6lb Bass in a 0.01 Acre Urban Pond

[MartinTheFisherman]

Hello,

 

I was just fishing yesterday (no bites) and, I saw this guy that was on his kayak fishing the pond I was also so I decided to see if he had caught anything. He said no but told me that he once caught a 6lb bass, (he also showed me a picture) the official record in NH is 10lb 8oz, so that bass was big for here. So my question is how can a bass living in a 0.01-acre pond which is a HEAVILY pressured be 6lbs?!? The pond doesn't even have minnows or shad, but there are tons of bluegill. Sorry for this pretty stupid question, but I just can't wrap my head around this.

 

Confused,

Martin Sierra   

[webertime]

You sure about the size of the pond?  That's like 425 sq ft.  I know that's possible to support one.  My brother had a tiny pond with a 6 in it that he used to feed, but that fish was put in there and was a pet.  A naturally produced 6lber in that space would be at the extreme end of "it's possible."

[MartinTheFisherman]

It's 500sq feet

 

The pond isn't stocked, so I guess it was naturally produced ?‍♂️

 

[kenmitch]

How do you kayak fish a pond that's the size of a swimming pool? Maybe the better question is why would you.

 

Maybe somebody is practicing pond management? It seems logical to at least throw a few bass into a pond even if it's intended to be a bluegill fishery. Without any predators you'll just wind up with a whole bunch of tiny bluegills fighting over the limited food supply.

 

Bigger bass live in the aquariums at your local Bass Pro Shops. 

[redmexican5081]

How were you both able to be fishing 500 sf of pond at the same time if he was in a kayak.  Are you sure of your size estimate.  Was this Sandy Pond in Nashua because it's more like 500 x 500, and yes there are a few giants in there.

[jbsoonerfan]

He was fishing a 500 sq ft pond out of a kayak? That is like a 25' swimming pool

[MartinTheFisherman]

Ya it is Sandy Pond

[fishballer06]

I just Google satellite imaged the pond in question and from comparison to the houses around it, I'd say the pond is probably an acre in size. 

 

That being said, yes. I do believe a pond that size can maintain a 6lb bass. 

[jbsoonerfan]

That is WAY bigger than 500 sq ft. Yes, it could easily hold a 6 lber, probably more than a few in there.

[MartinTheFisherman]

@jbsoonerfan @fishballer06

 

I used the measuring tool available on Google Maps cause im not very good in calculating the distance of the pond, it said it was around 500ft by 500ft, but when I completely circled it was 3 acres...   Im just so confused now

 

 

 

[jbsoonerfan]

159,578 sq ft is just a touch bigger than 500 

[J Francho]

I've seen multiple 5s come from a specific pond that is not much more than an acre.  Blue gill are the forage as well.

[Arcs&sparks]

A football field is 1.32 acres.  It helps to have a comparison when estimating the size of an area. 

[redmexican5081]

This particular pond is going to have bluegill, perch, a small population of golden shiners and craws as forage plus whatever terrestrials might happen into it.  The larger fish I have seen caught from it came on live bait.  Illegal as it is, I saw a 4-5" bluegill that was live lined under a cork produced one right around 5lbs from the lily pad field near the splash pad area in ~2005ish

[MartinTheFisherman]

45 minutes ago, redmexican5081 said:

This particular pond is going to have bluegill, perch, a small population of golden shiners and craws as forage plus whatever terrestrials might happen into it.  The larger fish I have seen caught from it came on live bait.  Illegal as it is, I saw a 4-5" bluegill that was live lined under a cork produced one right around 5lbs from the lily pad field near the splash pad area in ~2005ish

I've been there many times but have never seen any minnows... maybe I don't look hard enough...

 

Thanks for the info

[redmexican5081]

Not from this pond, but this is close to the size golden shiners you will find in there.  Use the bobber and worm for scale.

[MartinTheFisherman]

That's a huge shiner!!

