Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Bass spawn survival

Stocked 30 LMB last year in the 8-10" range and this year they look to be about 10-13". They spawned about a month ago and a few are still spawning and I'd guess there were about a dozen nests. It was interesting to see up to 3 bass apparently protecting a nest at one time. Most of these were in shallow water close to a foot deep, maybe less in spots.

Now I am seeing these fingerlings about an inch to maybe 1.25" long all over the place. Once they get to this stage do they have pretty good survival rates? I'd think they are getting near the limit of what a BG would be able to eat. I've been able to watch them some nights in very shallow 1-4" of water and able to hand catch one fairly easily.

High survival = slow growth and reduced forage. Low survival =(can be) faster growth with more forage available.
There needs to be some predation on the bass to a point, and many factors can influence this, most commonly the amount of cover.
1.25" is a long ways from "out of the woods".

Bass as small as 6" can canabilize (sp?) 2-3" siblings . Besides Herons, snakes, and turtles. Long ways out of the woods.

Bottom line is that, of all the eggs laid, hatched, etc; only a small percentage ever get large enough to spawn. They get eaten. It’s the balance of nature.

I get that survival is low for number eggs and all that, but at this stage their threat would be other bass, Heron (the PAWlice keep it at bay) and snakes, which I remove. I'd only need 2-3 per year to survive to adulthood. I'm thinking I'll need to start culling bass if even a percentage of these 1" LMB survive.

BG and other sunfish are voracious predators of small LMB (less than 3 in.) Craws can also do some damage to LMB egg numbers.

It is ordinarily not a problem in my experience. I tend to have too much LMB recruitment in my smallish ponds.