# Where to Start?



## Bassin' Buckeye (May 22, 2009)

Looks like I am somewhat getting (not owning..lol) to care for a 5 acre pond. It's mainly geared for LM, but has bluegill (not sure of exact species or number of species) white crappie, catfish (not sure of species yet) and a few of the large algae eating "carp" (not sure of the exact type)

So that is a lot of what I kind of know. I have fished it a few times this year about a week after ice out, in about 2.5 hours caught 18 LM most about a pound, a few larger and a few dinks, also caught 2 gills and about 10 white crappie which averaged about 10". 

I have fished my entire life, and the pond looks healthy but I'm sure there are a hundred and one things I don't know.

I hear there are some close to 4#'s in there.

Not sure where to even start, was hoping for a little direction so I can start wading my way through it all.

What I basically am told is very few if any fish were ever kept out of it. And in the past there were just a few teenagers that fished it regularly, and released all the bass they caught. There was also a muskie in there for a while, but when it got to be about 28" and they noticed it starting to tear up the bass the pulled it out. I hear it's about 15' at deepest point, but have not verified that yet.

Thanks for any direction!!


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

it sound slike the pond is fairly well balanced iwith 10" white Crappies and several year classes of bass as well as a few up to 4 lbs, but all ponds need to be thinnned of ever stunting bass, so I d suggest taking a bunch of those 10-12" LM out of there as well as every WC you catch, youll never be able to hurt eithers population in a 5 acre pond and the WC can really overpopulate so get rid of every one you catch, by doing this you will be able to eliminate a lot of eating machines creating more food fr the remaining WC and LMB. 
Id also suggest a good panfish sampler and get us some photos so we can identify what exact species of bluegill/sunfish you have in there, this is also very important as some do not reproduce hardly at all while others are heavy reproducers, seeing the average size and thickness of the panfish will help us determine what steps need to be done next. 
I hope this helps. 

Salmonid


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## Luns (Feb 10, 2010)

Another thing i would do is add structure! I am kind of in the same boat with my grandpas pond and it is about 5 acres and 20-25ft deep. I have alot of the same fish you mentioned and have bass up to 7lbs that i have caught, im sure there are ones in there even bigger then that. Granted these fish are hard to catch you see them but never catch them. Me and a friend added structure this winter be it old christmas trees (we got at a local landscaping business, they were going to burn) or custom built ones. Anyways, i made a post about a week ago i fished one of the structures we put in and got a 6 and 1/2lb bass by it! Not saying it will automatically get you big fish but it is always a good idea to have structure, who knows maybe youll find there are bigger fish in there then you thought!


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## [email protected] (Dec 22, 2006)

It sounds like a fun pond to fish. While you're "surveying" species, think about what you'd like to change. Do you more fish or bigger fish? Do you want a decent bass lake with great crappie or just a big bass lake? How much time are you able to invest and what is your (or the owners) budget for a year?


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## Bassin' Buckeye (May 22, 2009)

Thanks for the advice, I will work on getting some pics up. Here is a pic the owner had from about 3 years ago of one of the catfish they caught, I think the dock slats are 4" wide to give a little scale.


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## [email protected] (Feb 29, 2008)

ALL good recommendations; structure, thinning out the lmb 10-12", the wc should all be removed, and any catfish over the 2-3 lb range should also be removed. I would suggest that you also keep good records of your catch (weight, length, and species). You can then compare those to Ohio standards to see how you match up. Pay close attention to the sunfish population as they are the backbone of your forage base. You want to see sunfish in all size ranges from fry to adults. 

I would also suggest diffused aeration for the health of the pond.


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