Check It Out: Bill Dance Says You Need To Harvest Pond/small Lake Bass

[the reel ess]

https://www.facebook.com/billdance/videos/926920440713538/

 

The #1 reason for losing the quality of bass on small waters is lack of harvesting. Not harvesting = not managing.

[Darren.]

Hmmm. Interesting information. I suppose he'd have some

knowledge of that given he builds lakes (if I recall correctly).

 

Often wondered about that, should I ever be fortunate enough

to have my own pond/lake.

[Glenn]

Absolutely!  Yes, you need - no MUST - harvest in a small pond.  Otherwise you'll get a ton of stunted, small bass.  You also need to balance the forage as well.

 

We have a ton of information on this here: http://www.bassresource.com/lake-management/

 

Read up!

[Catt]

Catch & Release aint always best

[Eric Montes Polk FL]

You've got to clear yearling to ensure the larger fish have food. Over population is never good. You'll have some very skinny fish that are long with big heads and no belly lol

[WPCfishing]

There's a lake in Ct. I fish occasionally. It's loaded with

bass. It's not uncommon to catch a dozen in a couple hours.

About 20% of them will be 3 plus pounds. The balance

mixed.. More importantly at least 20% will be skinny.

It makes sense they should be taken. For me.. It would

have to be a kill. I don't eat them.

Next time I fish there I suppose it's going to be ugly.

[davecon]

Here in Florida the game commission is FINALLY going to change the minimum size for harvest to 12 inches. Personally I think thats long over due. That , combined with max size limits for harvesting should improve the overall quality of fishing.

Too many bass = small bass.

[Dwight Hottle]

Lots of support to pull all bass under 15" when a pond is producing stunted fish.

[bigbill]

In one of my smaller lakes in ct over a decade ago we had a winter kill. The ice fisherman said there was big bass, small bass dead frozen in the ice. Nature weeds out the over population. Now we have slot limits.

[Missourifishin]

I know a guy who has a lake about an acre in size, maybe a little bigger. You can sit on the dock, throw out live bait and catch about a fish per minute if you could get them off the hook fast enough. All of them are stunted bass and bluegill. Generally, after taking about 90 of them of the hook I'll catch a good sized channel cat though. 

I believe not harvesting is the reason. He doesn't let anyone fish it except me and a 12 year old girl who never keeps anything. I occasionally keep a catfish to eat. But I feel bad when I do because they are the only good fish he has in there.

[tander]

I use to fish about a 15 acre lake. The owner only let a few fish but didn't want you to keep any fish. It got to where you could only catch smaller fish, I told the owner that he need to start keeping a bunch of the smaller fish but he didn't buy it. I finally quit fishing it.Some people just will not listen.

[Fishes in trees]

Early to mid 80's, there used to be a 40 acre lake, south of Columbia, that had that same issue.   I was one of a few individuals who had access to the property.  Anyway - keep all those little bass - fillet them all.  Tempura party!!

After half a decade of fishing this lake with numerous 30 to 50 fish days and 20 or so 100 fish days, the balance of the pond gradually got better.   We went from never catching a fish over 12" to every so often catching one in the 14" range to where every 5th or 6th fish was a solid 15"+ keeper.   I ate a lot of fish during those years.    I got real good at catching small bass using 4 or 6 lb test and 3/16 oz Brewer Slider rigs.

 

Me, I'd do that pond owner a favor and take several hundred small bass out of his pond and see what happens.   Consider it your personal protein source.

[scaleface]

I would love for the Missouri Conservation Department to implement a slot limit on Mark Twain Lake , my local lake . I would gladly fillet as many of those small bass allowed . 

[BaitMonkey1984]

I fish a small lake, not a pond but really not big body of water. It had issues with overpopulation of panfish (sunfish/white perch) a few years ago. I started harvesting those heavily for a year. That problem is now resolved. Not sure if it was because of my harvesting, or simply nature. But my efforts couldn't have hurt. I have noticed the fish getting smaller- all slot size fish. I don't keep a lot but I do keep some every year. And I get slack from everyone. They taste great if you know how to prepare them, and your improving the fishery. 

 

Stop with the emotional resistance associated with eating this fish, it is delicious. 

[gardnerjigman]

It's no different than managing deer populations. People just see it differently because they can drive by and see the deer in the field vs not being able to see what is in the pond. 

[the reel ess]

I use to fish about a 15 acre lake. The owner only let a few fish but didn't want you to keep any fish. It got to where you could only catch smaller fish, I told the owner that he need to start keeping a bunch of the smaller fish but he didn't buy it. I finally quit fishing it.Some people just will not listen.

Some people on this board still won't listen. You can't convince them because B.A.S.S. drilled their heads full of it in the '70s,  80's and 90's. That's why I copied/pasted this short video. I'm guilty too though. I go out in the kayak and don't keep any sometimes because it's too inconvenient. My family asked me to stop bringing them home because I was cooking them several times a week.

 

A rule of thumb is to harvest 20-25 lbs/acre/year of bass. Even more on the bluegill, just keep all of those. I never even fish for bluegill...anywhere.

