Pond Bass Sizes

[John J.]

I've got some questions....

First to set the scene, we built an acre and a half pond on our property which is constantly fed by a creek (which is fed by underground springs; so there's constantly cold water running). We stocked it over the summer last year with bass (1-3" fingerlings), crappie (hand sized), bluegill (hand sized; redear and hybrid), albino catfish (2-4 inches) and 15 pounds of fat head minnows.

The questions I have are:

#1.) How long (years, months, days, etc.) will it take for the BASS in the pond to reach a catchable size? (6-12")

#2.) How big would they be this spring? Will they be able to spawn?

#3.) Is it possible for all the crappie and bluegill to eat the small bass?

#4.) Over the summer last year I remember that the water temp (Yes, I went swimming lol) on the surface was about 80 degrees and then the temperature 3" below that was cold (maybe 60s). Would it be possible for the constant cold water to make the fish sluggish? or will they move up towards the surface for the warm water?

#5.) There's a small "inlet" basically at one end of the pond, where the depth is REALLY shallow! And there's plenty of grass around it. Will they (bass and other fish) spawn in those grasses? or will they move out deeper a little? (the deepest part of the pond is 7')

#6.) Right now it's winter (I am sure we could all see that) and the pond is pretty much frozen and the water is cold...if the pond isn't but 7' deep at the dam, where would be the best place to fish? There's no structure in the pond yet, the bottom is irregular though because is was made with a backhoe. My guesses where either...

A.) At the dam

B.) The little cove where the creek runs in

C.) The shallow flats where they chase the smaller fish (because there's tons of little fish up near the bank) or

D.) In the middle of the pond on the gradual slope in 4-5 foot of water.

Thanks! 8-)

[Catt]

My suggestion would be to contact your states department of Wildlife and Fisheries; in most cases they will send out a biologist who will study your pond and tell you what is required for your pond to succeed.

[T-rig]

You should of waited to stock the crappie and sunfish until the bass were bigger.

They probably been all eaten!

[John J.]

You should of waited to stock the crappie and sunfish until the bass were bigger.

They probably been all eaten!

I had no part in ordering the fish...that was Dad! All I did was put them in...

If it were up to me I would have gone out and caught some nice size bass (1-3 pounds) and THEN stocked the smaller bass and then added the panfish but I would have had the panfish to be about the same size as the bass...

Hopefully with all the minnows in the pond the panfish will leave the bass alone and go after the minnows...just in case I am going out this summer to our local lake and catching a few bass (1-2 pounds, etc.) and stocking the pond once more...There's already a few bass in the pond that are about that size, and there's a few catfish which are about 12" in length.

When the guy stocked the pond he told us what to do, but I still feel there's more to it...

[Wayne P.]

I heard a quote from Ray Scott once about stocking a lake. He said if you want a good bass lake, do not put crappie in it. They compete for the same food (minows)

[Pond-Pro]

Crappie and large bluegill will compete with the bass for forage.  This is not good.  I would not recomend crappie in the same pond with bass.

I'm not sure how fast the bass will grow.

The bass will probably spawn in the shallow area around the grass.  But if the water is real clear they might move out deaper.

I dont think that the crappie and panfish will eat all the small bass.

The best place to fish now is probably where the water is the clearest.

Hope that helps. Good luck!  

[John J.]

In order to catch the fish now I have to break through 5" of ice lol!  ;D

Like I said if this was MY pond bass and small bluegill and small catfish would be the only fish in the pond. The pond is a great ecosystem, we put fertilizer in there (increase the algae growth), checked the pH it is fine, it naturally has bugs, crayfish and small fish in there (from the feeder creek) and grass grown when we seeded the pond (where the water flooded the grass) to replenish the oxygen.

This summer I am going to catch some crappie and eat them. My dad read that crappie and all were not good for a pond! but yet he wanted to stock them any way...There isn't a lot of crappie, but still those crappie will spawn and more and more crappie will emerge. I just hope the catfish will keep the panfish population managed. If not, I will manage the population myself. Any bass I catch this summer at the pond I will release but take note of the size to determine how fast they are growing. Crappie or Bluegill, I will keep to eat.

