Pond Management help: where’d the big ones go

[Pbrl]

Hey guys! 
 

So I am looking for some help trying to revive my pond. It is a little over 5 acres and just about 4-5 years ago we could consistently pull large numbers of fish with a good amount of good 3lb+ mixed in the bunch. The past few years though...absolutely brutal. Struggle to catch more than 10 in a full day of fishing it and they’re all dinks. Now the biggest change of the pond in the past 4 years. Is it is completely filled with vegetation now. Even in the deeper portions they are visible at about 2ft under the surface and the rest of the pond is just miserable to fish. We put around 45 grass carp in last summer and I know that takes at least a couple years until they start making a difference. But could that be the only reason the fish are consistently smaller now? 
 

any help or recommendations are appreciated and thank y’all in advance.

[the reel ess]

I fish several different ponds. In one the bass are hopelessly stunted. Vegetation is not bad for bass, just for people. I'm inclined to say they've gotten stunted due to the lack of forage. It can happen when the bluegill or primary forage get too large to eat or they're competing for the same food-minnows. There aren't enough small bluegill for the bass to eat anymore. Feeding the bluegills tends to produce more offspring and increase the forage. But you may be able to add a forage species, like golden shiners.

 

But I'd contact some local authority for advice. Around here we have the clemson university agriculture extension offices located around the state. They may even come take a look for free. It's better to consult a pro to develop a game plan.

[WRB]

Search Bob Lusk The Pond Boss.

Tom

[Pbrl]

Thank you guys! I will take a look at that!

[fishingtx]

the reason you are only catching dinks is because there are to many bass in that  pond, get a biologist to help you and he will tell you how many pounds to take out every year, then add a particular forge, then, try to use the same bait or similar baits every time you go fishing out there for about a year so the fresh bass from this spawn will have time, room, and food to grow, and they won't have seen every bait that you have in your box

as for the algae, grass carp and aquatic safe herbicide

 

[Pbrl]

6 hours ago, bass4life.... said:

the reason you are only catching dinks is because there are to many bass in that  pond, get a biologist to help you and he will tell you how many pounds to take out every year, then add a particular forge, then, try to use the same bait or similar baits every time you go fishing out there for about a year so the fresh bass from this spawn will have time, room, and food to grow, and they won't have seen every bait that you have in your box

as for the algae, grass carp and aquatic safe herbicide.

Thank you! From what I have been reading I need to pull out about 150lbs of bass so that mission will start this weekend.