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Post by beermaker on Feb 5, 2022 16:52:57 GMT -5
I took a new job last summer and heard that the marketing guy has a nice fishing hole. After getting to know him, I asked about if he knew of any good private ponds to fish. "Yes, I have a three-acre pond that needs fished." He proceeded to tell me about the big bass, which I don't care about, and the nice bluegill and crappie. Game on! He lives about ten miles from me and the pond sets up perfect to launch my jon boat. I told him to plan on the first day in Feb that the temp hits 50 and the wind isn't blowing. I'll bring the boat, gear, and beer.
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Post by tine-n-spur on Feb 6, 2022 8:54:34 GMT -5
Man I’m as happy as I can be for you….I was fortunate enough to find something similar.
There are some very generous people in this world and they can be anywhere.
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Post by esshup on Feb 13, 2022 14:44:20 GMT -5
I took a new job last summer and heard that the marketing guy has a nice fishing hole. After getting to know him, I asked about if he knew of any good private ponds to fish. "Yes, I have a three-acre pond that needs fished." He proceeded to tell me about the big bass, which I don't care about, and the nice bluegill and crappie. Game on! He lives about ten miles from me and the pond sets up perfect to launch my jon boat. I told him to plan on the first day in Feb that the temp hits 50 and the wind isn't blowing. I'll bring the boat, gear, and beer. Hit those crappie hard, they tend to overpopulate in a pond less then 25 acres. Tell him he needs to take out 20# of bass per surface acre per year once they start spawning in the pond. If not, they will start to overeat their forage base and stunt. Yes, you will have some big bass in there, AND big bluegills, but there won't be any fish growing up to replace them, they all will be eaten. Take out bass of all sizes, or concentrate on the skinny bass (if there are any) and the bass that are 2"-3" longer than the skinny bass too. Rule of thumb is that a bass needs to eat fish 1/4 to 1/3 their body length so they don't expend more calories than they get from catching a fish to eat AND a single bass needs to eat 10# of fish in a year to gain 1# of weight in a year. Multiply that by the number of bass in the pond and you can see why that causes management nightmares if the pond owner doesn't remove bass yearly. I have seen 18" bass that weighed a hair over a pound in extreme cases, and crappie that I could almost read a newspaper through they were so skinny. |
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Post by beermaker on Feb 15, 2022 5:39:55 GMT -5
I took a new job last summer and heard that the marketing guy has a nice fishing hole. After getting to know him, I asked about if he knew of any good private ponds to fish. "Yes, I have a three-acre pond that needs fished." He proceeded to tell me about the big bass, which I don't care about, and the nice bluegill and crappie. Game on! He lives about ten miles from me and the pond sets up perfect to launch my jon boat. I told him to plan on the first day in Feb that the temp hits 50 and the wind isn't blowing. I'll bring the boat, gear, and beer. Hit those crappie hard, they tend to overpopulate in a pond less then 25 acres. Tell him he needs to take out 20# of bass per surface acre per year once they start spawning in the pond. If not, they will start to overeat their forage base and stunt. Yes, you will have some big bass in there, AND big bluegills, but there won't be any fish growing up to replace them, they all will be eaten. Take out bass of all sizes, or concentrate on the skinny bass (if there are any) and the bass that are 2"-3" longer than the skinny bass too. Rule of thumb is that a bass needs to eat fish 1/4 to 1/3 their body length so they don't expend more calories than they get from catching a fish to eat AND a single bass needs to eat 10# of fish in a year to gain 1# of weight in a year. Multiply that by the number of bass in the pond and you can see why that causes management nightmares if the pond owner doesn't remove bass yearly. I have seen 18" bass that weighed a hair over a pound in extreme cases, and crappie that I could almost read a newspaper through they were so skinny. Thanks. I've used your generous advice in the past and it has worked. I know nothing more about this pond than what he told me. I'm anxious to get on it with the Livescope and see what kind of structure it has. The owner claims that he has dropped some trees along the bank directly into the water. We shall see. |
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Post by esshup on Feb 15, 2022 17:24:00 GMT -5
