Over-Populated Pond?

[Missourifishin]

I have access to a friend's pond. The pond is about an acre and a half, and 12-15 feet deep in it's deepest spots. The only person who fishes it regularly is a 10 year old girl who practices catch and release. I fished it about 10 times last year, but haven't been out there this year at all.

It can be kind of a fun place to fish, because the fish bite constantly. I get so busy catching and releasing fish off the dock that I hardly have time to take a drink, which results in hot beer in the summer time

I've caught several decent channel cats there, and an occasional crappie. But mostly it's just non stop bass and bluegill. And ALL of the bass are tiny.

I'm wondering if this abundance of tiny bass, and apparent lack of any decent sized bass is caused by overpopulation. I've had people tell me that if the little bass are there, the bigger ones should be too. I don't see it though. I've tried a variety of baits and lures. But have yet to see a bass larger than 8 or at the most 10 inches long.

Any ideas?

[MO_LMB]

If there's crappie, they are competing with the bass for forage and probably stunting their growth. You need to have yourself a fish fry.

[Missourifishin]

If there's crappie, they are competing with the bass for forage and probably stunting their growth. You need to have yourself a fish fry.

Interesting. There are crappie in there. But if I had to guess, I'd say the bass have them outnumbered at least 20 to 1.

[Catt]

Zatarian's Cajun Fish Fry

[aquaholic]

I fish a pond similar to you. I didnt think it held big fish, i could catch a crappie or bass a cast. I got sick of it real quick so i started throwing big baits. Ended up catching a 5lber. Big baits dont always catch big fish, but it will eliminate a lot of small ones

[Bluebasser86]

Crappie can be bad news for a pond but it doesn't sound like they're overpopulated in your pond. If the bass are big enough to be worth keeping and your friend doesn't mind I'd get out there early in the year and keep a bunch of them to have a fish fry or give to someone else. If there's enough of them you may have to do it a few times. If there isn't enough food for them to grow big they'll get stunted like that sometimes.

You may contact your state DNR. Some of them will sample the pond and give you suggestions on what you can do to improve the fish populations and fishing. 

[Missourifishin]

Crappie can be bad news for a pond but it doesn't sound like they're overpopulated in your pond. If the bass are big enough to be worth keeping and your friend doesn't mind I'd get out there early in the year and keep a bunch of them to have a fish fry or give to someone else. If there's enough of them you may have to do it a few times. If there isn't enough food for them to grow big they'll get stunted like that sometimes.

You may contact your state DNR. Some of them will sample the pond and give you suggestions on what you can do to improve the fish populations and fishing. 

Yeah, I was thinking that perhaps frying up a lot of the little bass, and maybe some of the little crappie and bluegill too might help the situation.

[roadwarrior]

I suspect the DNR will recommend removing ALL the bass you catch. You probably can't kill enough.

[FD.]

Yep, take as many of the crappie and small bass out as you can.  I manage a 2.5 acre pond that we are trying to raise trophies.  We don't have crappies but we have huge tilapia.  Last week with some fish pellets and a cast net, my boys took home a 5 gal bucket of fillets.  

 

Here is your best source of management info  http://www.pondboss.com/

[Robdog]

The usual treatment to fix that kind of pond is to remove all the fish in the pond and stock it with a particular number of each species. The DNR just recently closed a lake here (John D Long Lake in Union SC) to do that very thing. They said the lake would be closed to the public for at least two years. Their plan is to remove all the fish possible and drain the lake. Then reflood it and stock it according to the instruction of their biologists. That lake used to be a good lake and then got to be like your lake. So call your state officials and see what they can do to help.

[bigbill]

A few years back we had a winter kill. There were large bass frozen in the ice all over the place. It's mother nature's way of limiting the numbers of bass in one body of water. Our governments survey about what size bass we could eat to keep the population of bass up. They said to eat the smaller bass.

[Bankbeater]

We have the same thing in a lake near my house.  99% of the bass will be under a pound, but look out for the 1%.  That bass will be a 6 or 7 pounder.

[zwhiten12]

A good fish fry will solve the problem

[Missourifishin]

A good fish fry will solve the problem

It will have to be one hell of a fish fry, but that's probably what we'll do.

[moguy1973]

The Missouri Department of Conservation will come out and shock the lake to let you know what's in it.  They will also guide you on how to make it a better fishing late too.

 

Here's a good manual they have produced about how to take care of a small private pond

 

http://mdc.mo.gov/sites/default/files/resources/2010/05/mopondhandbook_2011.pdf

[Paul Roberts]

Dunno. Few ponds are "balanced" in terms of size classes. One pond I used to fish gave up mostly smalls. But it also gave up a 4, 5, 6, and 7lber that summer. It may have to do with actual fish sizes present or the way you spend your time fishing it. When you mention catching bluegills and tiny bass all day it sounds like you are targeting things with small mouths. Lures that will most likely attract mature bass aren't going to catch bluegills. Also your mention of bluegills and catfish suggest you are fishing bait. Lures tend to be, generally speaking, more effective for mature largemouths.

 

But overpopulations can happen, mostly when there aren't enough larger predators around. Here are a couple photos I took years ago illustrating such a scenario:

 

This bass was 10 1/2 inches long and was one of over 100 I caught on the particular day. It was the largest I caught that day. Notice its large head and emaciated body. Too many mouths of the same size competing for too little food.

 

 

That very winter heavy snows capped off that shallow pond and caused an enormous winterkill. Thousands of bass were found dead following spring ice-out. Almost all were 7 to 9inches. There were only about a half dozen that ran 2 to 4lbs -the only ones able to jump the bottleneck and start eating the little bass.

 

About three or so years later (I'd have to check my journal to know exactly) I fished it again and found a very different story. The fishing was excellent for decent chunks running about 2lbs a piece. More food to go around.

 

[Missourifishin]

Paul, I have fished it with bait. But I spent the majority of the time fishing with lures. I actually had bluegill hitting a crankbait, in some cases I had a bluegill bite a crank that was the same size as it was.

[jiggerpole]

One thing you can check into, especially if it's a private pond, is to contact a fisheries biologist and explain what the deal is with this lake and if the property owner is in agreement you may be able to hire the use of the shock barge for an hourly rate. Here it is about $350.00 and hour.

 

You can take out a tremendous ammount of fish with this meathod in an hour. Just a thought. And you would have a professionals input on the matter. Good Luck.