Hello everyone, I am new to caring/taking care of ponds (outside of just fishing them) and mine definitely needs some more help than I can give it with my basic knowledge. I have a couple questions and any help/insight would be greatly appreciated.
I have a roughly 1.2-acre pond in my back yard that I have fished for about 5 years. It had LMB, BG, a few crappies, and a handful of channels. It didn't feel like it had many fish in it at all. In those 5 years I always caught fish but not regularly meaning one trip I might catch 2 bass and then go 2-3 trips with none before catching another 2. It wasn't great fishing, but it was something. 3 weeks ago, I pulled the trigger and had some more stocked 400 3 in bluegills, 100 3 in red ears, 20 14 in bass. Now I can't catch anything at all I have had friends over fished for days and nothing it's as if they are a ghost. If I didn't watch them putt them in my pond with my own eyes, I would think I got done over. The guy told me there shouldn't be much of an acclamation period because they came from an existing established pond they manage (they were culled out of a trophy lake supposedly). Any idea as to why I added more bass and am catching less fish than before? They should have plenty of food so that shouldn't be an issue. Are they simply just not hungry? I have thrown every soft plastic and hard bait I own just about in every color and retrieval pattern and not even a nibble. I've had my buddies over and same for them so I feel like statistically we can't all be that bad lol someone would have had to get something at some point. We have had a good bit of rain recently, so my water is murky brown with about 5 in visibility, so I have been using a lot of noise makers to try and make it work but it hasn't so far. Maybe I'm looking too far into it but I can't help but feel like it's worse now than it was previous and I'm out $750.
My follow up question is are Muck away and pond clear worth buying? I would like to try and make the water better and currently has a good bit of muck on the bottom and water isn't great by any means are these products worth the money or a scam? are there other products to help with muck/muddy, murky water?
Welcome to the forum! Where is Newman? This forum covers all the states in the union, and we have members from Australia to Europe to South America. Helping someone fish in March in Northern Minnesota would be different than helping someone fish that is from Southern Florida.
So, theoretically you have one bass every (roughly) 50 square feet in the pond. Those bass have no idea where to go for food as they have lived their life in another pond. They don't know where the places are to hang out for food either. How long ago did you stock them?
Unfortunately, since the bass are adults it will take them a bit longer to acclimate to the pond than if they were 4"-6" long.
Since they were caught and removed vs. netted out of a pond they could be just more hook shy. If they have plenty of food, then it will be even harder to catch them.
My only suggestion would be to get an electrofish survey done. That way you will have a good idea of what's in the pond size wise and quantity wise. A city park pond was shocked a few years ago because nobody was catching many fish. They found bass up to 6 pounds, lots of bluegill that were 3"-4" and a few bluegill that were 10". The city got started with a feeding program, and a program to clean up their water. They restocked a bunch of bluegill (8,000) and put in a few hundred 4"-6" bass (4 acre pond) Now people catching fish.
Hi there, thank you for your reply! I am in GA. So southeast USA. The bass I had previous to the additional stocking were forage fed, but the ones I got culled from a trophy pond could have had fish feeders I never asked that. It's been 3 weeks so far since I added them, but I feel like even if those guys aren't in the mode to bite what about the already previous existing ones? Could it just be the water being a chocolate soup thats throwing them off right now? And any insight on the products above to help with water quality/clarity
Hi there, thank you for your reply! I am in GA. So southeast USA. The bass I had previous to the additional stocking were forage fed, but the ones I got culled from a trophy pond could have had fish feeders I never asked that. It's been 3 weeks so far since I added them, but I feel like even if those guys aren't in the mode to bite what about the already previous existing ones? Could it just be the water being a chocolate soup thats throwing them off right now? And any insight on the products above to help with water quality/clarity
How deep is your pond? (Average depth of the bottom and maximum depth?) That will help the experts answer your questions about muck reductions and the cost/benefit thereof.
Another important data point you can give them is the "relative weight" of the fish you used to be catching in your pond. It is essentially a measure of the health of your fish. Fat and happy versus underweight and showing that some important factor in your pond is out of balance. (Maybe plug "relative weight" and Pond Boss into your favorite search engine for some basic information.)
A 1.2 acre pond in Georgia should be capable of producing a large bounty of fish every year. I suspect there are definite improvements to be made to your pond. Keep posting your observations and some of the experts can keep giving you advice.