Hit those crappie hard, they tend to overpopulate in a pond less then 25 acres. Tell him he needs to take out 20# of bass per surface acre per year once they start spawning in the pond. If not, they will start to overeat their forage base and stunt. Yes, you will have some big bass in there, AND big bluegills, but there won't be any fish growing up to replace them, they all will be eaten. Take out bass of all sizes, or concentrate on the skinny bass (if there are any) and the bass that are 2"-3" longer than the skinny bass too. Rule of thumb is that a bass needs to eat fish 1/4 to 1/3 their body length so they don't expend more calories than they get from catching a fish to eat AND a single bass needs to eat 10# of fish in a year to gain 1# of weight in a year. Multiply that by the number of bass in the pond and you can see why that causes management nightmares if the pond owner doesn't remove bass yearly. I have seen 18" bass that weighed a hair over a pound in extreme cases, and crappie that I could almost read a newspaper through they were so skinny. Thanks. I've used your generous advice in the past and it has worked. I know nothing more about this pond than what he told me. I'm anxious to get on it with the Livescope and see what kind of structure it has. The owner claims that he has dropped some trees along the bank directly into the water. We shall see. FWIW, approximately 25% of the surface area of the pond should be cover for the fish underwater. i.e. in a 1 ac pond, 1/4 acre should be brush piles, downed trees, cribs, rockpiles, etc. Weedbeds and bottom contours don't count. The cover should be a mixture of open and dense cover. Open cover has large spaces between the "things" like a mature tree with branches. Dense cover would be Christmas Trees the first 3 years they are in the pond. Then the Christmas Trees start to decompose and after year 6-7 all that is left are the trunk and the main part of the larger branches. That's why artificial cover is popular. Put it in the pond once and never have to touch it again. If he hasn't been taking bass out of the pond, and some are 12"-14" and skinny with big heads, take out 30#/ac/year for 2, maybe 3 years or at least until you see the bass starting to get 100% and over relative weight. www.aces.edu/blog/topics/fish-water/relative-weight-an-easy-to-measure-index-of-fish-condition/ |
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Post by whitetaildave24 on Apr 23, 2022 21:27:21 GMT -5
Not wanting to start a new thread I’ll just add to this one. Picked up a new pond today that hasn’t been fished in a good while. Don’t know the quantity or quality of fish, but she said she needs fish taken out and we will catch one on every cast. Decent sized pond and she said there’s only bass and bluegill in there which I hope to find out sooner rather than later. She just asked for a bag of fish if we have extra. I told her I was going to do that without her even asking, but now I know she likes fish so she will definitely be getting a few baggies full of fish once we fish it a couple times. Love ponds like this for the wife and kids to have a great time and bring home some food.
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Post by treetop on Apr 24, 2022 5:50:03 GMT -5
So if you have a guy that feeds his fish like me will a bass still eat as many fish especially if they are feeding with your protein feed
I know I’m going to have to take more out feeding them with your food the smaller bass have really grown you can see that when I feed them every small skinny bass that I use to have is now pushing 2 lb they are pigs at the supper table
Last year between me and the few guys that fished it I took close to 50 lbs out I can see that again this year.
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Post by esshup on Apr 24, 2022 12:07:29 GMT -5
It all depends on how much food you throw. If you feed them till satiation, then no, they won't eat as many fish as before but if you are feeding them as a supplement, then they will still eat as many fish as they can catch.
In a pond with loads of forage fish, a bass can grow from hatching in the Spring to 3# by late Fall.
Depending on the goals for your pond, if you are wanting to grow large panfish, take out every bass you catch that is over 14", if you want to grow bigger bass take out the smaller bass. To keep even with the bass reproduction and growth, remove 20# of bass per surface acre per year of all sizes. If you are having a bass overcrowding issue, take out 30#/surface acre/year and target the skinny, big headed looking ones and the ones 2" shorter than those.
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Post by whitetaildave24 on Apr 24, 2022 15:44:38 GMT -5
It all depends on how much food you throw. If you feed them till satiation, then no, they won't eat as many fish as before but if you are feeding them as a supplement, then they will still eat as many fish as they can catch. In a pond with loads of forage fish, a bass can grow from hatching in the Spring to 3# by late Fall. Depending on the goals for your pond, if you are wanting to grow large panfish, take out every bass you catch that is over 14", if you want to grow bigger bass take out the smaller bass. To keep even with the bass reproduction and growth, remove 20# of bass per surface acre per year of all sizes. If you are having a bass overcrowding issue, take out 30#/surface acre/year and target the skinny, big headed looking ones and the ones 2" shorter than those. I just wanted to say and I don’t own a pond, but have a couple I fish and can use this info with the owners if they asked, you are just a wealth of knowledge on this subject and I appreciate you sharing it. Not everyone would do that like you do. I think it’s pretty cool stuff really. |
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Post by esshup on Apr 24, 2022 22:55:36 GMT -5
Thanks. I feel that it's part of my job to educate the pond owners so they can make informative decisions about their pond.
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