Having a problem with my pond....Its about 1 acre and is a tear drop shape. The deepest area is in the wide part of the drop at 12 feet. It gets more shallow as you head for the tip of the tear drop.We treat it for weeds and stock it once every few years. I also have about 5 pieces of structure dropped in at different areas. two aerorators are present as well. one side of the pond has nothing on the shoreline but cut grass while the other side borders a woodline with pine trees and a few others, along with some bushes, all close to the water. Starting this spring, we have stocked 20 lbs. of minnows in spring and fall. We have largemouth, bluegill, channel cats, and a few carp. We had some hybrid striper but I have removed what I have caught lately since their diets can hurt the largemouth. There may still be one left.
My problem is that the bass I've been catching are just too small. Yesterday I caught one that had the larger head and mouth yet had a body that appeared to not even match, as it was skinny and smaller. Anyone have any advice? My father treats the pond to the point that there is not vegetation and just the mud bottom. I compensate by putting in pallet and tree structures, but is it enough? Or does the skinny fish even have anything at all to do with the vegetation?
