Went fishing before church this morning.

Had to basically start over with this little pond.

There was 4-5 lb bass in it. After we removed 6 beaver, this is about as big as they get. But it is a start. LOL

Scout

For comparison, here is what we use to get out of the pond...

How do beaver affect bass? Do they eat them?

Yes

When you add a predator to the eco system, they also compete for food.

They can also destroy your tank.

feel better?

Beavers do not eat fish

But they smell like it

Yeah, beavers are vegetarians. They dont eat the bass food either. They could maybe eat the bass's foods food, but that isn't likely either. What they can do more often is restrict the flow of fresh water and essentially suffocating a small tank, but that takes a lot of time. Either way, they provide no benefit that I am aware of and would not be welcome on my land, if I had any.

Man I miss tank fishing.

WELL, there are beaver in the pond where the "incident" happened so, no not really lol.

Thanks for all the replies. They are definitely beaver and not otters.

Humorously, people stand on both sides of the fence on this issue. I don�t know the full extent of what beavers do to ponds that hurt the fish population, but this is the third pond I have personally seen it happen at.

When I was working on my masters at TAMU-C, one of the Elders from church asked me to help him out with a beaver issue. He had a 10 acre pond which, at one point in time, had 8 lb bass it it. Within 1 year, the beavers had seriously hurt the bass population.

I have contacts at the �local� wildlife refuge. They have confirmed that when beavers are in ponds, they hurt the fish population. In fact, the refuge relocates the beaver all the time out of their fishing ponds.

I do know that beavers will ruin tank dams tunneling and can/will do serious structure damage. They also kill trees. Even the fig trees that you transplanted.

I have already spoke with a Game Warden about the issue for those who are curious. My opinion is that �I� don�t need beavers in a private pond that is spring fed and only about 1 acre in size.


Scout.

But you need a LOT of baitfish. Those fish are stunted. Beavers can actually be beneficial to ponds, so long as they're not burrowing into the tank dam.

Nothing humorous about ignorance.

The problem you have has nothing to do with beavers and more to do with limiting factors. Size of the pond, lack of nutrients, overpopulation in relation to the amount of baitfish.

Start keeping/eating bass and introduce baitfish.

I could see beaver affecting the habitat and indirectly impacting largemouth bass populations positively or negatively depending on the situation, but beaver don't eat fish. Regardless of what the cause is, the pond has too many predators in it. I'd start by harvesting about 25 lbs of largemouth bass / acre this year. See if condition improves and cut harvest down a bit next year if it does. Speak with a fisheries specialist with Texas A&M Extension for more details. They'll also gather more information from you to get a better picture of what all is going on in there. Like Redman said, it could be chemistry, habitat, vegetation, turbidity, fish community imbalances, any number of things at the root of it.