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Post by bartiks on Jan 12, 2017 3:21:31 GMT -5
For those of you who have tried something similar to what I am about to tell you about please tell me what your results are, or if it is even a good idea or not.
Our lake that we own has very little cover in it and thus the bass fishing in it while good rarely yields a larger fish. I am thinking about take several pallets and then stacking them on top of one another and then screwing them to one another with differing designs not something that looks like a stack of flap jacks. and then sinking it in the lake with different levels of where the pallets will be at.
My thought on this is, the fish who take up residence there will grow more rapidly than other fish within the lake and return the lake to a more suitable balance as I believe that crappie have absolutely run the lake unchecked.
Thoughts or suggestions? Thanks guys, just trying to get a jump start on the fishing season right around the corner. |
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Post by duff on Jan 12, 2017 5:24:17 GMT -5
Small bass normally mean not enough food. What size is the lake and what other fish types?
Cover is good. It promotes places for food to grow and hide. If your pond is out of balance you may need other actions as well. Harvest the small fish to lessen competition for available food is a good thing.
A lake supports a set number of pounds of fish per acre. If you have 10 nice fish or 1000 little fish unless you feed or artificially supplement. But once you start it is hard to stop without negative impact.
I think essup on here is fish pond manager and can give you better direction on growing bigger bass.
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Post by freedomhunter on Jan 12, 2017 8:33:06 GMT -5
You are going to need quite a bit of food to support two top level predators, bass and crappie. Otherwise, there will be stunted fish. Ken's fish farm, out of Georgia, offers a bunch of quality supplemental products. Just be careful what you put in your pond without advice from a pro.
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Post by 1shotwade on Jan 12, 2017 8:54:47 GMT -5
We did the pallet thing 10 years ago. Built a cube of 6 pallets and wired on 6 concrete blocks to keep them down.It wasn't enough weight and they move around the pond until they find a place to settle.We built 4 of them.
The best thing you can do for your fish is feed them. We built a feed and put it on a rope across one end of the pond.Put fresh roadkill in it and the flies lay eggs that turn into maggots.The maggots have to fall off to the ground to turn into flies but instead fall into the water.The fish will stage up waiting for the next one to drop so it's a good idea to pile brush under the feeder so the smaller fish can hide and feed.It is best if this can be lowered into the water once a day to keep the roadkill fresh.Once it dries out and becomes leathery the flies won't use it.
Wade
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Post by steiny on Jan 12, 2017 9:34:48 GMT -5
I don't like the idea of putting junk in my pond, shoreline growth and weeds are adequate cover.
Have never seen a farm pond under about 5 acres where crappies worked out well, need some significant depth too. In my opinion hybrid bluegills and a few largemouth are the best combo for IN farm ponds. Supplemental feedings of fathead minnows in the summer never hurt.
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Post by MuzzleLoader on Jan 12, 2017 9:43:19 GMT -5
Don't put crappie in there, they will overpopulate and be stunted.
I did the pallet thing when I repaired the lake. It works well and they are still there from 15 yrs ago. Find a place that gives them away. Most lowes, sears or tractor place has them.
Christmas trees have been thrown out by now, I go collect them for cover as well.
I feed the fish in the spring summer and fall with great results.
Put fat head minnows after you put in the structure so they have a place to hide and reproduce.
I try to sink the structure in 6 foot or less of water. Recommended by the fish hatchery.
But I do sink several trees in deep water in case there is actually a time I might be able to ice fish.
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Post by bartiks on Jan 13, 2017 2:19:13 GMT -5
The lake is around 20 acres or so. Deepest spot is around 35 feet, the issue we are having with bass is that they will get around 8 inches to a foot long. They don't have "big heads" like you hear about they are all decent bodied fish, it's just there isn't any large ones in there. The crappie in there are running rampant in my opinion. I understand they school, however when we get into a school of them it is nothing to catch around 50 of them and they are all around the same size.
Thanks all.