[WIGuide]

There's a few lakes around here that have that issue. It's not even just the really small lakes, bass can overpopulate many bodies of water if not properly managed. Catch and release is a great thing, but keeping some small ones for dinner isn't as bad as many make it out to be here. 

[BassObsessed]

There's a pond about an hour from me that are friends of the family that is stunted in a big way. The fish have been established for over 20 years and it's overloaded with bass around a pound . Some a little bigger, alot that are smaller. 10 acre clear pond that ranges from 10-27ft deep and Iv'e caught bluegill on crankbaits not meaning to that were 2lbs. It's a bit too far for me and I'm too busy to spend days and days to catch bass under 12 inches and take em outta there. Ironically I'll be fishing this pond Sunday to see if these dinks will eat a swimbait up to 8 inches.

[Glenn]

I once fished at a place called "Trophy Country" that was anything but (a few BR members know what I'm talking about).  While catching dozens, if not hundreds of small bass kept you entertained, it was clear the lakes lacked any sort of management.  I think the "big fish" caught among 6 anglers was maybe 3 pounds caught by yours truly - surely nothing to boast about in a place called "Trophy Country".

 

I guess the place is more known for their deer hunting opportunities than fishing.  But with a thoughtful harvesting plan, those "trophy" lakes could surely produce some fantastic monster fish.  Sad to see that the place had no such management program in place.

[the reel ess]

I once fished at a place called "Trophy Country" that was anything but (a few BR members know what I'm talking about).  While catching dozens, if not hundreds of small bass kept you entertained, it was clear the lakes lacked any sort of management.  I think the "big fish" caught among 6 anglers was maybe 3 pounds caught by yours truly - surely nothing to boast about in a place called "Trophy Country".

 

I guess the place is more known for their deer hunting opportunities than fishing.  But with a thoughtful harvesting plan, those "trophy" lakes could surely produce some fantastic monster fish.  Sad to see that the place had no such management program in place.

My friend's +/-4 acre pond is full of hungry, stunted bass. It's a great place to use an ultralight combo with a Beetle Spin or a baby craw crankbait. The bluegill are enormous there, with very few small, bait-size. He understands harvesting but doesn't do enough of it and I can't fish enough there to put a dent in them. When I go there, I'll leave almost everything I catch in his basket or take it. But honestly, it's not fun for me at this age to catch a lot of tiny bass. I'd trade 50 1 lb bass for 1 5 lb any day. And I'll fish all day for that solitary 5 lb bass.

[.ghoti.]

I once fished at a place called "Trophy Country" that was anything but (a few BR members know what I'm talking about).  While catching dozens, if not hundreds of small bass kept you entertained, it was clear the lakes lacked any sort of management.  I think the "big fish" caught among 6 anglers was maybe 3 pounds caught by yours truly - surely nothing to boast about in a place called "Trophy Country".

 

I guess the place is more known for their deer hunting opportunities than fishing.  But with a thoughtful harvesting plan, those "trophy" lakes could surely produce some fantastic monster fish.  Sad to see that the place had no such management program in place.

I wish you could have been there when we first started fishing it. It truly was trophy country.

[Topwaterspook]

I've been selected to initiate an improvement effort on two of the "stunted" lakes at our club. The biggest opposition I've encountered is from older members who still adhere to the total catch and release theory. You can literally catch dozens of 8-9 inch bass in an hour. I have finally gotten enough support from other members to sway the directors board to allow and finance minimal changes. This revolves around building and installing artificial cover, elimination of hundreds of small bass and possibly some supplemental feeding. Convincing the membership has been a year long uphill battle. I hope myself and other volunteers can secure some success over the next few years. Watching Bob Lusk and reading the Pond Boss website has provided a wealth of information. At the very least we've gotten the ball rolling.

[Paul Roberts]

Problem is, the bass that are most apt to be killed are the big ones. That hurts.

[gulfcaptain]

I have a pond close to where I live.  Bad part, people started harvesting the larger fish which then led to 3 years of small 8-10" bass.  Well from my understanding someone placed approx 20 to 30  4+lb fish in there.  Needless to say, last year we had good grass growth, and now you catch a few quality fish.  Hard to find a 8" bass like before.  And the few large fish we catch are healthy. Guess they have eaten most of the stunted bass and now the bluegill population has also rebounded back.  Now we have a local "pond watch" to keep people from poaching the larger fish using live bluegill since a few runs with the Game Wardens for no fishing license and well illeagal fishing activities has brought our little pond back to a nice place to teach the younger generation about fishing.  Nothing agaist someone fishing legally and harvesting a few of the smaller fish, but the larger fish unless they are sick should be returned to keep the pond in balance.

[the reel ess]

I've been selected to initiate an improvement effort on two of the "stunted" lakes at our club. The biggest opposition I've encountered is from older members who still adhere to the total catch and release theory. You can literally catch dozens of 8-9 inch bass in an hour.

They'll never believe. Just like the old timers that believe you can't hurt a fishery no matter how many trophies go into the bucket, they'll die with that attitude.