Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Stunted bass question

Ryan,

I agree with Snipe. It can seem the way that you read it ... but the symptom is not the cause. Think of it like this. Most ponds will support (long term) no more than 70 lbs/acre of LMB. Divide that between 30 LMB and they could average 2.333 lbs. So what happens when that population recruits 100 offspring that are 8" by the following spring? Well now there is an extra 25 lbs of LMB that the pond cannot support. But which group of LMB will the pond favor with sufficient food? You got it. The recruits because they are small enough to benefit from BG YOY production before the YOY are of sufficient size to help the larger LMB. Because the larger LMB can no longer be maintained ... their condition reflects the lack of maintenance.

Changing the carrying capacity really doesn't change this dynamic. It's an ongoing problem that can only be helped by culling bass. The harder you work at this, the bigger your bass can be.

No body agrees with me here but maybe a handful ... but ... IMHO having too many adult BG will reduce the amount of forage available to your LMB. IMHO managing population structure is the only reliable means of improving the fitness of LMB and I think it is at its best when managing the population structure of both species.

No method other than harvest will work long term unless sufficient mortality occurs each year. In other words, you can take feeding, fertilization, forage ponds, etc to improve LMB condition, but eventually the condition declines. The fish will grow and reproduce into whatever new foods you supply ... which when you think about it ... is what happened in the first place. One the other hand, prudent cropping of LMB on an annual basis can and will work to improve LMB condition long term ... and indefinitely. Check out Bocomo's thread on his pond.