My family has about a 8-10 ft. deep pond with a radius of about 50 feet. We've stocked around 20 bass in it, and about 30 catfish. We occasionally throw 200 crawdads in it to help keep the fish fed. Is that too many fish for a pond that size?

One day I was snorkeling in our pond and saw a giant bass. My brother stocked a 6 pound bass in the pound around 2 years ago. It seemed as though it had grown to around 8 pounds. Will many of the bass in my pond do that?

BigJig44,

It is generally accepted that a pond can support about 100 pounds of predator fish per acre, in the presence of good forage fish such as BG. The poundage is the key number, not necessarily the number of fish. When those 30 catfish get over a couple of pounds, which they will do quickly, they can easily adversely impact your LMB. The 20 LMB have also reproduced and grown as well.

One way to determine where your pond stands is to check the BG populations...if you only have very large BG, you probably have an overpopulation of LMB.

Thanks for the reply. I'll check that out next time I'm at the pond.