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Post by duff on Jan 13, 2017 5:35:08 GMT -5
What size are the crappie?
How about gills?
Structure won't hurt your lake especially if it is scarce. Maybe cut some trees on the bank and leave as well.
Finally you may need a Hunt Indiana fish derby followed by fry! No size limit on crappie or bass. I bet featherduster will bring his fillet knife and breading.
Sounds like too many fish and 20 acres is too big to feed fish unless you are very wealthy or really really wanting bigger fish
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Post by MuzzleLoader on Jan 13, 2017 6:43:29 GMT -5
esshup on here could help you or call the local fish hatchery for suggestions. My local place has a questionnaire you fill out then talk to one of the fish biologist for help.
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Post by esshup on Jan 14, 2017 14:35:01 GMT -5
I had a reply all typed up, hit the wrong button and it was gone. I'll re-do it in word, then copy/paste.
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Post by esshup on Jan 14, 2017 15:04:25 GMT -5
Need cover? Small bass in a 20 ac lake cliff notes.
I don’t want to write a book, but if you have questions after this, ask away! Here are some cliff notes.
Typically you want 20% of the surface area in “cover”. Smaller, thicker cover in shallower areas for smaller fish, larger more open cover in deeper water for larger fish, but for winter you need some thick cover in deeper water for the smaller fish.
Bass need to weigh “X” amount per length before they will grow longer. Once they grow longer, they need the correct sized food and the correct amount before they can grow bigger. A single bass needs to eat 10# of fish to gain one pound of weight. Once a bass is “X” long, it can lose weight because it doesn’t have enough food to support its size, but its length will not shrink.
Without cover where the bass can loaf and ambush their prey, they become marathon runners and do a lot of swimming to catch their food, AND have less success catching their food. So, those fish have to expend even more energy to gain weight and length, and will grow slowly if at all.
When I say correct sized food, think of how much popcorn you’d have to eat if you had to chase every single kernel, instead of sitting down with a large bucket of popcorn. A bass likes to eat fish 1/3 to ¼ its body length for the most calories gained for the least energy expended. So, if the majority of bass in there are 8”-10”, then the majority of fish they are eating are 2” – 3” long.
Crappies have a boom and bust spawning cycle, AND they spawn before Bass do. So the baby crappies eat the food that the baby bass should be eating and the bass suffer.
Unless the bass are feed trained from birth, only about 10% will learn to eat fish food. Crappies are even worse, but bluegills will learn to eat fish food on their own. A 20 acre pond will require deep pockets to feed, but you can feed in a few areas to help. To feed the whole pond, figure on 10 feeders, roughly 50-80 pounds of food per station per month when the water is warmer than 55 degrees at $0.80 - $1.00/pound for good quality food. You can feed roughly the same amount in one or two areas to see how the fish population responds to the feeding. Either once or twice a day, EVERY day AT THE SAME TIME by hand, IN THE SAME SPOT or buy a solar powered automatic feeder.
Fish can see up to 1# weight gain per pound of food depending on quality of food and fish species. That’s vs. 10# of fish for 1# of weight gain when strictly eating fish.
Harvest, harvest, harvest fish if your goals are to grow larger bass. Remove 20-30 pounds of crappies per acre per year until the catch rate drops off considerable and you will see an increase in bass size. I would also remove 20# of bass per surface acre this year.
You can’t just stock a bunch of fish to get them to grow larger, there is carrying capacity to worry about. A pond can support around 300# of fish per acre.
A pond that has a properly designed aeration system can support around 500# of fish per acre.
A pond that has a properly designed aeration system and has supplemental feeding going on can support around 900# of fish per acre without pushing it too hard.
Catfish growers monitor the water quality, aerate and feed like heck and can produce over 2,000# of fish per acre, but that’s the ragged edge……
If you want to get a real handle on the pond, get it electroshocked and have a report done with your goals for the pond in mind. I’d do it when water temps are in the low 60’s for best results, but it can be done anytime water temp is over the mid 50’s.
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