Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations I finally got my small pond! It's just kinda big!!

After catching the 1st fish - a LMB, you can for now assume there is a population of LMB established with reproduction and recruitment. Now IMO you should start exploring what comprises the forage fish community. From your picture it appears there is lots of shallow shoreline cover and habitat. Now find out what is utilizing that habitat.

Two ways I would start.
1. Get a couple Gee Minnow traps new or used. Stay away from rubber coated black traps as videos on Youtube show those traps are not the best at catching minnows; my experience also is the same. If trap is new and shiny, spray paint them brown or black or a mixture of brown, black and dark green to blend in with shoreline cover. Bait traps with various items such as stale bread, bakery items, dried pet food or when you start feeding fish, you can use fish food as trap bait. Set traps in shallow water 8"-16" deep parallel to shore and near cover as these are areas where all small fish "hang-out". Depending on your time schedule,,, fish or run traps for various time periods. I often start with overnight or full day sets. Once the bait is consumed the fish start looking for pathways out of the trap. Short time sets such as 1-3 hours can be productive. Let your catch results be your guide which time sets work best.

2. Good numbers of what you catch in traps will be suggestive of the adult panfish - minnow community. Now do some extensive angling for panfish or maybe for large shiners or other larger (4"-8") minnow - shiner species. Use small hooks such as #10 or #12 aberdeen hook/s on light line 4lb-6lb test. Get a small slender bobber/float or similar tiny small slip bobber. Use a broken tooth pick to plug the hole in the tiny slip bobber. You want a small bobber to detect light bites. Set the bobber 2ft -3ft deep and fish along shoreline near cover. Try to keep a low profile, I like to sit down. Using a high standing profile makes you very visible to shy bite fish and causes larger fish to be cautious and move offshore. With a good panfish community using this method you should be able to catch 15 to 35 panfish per hour. Your goal is to catch at least 100-200 panfish any size 3"+. Some of these fish should be good sized adult breeder panfish if they are present in decent numbers. You should record on paper what specie and length (measure them) of what you catch. These data will tell managers very good info about your panfish community. Using this method, expect to catch some predatory fish such as your smaller bass (6"-15"). In a balanced fish community expect to catch one bass (small predator) any size for every 20-30 pan/forage fish. Remember record document your catch specie and length. With tilapia in the pond you might not catch a lot of tilapia since they are predominately vegetarians. This bait small worm angling will tell the "rest of the story".

3. Come back with the above results and we can provide a good beginners evaluation of your fishery and its balance. They we/you will know the best way or options to proceed.