, I was catching LMB one after the other. You could see shad jumping all over and LMB splashing every few minutes. Towards the end of that first summer, I ended up getting huge piles of duck weed which made it almost impossible to bank fish. It finally went away on its own and everything was great again. The following year early spring we got some good rain and I saw a couple of large fish trying to jump in the culvert where rain water comes into the pond. I found out that they were common carp. I started to feed my fish catfish pellets and noticed these carp coming up and eating the pellets along with all the splashing from the blue gill attacking the pellets. About three months later I noticed that there was much more than just two carp that came up to eat the pellets. I wasn't sure what to do because the pond looked great and I have not had any more issues with anymore nasty floating stuff on the top of the water. The water has actually cleared up since the carp were introduced. I read that they can eat the Bass eggs and other aquatic plants the Bass may need so I have been feeding these carp everyday to hopefully keep them satisfied so the Bass and the carp don't have to compete if that makes any since. For some reason it seemed logical to me. Now when I show up in the evenings, I can see the edge of the pond going crazy with all the carp waiting to be fed. Oddly I have enjoyed feeding the carp and the Bluegill every night. I read that feeding the Bluegill is good for the Bass. Here is my issue. This past winter we had a major freeze here in Texas that was all over the news. The pond never completely froze over and I kept up my feeding schedule when possible. This past spring I was still catching Bass but not as frequent as last spring. Summer came and it really got tuff to catch any Bass and now that it is September< I have not caught one single Bass in over three weeks. Now I only see a Bass splash two or three times a day on the far side of the pond from where I feed. Last summer I measured every Bass and they all averaged between 14" to 20" and all looked healthy. The last few I caught were on the smaller size but still looked healthy. I can still hear the fish splashing once in a while but I can't seem to catch any. I was wondering if anyone would know why I am having this issue. I am also not seeing all the schools of shad everywhere. It still might be too early for the shad, I am not totally sure. Any help would be great!

Thank you!

Welcome to the forum!

If you are strictly doing catch and release, you are educating the bass and teaching them what NOT to bite. Harvest is an integral part of pond management, I'd get to bowfishing the carp out or catching them and removing them. The more biomass the carp take up in the pond, the less biomass will be available for the bass and bluegill to fill. A pond can only hold "X" amount of pounds of fish per surface acre.

Just determine what fish you want in the pond and remove the species that you don't want.

Agree - reduce the carp substantially. Learn how to conduct fish surveys (nets , seine , visual . catch data and electroshock [by professional]). Look for shad pipping on the surface early in morning and late afternoon (dawn/dusk). Shad may have winter killed as they don't do cold water (45 F) very well.

Thank you guys! I was catching 2lb to 6lb bass on almost every cast for a year so that makes since that they have figured me out. Back in July the shad almost covered the whole pond surface. It was interesting to see them splash around during July 4th every time there was a big boom. I am now only seeing a couple little patches of them. I will definitely thin out the carp. Should I get rid of all the carp or would it be ok to leave a couple to help keep the pond muck off the surface? Does anyone know how much they charge to do the Electroshock? Thank you everyone for all your help.

If you saw lots of shad pipping in July then they are there (probably reproducing) and are not real visible currently.

I can't tell you what the price is for an electroshock survey in your area. I don't know what pond management businesses service you area (S. Texas is a big area). In no particular order you can try getting in touch with Overton Fisheries Inc (Buffalo, Tx) or American Sportfish (Gordonville, TX).