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New to pond fishing and have a ?? #10138427 07/15/14 06:26 PM
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Samuel Ragle Offline OP
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These are the size I've been catching in some ponds we like to fish, is this normal just to catch or is this a result of overpopulation?


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Re: New to pond fishing and have a ?? [Re: Samuel Ragle] #10138576 07/15/14 07:29 PM
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Outdoordude Offline
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Could be, but it's hard to be certain by fishing alone. Smallish largemouth could be caused by limited forage, trash fish, water quality problems and more. Attempting to catch bluegill of all sizes could yield some more evidence. Catching mostly large bluegill (over 8 inches) would be evidence pointing towards largemouth overpopulation. Next step would be to seine several spawning shorelines when the water gets around 70 degrees in the spring to check for reproduction. If the seine catches usually contain tiny, recently-hatched bluegill, virtually no 2 to 4 inch bluegill and very few (if any) largemouth fry, then the pond is probably overpopulated with largemouth. Depending on the prospective of the angler, and what species they're targeting, this may or may not be a problem.


Scott Jones
Re: New to pond fishing and have a ?? [Re: Samuel Ragle] #10138595 07/15/14 07:37 PM
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musiclife_7 Offline
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^^^^very good answer!! In almost all of my experience bass like your top pic get that way from limited forage/food. Bass in the bottom pic are typical of over-populated ponds.

How many can you catch in an hour or each time you fish? If you are pounding them, they are hungry and need to be culled. If you aren't catching much at all then could definately be just lack of forage/food and water quality..

Just my opinion.

Re: New to pond fishing and have a ?? [Re: Samuel Ragle] #10138661 07/15/14 08:05 PM
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Samuel Ragle Offline OP
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Thanks, it's pointing to a lack of forage/food then, it's hard to catch them and all the bluegill are small, but plentiful, there are a lot of catfish, mudcats and channels though


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Re: New to pond fishing and have a ?? [Re: Samuel Ragle] #10138684 07/15/14 08:17 PM
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musiclife_7 Offline
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If there are a ton of small bluegill I would lean on "over-Population" rather than lack of forage.

Let me give you an example.

There is a 5 acre pond that I've fished for about 8 years now. When I first started fishing there I could catch an 8-10" bass on every cast until I ran out of plastics. Since I didn't own the pond I always did catch/release. After about 6 months I contacted the owner again and asked him if he minded me thinning out the lake to help the health of the bass. He said that myself and one other guy were the only ones to fish it and that he wanted us to agree on it with him, which we did. together for about 4 months we started to thin out the bass to a point that we could catch 20-30 bass in any 2-3hr period rather than 100 bass in 2-3hrs. We both chipped in and purchased bluegill and shad from a stocking company to help us. After 2 years....our average fish there is about 2.5lbs now. We still catch around 20-30 bass in a few hours but it's much more fun.

I would look into something like that if you are having a similar problem.

Re: New to pond fishing and have a ?? [Re: Samuel Ragle] #10138689 07/15/14 08:22 PM
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I want to go fishing with you MusicLife lol


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Re: New to pond fishing and have a ?? [Re: Samuel Ragle] #10138722 07/15/14 08:33 PM
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Outdoordude Offline
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Originally Posted By: Samuel Ragle
Thanks, it's pointing to a lack of forage/food then, it's hard to catch them and all the bluegill are small, but plentiful, there are a lot of catfish, mudcats and channels though


By difficult to catch, are you saying that the largemouth are difficult to catch, or the bluegills are difficult to catch?

What does the water look like? Lots of weeds, green color, brown color, tea color?


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Re: New to pond fishing and have a ?? [Re: Samuel Ragle] #10153935 07/21/14 09:32 PM
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Two words: fish slower

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