1st paragraph- history of pond
2nd- starving bass
3rd- stock plan tomorrow

i have 2 private ponds. started in i think 08 the ponds were dug out. luckily both have a small spring in them and we had a huge rain a week after they were finished and the ponds filled up overnight. they are both about 3 acres when full. right now they are under the berm so like 1.5-2 acres for each. both go down to 17 feet deep. pretty big holes. we started off stocking the ponds with 500 each minnows and bluegill for a year. put them in both same size like minnow sized. then after that year we did 500 each catfish and bass. (0-1 inch long. keep in mind we did this amount of fish for each pond) well, after another year or two we started catching bass like 2 pounds. i was shocked how fast they grew.2 years ago we started catching fat bass like 4-7 pounds. amazing how fast bass grow. well the last year and a half, the water levels keep going lower and lower and less room for baitfish to hide.

i think the bass started running out of food around then because now we catch skinny bass that look very very unhealthy where the belly goes in. so after waiting 1.5 years for the ponds to fill back up, they never did so we have to stock them or the bass are going to die. i see lots of fingerlings and minnows but thats not enough to sustain a growing bass population. we still catch long bass but most are bucket mouths that could be 6 pounders but are instead 3-4.

i plan to stock the ponds tomorrow with shad, bluegill, and minnows. probably 300 each or something for each pond. will that be good or will the shad and minnows die off in the winter. im pretty sure the bluegill will do fine. also, will they find enough places for some to last long enough to hide and reproduce?
i have to stock the ponds now because the bass are starving but what should i put in to feed those bass?

sorry for typing so much. just wanted to be thorough. 3rd paragraph is really all my question was


2 years after stocking bass-


some healthy bass-




skinny- i only have 2 pics cuz i don't like taking pics of skinny bass

I would add some shallow cover that allows hiding places for the forage. This will give them good places to hide and reproduce. U might do better only stocking perch... Main forge in the ponds I fish is perch and those fish seem to do fine

Those are some beautiful bass. Bass do get unhealthy when the water levels fall. Part of the problem is oxygen deprivation.
I have the parts all listed out for a system to put in the pond to help put the oxygen in the water.

All parts can be purchased at Tractor Supply and Home Depo.
I would make plans for next summer to install this system. I will be glad to email you the list and pictures.

P.M. Fishbreeder

First off, you have way too many bass and catfish and not enough baitfish in a 3 acre pond! Here is a good article to give you some pointers.

http://www.suttlefish.com/trophy_bass.html

Nice looking fish...now post the ponds location

+1

It could be overpopulated.. Might need to start thinning the herd on one pond or most likely both..

that's what i thought would also help� do you know of any plants i should put in specifically? there is plenty of cover when its up to and over the berm but not now, just rocks/clay/3 laydowns in each. Or any links to information would be helpful, thanks for the idea of putting vegetation in. i almost forgot how much that would help

cedar trees to start, put about 3 in the same spot and put them in at least 3 spots. make sure they will stay covered with water if it gets low.
you do have too many fish for the size ponds you have, 200 in each would have been pushing it due to spawning creating a larger population each yr.

thin the bass/catfish, perch and minnows (perch in the 2-5" and minnows that are full grown).

you should put some cover in deep too, put a couple of the pvc crappie trees in the middle and spaced out some so they can hide in the winter. jmo

my thoughts as well. Small ponds like that cant sustain large populations of really big largemouths if I'm not mistaken.

+1000 Brett has forgotten more about fisheries management than most of us will ever learn on our own.

Take out the catfish.

I've been told that if a small pond is spring fed/stays relatively cold then catfish have a difficult time reproducing. (Especially in low-water conditions)

How is the catfish population?

you know i would expect the catfish to be huge but when i dove hunt and someone im with accidentally gets a tweety bird, we use the guts for catfish cuz we really don't have catfish bait at all, just bass fisherman. we've been successful few times were we caught about 8 inch channel cats and muds. we didn't even stock it with muds. there were 2 small ponds there before we started making the ponds, and 1 of them we got rid of, or dug into to make one of the big ones. well, we found out it wasn't just a hole like we thought. the people said they accidently killed lots of huge gar, bass, and cats and other fish. i never saw them but thats what they told us so i guess that's where the mud cats came from because the pond that's still there has never dried up. and after that huge rain that filled up the big ponds we dug out, the existing pond and ours that we made must have flowed into eachother so muds got in. weird thing is there's also mud cats in the back pond we made. that's like 2 football fields away so the rain was pretty extraordinary when you think about it. (however, the back pond is also on the bottom of a slight slanted hill). we put the 2 big ponds we made at the very lowest elevations to get the most water runoff possible, guess it worked cuz the eggs/small babies must have swam with the run off into the ponds