Why Is There No Fish Over 15In In Private Pond

[Philip Emmons]

I have been fishing a pond since I was 8 caught a 5 lbs bass and I'm 25 now and have never caught anything over 3lbs. I have thrown large swimbaits (huddleston,deps,bbz,river2sea) to try to find the big bass but nothing. It is about 3 acres has vegetation lots of shell rock on the dam I have sunk christmas tree all around the pond. Put buckets of crawdads & creek chubs. I have put many bass 5,6,7lbs and have never caught any. I'm the only one to fish the pond. So what I'm asking is is why isn't there any quality bass. Huge bluegill and crappie and grass carp snagged one 76lbs. Stupid big. Any ideas? BTW I'm in KY

[HoosierHawgs]

Its stunted

[Dwight Hottle]

Well since you put them in there they have to be there unless someone is poaching your pond. The large crappie are competitors of the bass so you might want to take them out. They are good to eat.

If you really can't catch any fish over 3lbs try fishing a live gill as bait & see what happens. You could also have the pond shocked.

[CeeJay]

I have been fishing a pond since I was 8 caught a 5 lbs bass and I'm 25 now and have never caught anything over 3lbs. I have thrown large swimbaits (huddleston,deps,bbz,river2sea) to try to find the big bass but nothing. It is about 3 acres has vegetation lots of shell rock on the dam I have sunk christmas tree all around the pond. Put buckets of crawdads & creek chubs. I have put many bass 5,6,7lbs and have never caught any. I'm the only one to fish the pond. So what I'm asking is is why isn't there any quality bass. Huge bluegill and crappie and grass carp snagged one 76lbs. Stupid big. Any ideas? BTW I'm in KY

 

Catch that 76 pound grass carp legitimately and you'll own the new Kentucky state record, which is currently 58.5 pounds. 

[Neil McCauley]

I have been fishing a pond since I was 8 caught a 5 lbs bass and I'm 25 now and have never caught anything over 3lbs. I have thrown large swimbaits (huddleston,deps,bbz,river2sea) to try to find the big bass but nothing. It is about 3 acres has vegetation lots of shell rock on the dam I have sunk christmas tree all around the pond. Put buckets of crawdads & creek chubs. I have put many bass 5,6,7lbs and have never caught any. I'm the only one to fish the pond. So what I'm asking is is why isn't there any quality bass. Huge bluegill and crappie and grass carp snagged one 76lbs. Stupid big. Any ideas? BTW I'm in KY

I'd say there's one problem.

Actually it's probably temperature. Ponds heat up and cool down too quickly. Bass metabolisms need that middleground temperature in spring/fall for growth.

 

[the reel ess]

I believe your big fish died. If your pond is stunted and you introduce big bass to it, they can't compete. You need to manage that pond by harvesting smallish fish. You should probably keep everything you catch for a while. As you notice the size increasing, set a slot limit of maybe 2 lb max. As you remove competition for bait average size will increase. I'm also reading lately that you should feed the bream to help them spawn repeatedly in the spring. The healthier they are the more bait will be in the pond.

 

A stunted pond is really hard to overcome without putting some fishing pressure on it. You might need others to help. But beware, the fish will become fewer and more educated.

 

I have two friends with ponds and they both want me to keep fish. Both are a bit stunted. In one I've caught a 6.5# yeras ago but none bigger than 3 since. In the other I caught a 5 and a 3 this spring. But the average in both is less than 12".

[BASSPATROL247]

I have been fishing a pond since I was 8 caught a 5 lbs bass and I'm 25 now and have never caught anything over 3lbs. I have thrown large swimbaits (huddleston,deps,bbz,river2sea) to try to find the big bass but nothing. It is about 3 acres has vegetation lots of shell rock on the dam I have sunk christmas tree all around the pond. Put buckets of crawdads & creek chubs. I have put many bass 5,6,7lbs and have never caught any. I'm the only one to fish the pond. So what I'm asking is is why isn't there any quality bass. Huge bluegill and crappie and grass carp snagged one 76lbs. Stupid big. Any ideas? BTW I'm in KY

I beleive you may have answered your own question...

[MassBass]

cull every fish you catch. The pond is probably grossly overpopulated. 

[BASSPATROL247]

You need to start keeping bass from that pond even if you don't eat them. You need to persecute those dinks if you want there to be more large fish. At least for a while, keep everything you catch. I'm also recently reading that you should feed the bluegills because they can spawn more times in a season, producing more bait, if they're well-fed. Understand that bass size is merely a function of baitfish and competition for them.

X2 huge gills and crappies r an indicator to me..there arent too many bodys of water that have huge fish of several species, there has to be almost perfect enviroments for many to thrive and nature dont let that happen often and even if someone does everything possible to create one dont guarantee sucsess..do what the poster i X2'd, that would be the easiest way you may get results from...and id get them carp outta there too...the eat alot and tear up vegutation...

[Sam]

Too many bass in the pond for the pond to support.

Add in the crappie and bream and the bass are just surviving and not growing.

Try adding some minnows into the pond when you can and as stated above, start to harvest what you catch and be sure to consume it.

[Bluebasser86]

I agree that you're pond is probably overpopulated. I wouldn't be worried about the big bass you put in there not being able to compete, but it sounds like there's so much food in there that they're probably almost impossible to catch without using livebait. I would try thinning out a bunch of bass and crappie, which can quickly overpopulate a pond, and see if that helps. I don't know if you can there but here you can have a state biologist come out and sample your pond and give you ideas on how to properly manage it depending on your management goals.

[Raul]

Too many bass and too little forage, keep those dinks.

[MrBigFishSC]

You say there are lots of small fish but no big fish. I would be more concerned if there were no small fish. This would indicate the panfish and others are depleting the bass fry. I agree with everyone that you should cull especially the crappie who proliferate and devour. Have you heavily fished the spawn? In the small bodies I fish the only time you catch fish over 5lbs is the spawn. You would be shocked at the size of fish in there that you can rarely catch at other times. Live bait is the ticket for targeting these fish other than the spawn. Its tough to fool them at other times.

[Canyon explorer]

You have more fish than the pond can nourish. Cull out a bunch.

[JayKumar]

Keep the small bass and the panfish, eventually you'll have some nice bass.

[kayakamania]

My friend has a small pond (about 5 acres) and every year he tries to take out at least 100 of the larger bluegill and some of the smaller largemouth. He also purchases 100 lbs of herring every few years. The bass that are left are huge. You have to thin the herd.

[Ratherbfishing]

When the local pond was "swept" of all its larger bass by a couple of (cough cough) bucket fishermen, the remaining bass had a tough time competing with each other AND the remaining population of bluegill.  There weren't THAT many bass left so I started catching and keeping bluegill.  I believe that has helped.