Alright this weekend two of my nieces and my future brother-in-law fished the pond pretty heavily and I am learning a lot about the pond. Although it seems that more information only leads to more questions not answers.
Here's a pic of one of the pumpkinseeds we caught. The cell phone does not do the bright orange/red fins justice.
Anyway the majority of the fish caught were sunfish (mix of PS, BG and a few HBG) in the 3-5" range. Only a few were bigger then 5" and a few were a little smaller then 3". We have been fishing with a variety of lures targeting all species and sizes. Here's my estimation per 100 fish caught:
60 PS (2"-5")
15 BG/HBG (3-6")
10 Crappie (6")
5 CC (10-14" 2 pounds)
5 GSF (4-7")
4 LMB (6-9")
1 LMB (14"+)
I am beginning to think that the sunfish are becoming overpopulated. They are not stunted as I feed 5-6 days a week. There are fish everywhere and the bass are growing extremely well this summer as are the CC. The sunfish are multiplying and I feel they are putting a strain on resources and will make recruitment/spawning hell for my LMB next year.
With that said my overall goal for the pond is a productive LMB fishery (Northern Style) with a few trophy here and there. So I have a few questions:
What kind of size distibution and population percentages do I want for my forage fish?
Also what ratio of predators to prey is ideal for my particular management strategy?
I know there are no definitive answers, but I would like some guesstimates from the wise experienced pondmeisters out there. Then we can figure out how to get it to where it needs to be.
