Pond Help

[bowhunterfanatic]

I'm wanting to add some baitfish to a 20ish acre pond my family owns. It's slam packed full of fish even though we keep every single bass we catch out of it and have for years now. What is going to give me the best bang for my buck? My concern is that if we add something small like shiner minnows that they will all be eaten before they get big enough for the small fish to lay off of them which will give them a better chance to reproduce and keep repopulating themselves. However, I know nothing about adding something like shad??? maybe that will grow quicker to a closed system. Anyone have any advice on do's or don'ts?

 

[SilverFox]

What end result are you looking for by adding the baitfish?

 

[Pilchard]

Why mess with it if it is able to produce the numbers you're saying it has.

I would leave well enough alone and be selective with my take to promote bigger fish.

 

[TNReb]

Contact the TWRA and ask for advice. The guys at the fish hatchery can point you in the right direction.

 

[bowhunterfanatic]

Why mess with it if it is able to produce the numbers you're saying it has.

I would leave well enough alone and be selective with my take to promote bigger fish.

Because while I love catching 30-40 1/2 pounders in a few hours, I'd prefer slightly less in the quantity department for better quality.

 

[bowhunterfanatic]

What end result are you looking for by adding the baitfish?

Bigger, healthier fish. I'm not looking for a trophy pond by any means but it'd be nice to catch a 3-5 pound fish every now and then. The pond has enough depth (10-14 feet in places) to grow bigger fish. Probably could use more cover, and we are going to work on that, but it is severely lacking in forage from what we can tell. I think it probably needs some lime and or fertilize as well.

 

[MickThompson]

Why mess with it if it is able to produce the numbers you're saying it has.

I would leave well enough alone and be selective with my take to promote bigger fish.

Because while I love catching 30-40 1/2 pounders in a few hours, I'd prefer slightly less in the quantity department for better quality.

Sounds like you're probably overpopulated instead of underfed.


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[bowhunterfanatic]

Why mess with it if it is able to produce the numbers you're saying it has.

I would leave well enough alone and be selective with my take to promote bigger fish.

Because while I love catching 30-40 1/2 pounders in a few hours, I'd prefer slightly less in the quantity department for better quality.

Sounds like you're probably overpopulated instead of underfed.


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We are that for sure as well. We can't catch enough to "catch" back up either. Need a baitfish that will compete with some of the bass fingerlings to help curb the population growth.

 

[MickThompson]

What else do you have besides bass in the pond? And I agree, 20 acres is a lot of water to strain the excess fish out of.


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[WTM]

you need to find out what the bluegill population and other sunfish are in that pond. bluegill are the key to a healthy bass pond besides overpopulation. a pond that has very nice bluegill will also have very nice bass.

but whatever you do, do not put green sunfish in that pond.

 

[larry ipock]

I know one guy that use to by fathead minnows by the pound. He said they (minnows) only get as big as 8 in. It did wonders for his.

 

[SilverFox]

The biggest thing that improved our pond was bluegill and feeding them floating food. Once the stocked bluegill got going, the bass followed. 2 acre pond and we've caught several 7-9 pound bass out of it and one over 10. We also stocked crappie but in less numbers.

You'll have to keep some of the bluegill and crappie after they start rolling.

 

[nitro_z17]

I know one guy that use to by fathead minnows by the pound. He said they (minnows) only get as big as 8 in. It did wonders for his.

yep, i got a 2 acre pond that i put 20# of FHM in each summer. bass are doing great

 

[bowhunterfanatic]

What else do you have besides bass in the pond? And I agree, 20 acres is a lot of water to strain the excess fish out of.


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Bream. No clue what kind though honestly. All bream are the same to me as I don't ever target them specifically. I do know the ones we catch are always fairly large. We don't catch many little ones.

 

[cmn]

You can not accomplish what you want by adding baitfish to your pond. There could be many factors at work here. Wish there was an easy answer. I manage several ponds and lakes. I AM NOT LOOKING TO MANAGE YOURS....that being said you can call me at 615-975-2766. I Might be able to find out enough info to steer you in the right direction. chris

 

[ROUGH COUNTRY HUNTER]

Bluegill

 

[Jmed]

Sounds like you have too many bass. Adding bluegill will add a base to your "food pyramid" but too many mouths will stunt your your growth. If you have crappie in the pond, they can hurt the other fish's growth as well.

 

[gtk]

We are in somewhat the same boat.. 13 acre lake that is about 15 years old. Stocked with bass, cats, read-ear, bluegill .. The first several years were good, and we caught big bluegill, nice cats, and decent bass. Then it all went downhill, and now most bass are small, bluegill are small, and cats have been about caught out.

This time of year, we can catch big bass, but then they just disappear about May.. We can catch a boatfull of 6" - 12" bass, and we keep ever single one of them.. We never catch any real good bream anymore either.. They are all just "bait stealers".

We had a biologist come out, and he did a shock sample.. Said we need to catch, i think he said 9 llbs an acre, of bass each year, then fertilize and lime the lake.

 

[WTM]

We are in somewhat the same boat.. 13 acre lake that is about 15 years old. Stocked with bass, cats, read-ear, bluegill .. The first several years were good, and we caught big bluegill, nice cats, and decent bass. Then it all went downhill, and now most bass are small, bluegill are small, and cats have been about caught out.

This time of year, we can catch big bass, but then they just disappear about May.. We can catch a boatfull of 6" - 12" bass, and we keep ever single one of them.. We never catch any real good bream anymore either.. They are all just "bait stealers".

We had a biologist come out, and he did a shock sample.. Said we need to catch, i think he said 9 llbs an acre, of bass each year, then fertilize and lime the lake.

hopefully he told you to harvest those bass each and every year and in fertilized ponds rule of thumb is about 30 or so pounds per acre after the first 3 years.

 

[bowhunterfanatic]

We are in somewhat the same boat.. 13 acre lake that is about 15 years old. Stocked with bass, cats, read-ear, bluegill .. The first several years were good, and we caught big bluegill, nice cats, and decent bass. Then it all went downhill, and now most bass are small, bluegill are small, and cats have been about caught out.

This time of year, we can catch big bass, but then they just disappear about May.. We can catch a boatfull of 6" - 12" bass, and we keep ever single one of them.. We never catch any real good bream anymore either.. They are all just "bait stealers".

We had a biologist come out, and he did a shock sample.. Said we need to catch, i think he said 9 llbs an acre, of bass each year, then fertilize and lime the lake.

I really think lime and fertilize is probably the biggest thing holding us back, but I can't swear to that.