Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations First Bass Caught in Pond

I have been fighting with my 3/4 acre pond for about 2 years now, Had plenty of problems with it leaking and getting it filled up. Was finally able to get leak slowed up and pump water from a well to outpace the leak,
Finally got to stock fathead minnows and bluegill this spring (late Feb 2024). I added F1 Tiger Bass from American Sportfish on July 3rd 2024. They were about 1 to 1 1/2 inches each when stocked.

Caught my first bass and several others this weekend (Sept 14, 2024) and the ones I caught were all about 8 inches each. I am beyond ecstatic, the bass have far exceeded my expectations. I feel like a proud father again,

I want to start to tag the bass so I can monitor the growth via a spreadsheet. I ordered one the tagging guns and tags from LakeWork.

Would it be OK to start tagging the bass now? Or do I need to wait until they grow a little bigger?

Really great to see you have everything moving in a great direction now. Nice growth on that fish. It looks closer to 9" than 8" to me but that is a good thing!!

8-9" for stocking in july is great! We stocked ours in the last week of june and just yesterday caught our first bass at 7 inches!

Nice work

Nice, not sure on what age to start tagging but would think it would be fine. Will rely on the experts to chime in.

What's your goal for wanting to tag?

I'm tagging to track individual Growth (Each one is also weighed and measured), catchability as well as trying to determine the number that survived stocking.

What kind of pump did you use?

My tagging goal is to track individual fish by measuring and weighing, then inputting data onto an Excel spreadsheet.

My pump is a Vevor 115V 1.5HP motor, rating is 37GPH, mine pumps about 25GPH at about 110 feet.

I only get out to my property on the weekends, so I set up a timer to control how long it pumps throughout the day. I attached pictures of the timer I set up.

Sounds like you have a plan and goals.

Very interesting, on the timer and pump. I'm still evaluating if something like this would be worth the money for me.

I've heard of people spending upwards of $200 a month for electric just to try to maintain the pond level.

I'm in a very arid area and experience losing the average 1/2" per day to evaporation. Knowing the calculations for what is required to maintain my 2 Acre pond I'm thinking that's going to be expensive alternative.

Really is amazing how fast they grow from the fingerlings! Gratz on the catches.

You can tag at 8 inches but I don’t like the idea of a small fish being encumbered by anything.

Does the fast growth rate slow to about half after the initial forage gets depleted?

LMbass growth rate is directly related to the amount of available forage food items. Those bass next year in September could be 12" one pound or 17.5" and 3 lbs. The amount of forage will determine their size next September 2025. It would be useful if you could report back with your results.