So far over 90%of the LM bass I have caught in the pond have been less than 14 inches long. I have started keeping all of these fish in hopes of curing what I've understood to be a overpopulated size class that won't get any bigger.

Bluegill: from fishing and feeding I have caught mostly 4 to 7 inch bluegill. Very few have been shorter than 4 inches. I am content with this size average. i have kept all the bluegill except the large males due to the advice I've recieved from notable PMs Bruce Condello and Theo Gallus.

Catfish: last fall was the last time I saw a catfish in the pond. They were feeding regularly in the evenings when my neighbor fed them. We caught 2 that were both well over 20 inches long and over 5 lbs. I'd rather have some big catfish in the pond than a bunch of small ones. I have not seen any catfish in the last 2 weeks since I started the feeding program. Just LOTS of bluegill.

Crappie: the pond was stocked with black and white crappie i was told. So far I have only caught 2 that were smaller than 6 inches. The rest have been bigger with 1 about 12 inches long and the monster I eluded to a few days ago that i caught saturday measuring 14.5 inches (hit a spinnerbait while I was bass fishing) I don't seem to have a problem with overpopulated 2 to 3 inch crappie because I have never caught one and haven't seen any. (i don't know this for sure)


The pond is 4.5 acres and was dug to 17 feet deep on the dam end.

The only thing I would like to change is I would prefer to catch more 1 to 3 lb bass with the occasional lunker that might grow or already be in there instead of all the less than 14 inch bass I seem to catch effortlessly. I don't want my bass plans to screw up my bluegill population though because I care deeply about them. They are EXCELLENT dredged in corn meal, mustard, and then fried in hot oil.

I would sacrifice some of my bass goals to maintain abundant good sized (maybe not Condello trophy) bluegills (5,6,7 inch fish.

can't get enough of the information on this site. Always have questions in my head at work or when I am going to bed and don't' usually start a thread unless I feel it's worthy of one.

Thanks