P.S. Your new fish are almost certainly still in there, I think patience will be a virtue for you. However, esshup is absolutely correct that your new fish are probably having a tough time after being tossed into a completely unknown environment. Some may even fail to thrive. Fortunately, some should also find good niches for themselves in your pond and once again become fat and happy.
My pond is very shallow deepest part is about 7ft with avg about 5ft I would say. There is no incoming water, so I imagine maybe underground spring???not sure about that one but I do know it has never drained since I've been living here. It has a 3-pipe outflow under a driveway draining down into a little creek. As far as weight goes, I would say most bass were in the 1.5-2.5lb range with one or two standouts that easily could have been 3+ but I didn't have a scale on me at the time. About 10 years ago I was told this pond used to have a filter/skimmer that kept it clear year-round but for some reason the previous owner decided to fill it in with concrete so there has been little to no care done in many years. I do not have the funds to drain it dig it out and restock it or have someone come dredge it so I'm trying to do the best I can on a budget for the time being with hopes of expanding in the future. When I was offered the culled bass from the hatchery, I was very excited cause in mind it meant I would be catching more fish sooner rather than waiting for them to grow and I didn't think about the potential downsides (I guess the old saying can't teach an old dog new tricks kind of applies here in some sense) Below is a photo of the water clarity/color for reference. Also, a side note wanted to say these fish weren't hooked out of the previous pond they were electroshocked I believe I did get these from as actual fish hatchery.
Lots of increments to improving the pond between "do nothing" and "drain and clean out".
Looking at your picture, the pond has almost certainly accumulated leaves and pine needles to create some muck on the bottom. Do you have a boat or kayak available? Just pushing down with a 10' piece of PVC pipe in some of your deep spots could give you a rough estimate of the muck depth. Knowing that is the first step on analyzing the cost/benefit of decisions for tackling the problem.
Aeration is one of the possible solutions. Getting aerobic bacteria to work on the muck is one way of reducing it. Having 120V electricity available makes the aeration options much cheaper. (It might also help your fish population.)
Are there lots of leaves and pine needles floating on the pond in the fall? If you do successfully reduce the muck and gain some pond depth, then it might be worth it to run a skimmer during that time frame. A perfect skimming system would probably be quite expensive. A moderate and inexpensive skimmer box might still get 80-90% of the problem. You could even make it removable if that was preferable for your situation.
Perhaps you should read a few of the "muck" threads in the archives. After that, you might post a new thread just asking about your possible muck solutions and listing the relevant conditions of your pond.
P.S. For "relative weight" you need to know the length AND the weight of the fish. There are charts available that are specific to each species of fish.
A 3# bass that is 20" long is dreadfully skinny and unhealthy. A 3# bass that is 16" long is heavier than the chart weight and must be thriving in your pond. (Not counting egg weight right before the spawn.)
100% every fall the surface of the pond is almost completely covered in floating leaves and pine straw, and I know that much of the "muck" is that as well cause any time you use a treble hook in these depths you hook it all and bring it out with you lol. I will do just that thank you for your help and input it is greatly appreciated
I'm in Newnan as well. I don't know about the "new" bass you put in, but to sample the originals in that color water, you need to throw a black/blue chatterbait with matching z-craw jr. trailer. It's been producing well in this area since everything around here muddied up a few months ago from all the rain.
100% every fall the surface of the pond is almost completely covered in floating leaves and pine straw,
That would be the EASIEST time to get that stuff out of your pond.
I think there was a thread on that last year. Maybe add "SetterGuy" into the member box of the search parameters (if I remember correctly?)
I believe that pond owner also noted that after a few days of big winds, most of that debris would be an even thicker floating blanket right up against one bank. I think he manually cleaned out a fair bit of crap when that happened.
Got any teenage boys still around? A few hours of them throwing a floating rake for some gas money on the weekend might be an excellent investment for you!
I'm in Newnan as well. I don't know about the "new" bass you put in, but to sample the originals in that color water, you need to throw a black/blue chatterbait with matching z-craw jr. trailer. It's been producing well in this area since everything around here muddied up a few months ago from all the rain.
Small world! I will do just that and give it a try ive thrown everything but the kitchen sink at them so one more wont hurt lol
