After 13 yrs the pond has stabilized toward maturity. Very likely the original big bass have died naturally; end of life. It is likely the pond is trending toward an overabundance of small bass 8"-12"; common occurrence. It is possible but doubtful there are any large bass present after 13yrs of no proper management that encourages or favors 2-4 lb bass. Likely numerous bass as overabundant predators should be removed so more smaller fish survive and can grow on the pellet food you provide. You want the young of newly stocked BG to survive well and be numerous for the future angler action.
If you add fish make sure they are big enough to not fit into the mouth of the larger common sized bass or you will just be adding expensive fish food. Rule is: 3X smaller for stockers than the larger bass present; example 13" bass then you need to stock 4"BG. IMO adding FHM is a waste of your money. Current bass will eat all 10 lbs of FHM in 2-3 days. Use your FHM money to buy more large BG. IMO I would wait until the new BG have spawned to buy any more predators such as HSB, or remove 3 LMB for every HSB stocked. The few remaining LMB will provide more than enough new 'easy to catch' bass next spring to balance out the fishery or very likely they will add too many new LMbass. Manage them wisely to produce numerous 2-3 lb in the next 2-4 yrs. If I were you, I would be removing every current LMB you catch and replace them with fast growing pellet trained bass (either LMB or HSB) that will quickly in 1-2 yrs become the 2-4 lb bass for your goals.
If you plan to add more catfish, then I would strive to remove all current larger catfish that are now just large nighttime predators and taking up valuable fish biomass space of more preferred fish (BG-LMB-HSB). If you returned the CC you caught, IMO that was a mistake. Catch and release teaches CC to be hook shy pretty quickly and to be hook avoidance smart. You will need to get to be a smarter catfish angler to re-catch and remove them. If you are not eating the CC they IMO are not a big benefit to the overall fishery. Use that CC biomass for better and faster angler action.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 08/28/17 11:40 AM.