 

[CrankFate]

My first big bass, when I was 10 or 11, came from a small pond in a very secluded area. We thought the old man who said there’s fish that can eat you in there was just kidding. I caught it on a wacky rigged half a live worm, so it might not count, though.

[Deleted account]

Challenge the whole .01 acres thing, that's like the size of my bed room (including the gabled alcove).

[Hi-Powered Red Neck]

I think y'all are getting too hung up on the size of the pond. What Martin was asking is how can such a small pond produce such a big fish. All most of you could see was his size estimate. It's a small pond geez! Let's not get all caught up in square footage. If some guy is kayak fishing in it whats the big deal. Maybe he doest have the time to travel to a larger body of water but still has the jones to launch the boat. I've put my Bass Raider 10E in some ponds small enough to cast across. It's kind of a I've fished that pond and that pond ect. I know of several acre ish pond in my area that have resident big bass. There might only be one big female in a little pond, but theres always one. Bass are apex predator they will eat most anything that crosses their path. If the pond has a decent bluegill population you can bet theres a bass keeping the population in check. 

[Koz]

The lagoon behind my father's house is only 1/3 of an acre and the biggest bass I've pulled out of there was 5.5 pounds. I've caught a couple of 4's in there as well.

[CrankFate]

On 5/3/2019 at 5:39 PM, Hi-Powered Red Neck said:

I think y'all are getting too hung up on the size of the pond. What Martin was asking is how can such a small pond produce such a big fish. All most of you could see was his size estimate. It's a small pond geez! Let's not get all caught up in square footage. If some guy is kayak fishing in it whats the big deal. Maybe he doest have the time to travel to a larger body of water but still has the jones to launch the boat. I've put my Bass Raider 10E in some ponds small enough to cast across. It's kind of a I've fished that pond and that pond ect. I know of several acre ish pond in my area that have resident big bass. There might only be one big female in a little pond, but theres always one. Bass are apex predator they will eat most anything that crosses their path. If the pond has a decent bluegill population you can bet theres a bass keeping the population in check. 

I know I can get flamed on this, but fish that eat less often get bigger than fish that eat all the time. I don’t know why. But if you grow fish in a fish tank and feed them once a week, they get bigger than if you feed them every day. This happens for most types of fish. I feed my fish once a week for bigger fish and only twice a week for small community fish because it keeps the water clean and I’m too lazy to keep changing the water every few days. Less food makes them longer, more food makes them thicker. My theory is they get longer when they spend long periods of time eating very little and then when they finally get more food after they grew long from not really eating, they get fat. This can make big fish in small ponds very likely based on what I observed in my fish tanks over the years. I assume a small bass has to eat small things. If it grows big from not eating much, it can then eat bigger things like blue gills and small catfish. Once it gets big enough to eat the bluegills and cats, which are probably decent sized, it’ll get fat. That might be why they get bigger faster eating less food (so they can survive to eat bigger things sooner) and why small ponds can hold big bass. Just my theory based on my laziness with cleaning my fish tank over the last 23 or so years.

 

Yes, I know. It’s a problem. I spend way too much time thinking about fish.

[WRB]

Under ideal conditions 1 acre pond can support a few big LMB. The water needs to be well oxygenated with balanced ph, deep water and constant supply of renewable prey sources. 

We had a rock quarry pond about a football field in size, 40' deep* with a trout stream flowing in and out keeping the pond supplied with everything needed for big bass to grow big and healthy. Private fenced property with a guard to keep everyone out only the owner Pete Livingston had access to fish his quarry ponds. As kids we crawled under the fence and fished there until being chased out, we couldn't carry the bass we caught so it was C & R by necessity. My biggest bass was 12 lbs on a D Liar pocket scale caught using a live sucker from the stream as bait. The property had 3 ponds, the deepest was the smallest with a big pump to supply water to the sand and gravel plant, it also had crystal clear water with big bass.

Tom

* the pump tower had a water level scale 40' was full.