theres a private pond about 6 acres. i usually catch about twenty large mouth and spotted bass in three hours most being between a .5 and 1.5 lbs. There are also crappie and catfish in the pond and even though the fish hit bluegill cranks ive never seen a sunfish in the pond. my sister recently caught a large mouth that was about three lbs and my cousin caught one probably over 20 years ago that is claimed to be 8 lbs. do i just need to sort through the little fish to eventually find the bigger fish? or do you think that the abundance of smaller bass has brought down the large fish population? all the small fish look nice and fat and healthy. so i think i just need more time on the pond but i'm looking for a second opinion.
thanks

Sounds like a typical Texas pond; bass heavy. Too small to keep has ruined a lot of ponds. I would assume that they are also big headed in relation to their bodies and kinda skinny. They have over spawned and over eaten the forage base. Once they get to this stage, adding forage doesn't do that much good.

There are several remedies. One is rotenone or maybe even draining and starting over. These are the easy routes to take and maybe the most effective. Also probably the least expensive since you can add back small fish.

The other is a long range fix. Start hammering/removing the bass until you catch nothing but fat bass. Never stop removing crappie. Then stock large bluegill and redears at an 80/20 mix. When you add those fish add about 25 pounds of tilapia to reduce the pressure from the bluegills and redears.

It's probable that the pond has a few very large, very smart, conditioned bass in it. With all the eager small bass there and the conditioned wise old bass, it can be extremely difficult to catch one of those large, wise bass. Sometimes live bait is the only thing that will work on them.

It can still be a lot of fun to fish that pond�the high catch rates you describe can provide a lot of enjoyment and hours of entertainment. It all depends on what your objectives are for the pond. If you want to grow more, larger bass, there are some things you can do towards that end. To me, rotenone and/or draining would be a last resort...and needed only if you are unwilling/unable to address the problems.

One of the pond�s problems, if want to grow and catch larger bass, would be the crappie and the catfish...both compete for the same food source as your bass. Depending on the type and number of the catfish, they can significantly out compete your bass. The pressure in your pond on the bluegills must be incredibly high leaving very little for the bass to feed on. How to address it?

First step, and foremost, is to get those cats out. Remove as many as possible and do not replace. The crappie are problematic and you will probably never be able to fish them out but should remove every one caught.

Then, remove all bass below about 13 inches. Sounds like you can easily catch them so take advantage of that by removing every small bass caught. You will begin to see larger bass and less numerous ones.

After you get the cats out and some of the small bass out, consider adding Tilapia at the rate of 10 pounds per acre. The Tilapia will provide forage for the remaining bass and take pressure off the remaining bluegills in the pond. Over time, the bluegill numbers will increase significantly.

Just one last comment: I once had a pond that was full of those small bass and you could catch them readily on most artificial baits. Then I read in a national forum how terrible it was to have such a pond�so I drained it by digging a trench out the spillway and started all over again. Yes, I did improve the size of the bass, but the pond never recovered the magic it once had before �improving it�. It was a real gem to fish before, lots of fish, easy to catch on flies, etc. and after stocked with Florida strain bass, it was difficult to catch anything, especially large Florida bass.

i have caught a couple of bass that had large heads and small bodies but most are fat, healthy and normal looking with beautiful coloring. i dont know if the large bass are conditioned just because the only person to fish the pond to my knowledge. i always find the boat in the exact spot i left it. i will continue to take out the smaller bass and put them in other ponds, should i take bass from other ponds and put them in there to adjust the gene pool or is it a large enough pond that i dont need to worry about it? i dont know how to effectively catch crappie, and i'm assuming that a trot line would be recomended for taking out the catfish. do you think the bass will eat other bass in order to stay healthy?

Some people disagree with me on this...but IMO it doesn't take much to condition the large bass. They do not have to be caught to be conditioned...maybe a biologist would dispute the use of the term "learn" but there is no question I have seen bass "learn" from others being caught, no question about it.

Regarding bringing in bass from other ponds, IMO it isn't going to help you much, if any....the big issues are 1) the cats, 2) the crappie, and 3) overpopulation of bass.

In your original post you mentioned "spotted bass". I'm curious....is that the same as Kentucky bass, and actually a different type of bass? and if you don't mind me asking, where did they come from?

Absolutely, yes the bass will eat other bass...they will eat anything they can get in their mouths, including other bass.

I guess they're like kentucky bass. http://fishing.about.com/od/bassfishing/a/bass_species.htm the easiest way to tell the difference beween a spotted bass and a large mouth is to look at the tounge and spotted bass have a little rough spot on the tounge. As for where they come from i dont know. i read a book that said they live mostly in river systems and the pond is a dammed up creek so they might be in there naturally or put in there by somebody else.

Yes, the only place I've caught them in Texas is in the Trinity river...very cool you have them in your pond!!

Larry, I've caught them on the Brazos chain. TPWD used to have a stocking program for them. However, they declined to sell me any.

I'm curious as to where this special place is. If your are needing help to pull some fish out, my wife and I would love to help. We live in Allen and my wife is about ready to kill me because every time we go out she doesn't catch anything, or at best 1 small LMB. We won't even take any of the fish home. You can keep them all for yourself. Well I might take one to put in a fish tank in a house

Start using bigger baits, it will help you catch bigger fish.

get the small fish out. get the crappie out. get the catfish out.
.
.
.
.
you can catch spotted bass in many east texas lakes.

+5

any time ive had an over populated pond i just weeded out the small ones and after a year thay start to get biger