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Pond Managment Suggestions #12097172 02/16/17 04:00 PM
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madermu Offline OP
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Alright guys, I have a 2.5-3 acre tank that I built back in 2010. After it was built, I stocked it with a mixture of 750 bluegill and redear perch and 100 2"-3" bass. Over the next year, we were starting to catch alot of 8"-12" bass. You could really catch as many as you wanted on good days.

In 2011, the tank went completely dry. So in late 2011, I dug that tank again, I made it deeper and I cored it with some good clay that I had on my property and restocked the tank. Since that time, the tank has held just fine. But the fishing has been terrible. I think I've got plenty of baitfish in the tank, but am not 100% certain.

Since 2012 we have had one good day on that tank. We've had days where you might catch a could of 1lb to 2lb fish, but those days are really rare. We had one day in 2014 where we caught 3 fish on consecutive casts that all went over 6lbs. A day like that hasn't happened since.

I'm ready to know what I've got in that tank. I don't know if it's legal to buy a shocking device or if I should look into some form of pond management. Any suggestions or recommendations would be great. I'm located in the texoma area in case that helps.

Re: Pond Managment Suggestions [Re: madermu] #12098008 02/16/17 11:19 PM
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Meadowlark Offline
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What were the stocking numbers the second time around?....and has anyone been taking fish out that you know of?

Re: Pond Managment Suggestions [Re: madermu] #12098237 02/17/17 01:15 AM
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madermu Offline OP
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Same stocking rate.

I don't think anyone has taken out any fish. We live here on our property and my In-laws live on an adjacent property and they can tell you every car that drives down our road lol.

Re: Pond Managment Suggestions [Re: madermu] #12099002 02/17/17 03:46 PM
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Meadowlark Offline
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Well, in my view/experience, the pond may be light on forage. An initial stocking of 3000 gills/redears would have been better, IMO...even more if practical.

You can get a great deal of very useful info from recording relative weights...see the article at

http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-1193/ANR-1193.pdf


There are other good sources on relative weights out there available also. A little time spent reading up on it will be worth your time.

So, if you are light on 'gills. You have some good options:

1) stock about 30 pounds or more of Tilapia when water temps get to be reliably above 65 deg. They will take a lot of pressure off your 'gills and allow then to repopulate naturally.

2) Take out all small bass, anything less than about 13, 14 inches

3) maybe add some adult bluegills...expensive option but adding smaller 'gills a waste of money.

4) other forage possibilities include big shiners...run about $10 per pound at my bait shop and maybe try threadfin shad...but your pond is probably too small and too far north to expect to get them established, so expensive snack.

Good luck.


Re: Pond Managment Suggestions [Re: madermu] #12099061 02/17/17 04:18 PM
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madermu Offline OP
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Thanks for the info Meadowlark. After thinking about what you said, that is exactly what i did when i stocked the tank both times. We put in a mixture of 750 bg/perch per acre. so it was 750 x 3.

I appreciate the resource, I'm about to start reading!

Thanks

Re: Pond Managment Suggestions [Re: madermu] #12101338 02/19/17 02:32 PM
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Dave Davidson Offline
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It's a lot less expensive and safer/effective to get professional shocking done than to build your own.

I agree with ML. You have an average Texas pond that is predator heavy and prey/forage light. I agree with his remedial stocking/culling recommendations but, just about everything you add is going to be groceries for something else. Turning a pond around is a tough job but it can be done with a lot of work, time and cash.

If it were me, and it's not, I would add about 1,000 big BG, and the tilapia that ML recommends. Expensive? Yep.

Re: Pond Managment Suggestions [Re: madermu] #12102672 02/20/17 02:24 PM
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If you truly want the best results an electroshock survey is the way to go. The survey will give you the best knowledge of existing populations both predatory and forage. Lets start with the cons... The cost can get pretty high. First you've got to pay for the survey, then you've got to complete the recommendations to get the pond back in order. Pros... You spend you're money wisely by addressing the problem at hand rather than guessing at what the problem may be.

If you want to try a less costly method, keep record of bass relative weights. The relative weights will tell you how "healthy" your bass are. If all of your fish are less than 100% then I would follow ML's info and do some supplemental forage stockings along with bass harvests.

Download the Pond King App. which has great information on forage, predators, vegetation (basically everything ponds). It also has a tool called the Bass-O-Meter which gives you immediate relative weight percentages. Basically you put in length and weight and it tells you the relative weight so you don't have to do any calculations yourself.

Also, and lastly, Pond King is located right down the road from you in Gainesville TX. Feel free to stop by and talk fish, or check out our tackle store that has just about everything. We provide a full line of pond management services and products including electroshock surveys.

Best of luck to you.

Re: Pond Managment Suggestions [Re: madermu] #12102740 02/20/17 02:58 PM
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madermu Offline OP
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Thanks for all the info guys.

Re: Pond Managment Suggestions [Re: madermu] #12103864 02/21/17 01:23 AM
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fishslime Offline
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Sounds like it is overstocked and needs to be fished regularly. Otherwise, the fish in it become stunted.

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