# To all the experts



## Bigun (Jun 20, 2006)

I have recently been given access to a very nice private pond that seems to be over populated with LMB. In the times I have fished there we have caught numerous (10-15 per hour per person) large mouth in the 10"-14" range and nothing over that. I believe this pond has an overabundance of LMB leading to the narrow size distribution. I have permission form the owner to perform some limited harvest but I want to get the opinion of some one with more expertise then myself before I harvest any fish and possibly make the situation worse. 

A little bit about the pond. Surface area is aprox 6 acres. Max depth I have been told is around 10 feet but I haven't verified this with a depth finder yet. I would estimate the average depth to be around 5 ft by the amount of weed growth observed. The pond currently is extremely choked with weeds but the owner treated it a couple weeks ago with 200Lb of copper phosphate (from what I have read this is probably too much copper phosphate). The other fish in the pond seem to be doing very well, Last week I caught a 13" crappie, and this week I have caught several 7"-9" gills. Yesterday while fishing a kid that was fishing on the other side caught 3 channel cats in the 4-6 lb range in about a half hour. I am unsure of what smaller baitfish are present although I could probably do some netting and try to figure it out. 

So my question is does the LMB population appear to be stunted by lack of forage and would this pond benefit from some limited harvest to decrease population to suitable levels. If so what would be a good number of fish to take out or is it a question of harvesting a few per month until size distribution appears. Thanks all.


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## DJH (Aug 9, 2013)

I will gladly take some of those LMB! I need some in my farm pond.


Dakota


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## HatersGonnaHate (Jun 4, 2013)

It's very hard to get a pond figured out where every species is big sized. Normally a pond with a ton of bluegill will produce big bass and a pond with a ton of bass will produce good sized panfish. Bluegill that size are very good sized and I am sure the bass eating a lot of them has something to do with it.


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## [email protected] (Dec 22, 2006)

Adding fertilizer to an already weed choked pond will only grow more weeds. Fertilization is common in the South but not recommended for Ohio ponds...any copper phosphate is too much...I'm not even sure where they got it.

Record lengths and weights of the fish that are caught over the next few months, average the same sizes and compare with Rw charts to get a better understanding of how the fish of different species and sizes are doing...they may be fine.

Too many weeds can make it difficult for bass to catch prey and can result in too many bluegills and stunting of both. Not enough weeds can cause the prey to get over eaten and possibly result in overcrowded/stunted predators but good sized bluegill.

Catfish seem to grow no matter what.

I wouldn't recommend transferring fish that have already experienced slowed growth. They will never achieve their full potential. Fish live a limited amount of time and grow their whole life.


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