My dad said he stocked the pond with full grown crappie to give us something to fish for now, instead of waiting a few years on the bass. But even still I know the crappie will take over! Every year we will restock the fathead minnows, that will give them more to eat. Another plus to it is we feed the fish during the summer with those protein rich fish pellets. So instead of eating minnows they will at least eat the pellets...

I can see the pond to be productive in the future. It is a perfect ecosystem! I would just like to have a more variety of cover to hide in and make it feel more like "home" to them. Even though dad doesn't want the pond looking "trashy" with a whole bunch of junk. So instead of cutting down trees and leaving them on the bank extending into the water. I will just make a few pallet covers (which I've done) and maybe sink a few trees in the dam or deeper parts.

The shallow area is REALLY CLEAR. I think they will spawn (personally) about 10 feet from the shallow cove in 3-4 foot of water. Basically where I am thinking about sinking my first pallet. I will draw (on MS Paint) a basic rough sketch of the pond and show you all the depths, locations and physical aspects of the pond...and I will post it tomorrow. From there you guys can give me a more "in depth" look of the pond (no pun intended).

God bless  8-)

[John J.]

Here's the pond concept...it is color coded so sorry for the looks...

The grass are in the 0-2' area around the cove extending all the way around the bank line to the spill pipe and stopping there. Some grass (due to the fertilizer) is growing in the feeder creek. My guess is the fish are holding around either the green, yellow or red area (basically 5-7 foot range), but I could be wrong...

The pond like I said is one and a half acres big... 8-)

God bless  

[howtobass]

one day when i win the lotto... i willl make my own pond...... awww to dream my friend.... to dream....

[T-rig]

Welcome howtobass! Yes, a private pond would be really neat!

[bass_101]

If you oringionally stocked your pond with ADULT size crappies, 4" and up, and baby bass, minnow size... the crappie probably feasted on the bass when you stocked them.  If I were you I'd begin fishing with a tiny hook and a small piece of night crawler under a bobber.  This provides a meal to everything in that pond and will give you a better idea of the average sized fish.  Also, if you live in the northern states, which is obvious because your pond is frozen, then the fish will take about 6 years I THINK to reach roughly 3 pounds.  That is dependant on the population of other fish, as well as the food base avaliable.  I hope the pond turns out good in the long run.  I'd fish right off the dam this spring because its deeper, plus there is shallow water near by.  Good luck.

[John J.]

If you oringionally stocked your pond with ADULT size crappies, 4" and up, and baby bass, minnow size... the crappie probably feasted on the bass when you stocked them. If I were you I'd begin fishing with a tiny hook and a small piece of night crawler under a bobber. This provides a meal to everything in that pond and will give you a better idea of the average sized fish. Also, if you live in the northern states, which is obvious because your pond is frozen, then the fish will take about 6 years I THINK to reach roughly 3 pounds. That is dependant on the population of other fish, as well as the food base avaliable. I hope the pond turns out good in the long run. I'd fish right off the dam this spring because its deeper, plus there is shallow water near by. Good luck.

Yeah when we stocked the fish we threw out the pellets. I am sure some bass were eaten but I doubt every bass...after all there is like I said tons of fat head minnows that are about not even an inch in length in the pond, we stocked 15 pounds of these. If anything I will check it in the spring and see how things are going. I just would like to know how long it will take for the bass to reach a catchable size, I don't care about monsters (right now).

I actually went with a bobber at the beginning of the winter (actually in the middle of it...) when we were getting the semi-warm temps (50s and 60s). I would take a small plastic and stick it on the hook and under a small bobber and I actually got hits, small hits, but hits. I never caught anything... :-[

God bless  8-)

[bass_101]

The bass should probably be catchable in a year or two.  You should get some small rapala jerkbaits that are 2.5" long.  I've caught a lot of 6" bass on them where I should have been catching 1-2lbers.  Remember that even a 6" bass can fit a nice size chunk of bait in their mouth, so they too should feed on those flatheads.  You should have a nice pond in a few years.  

[Jus3263]

My suggestion would be to contact your states department of Wildlife and Fisheries; in most cases they will send out a biologist who will study your pond and tell you what is required for your pond to succeed.

You got the right idea

[cart7t]

My suggestion would be to contact your states department of Wildlife and Fisheries; in most cases they will send out a biologist who will study your pond and tell you what is required for your pond to succeed.

You got the right idea

I'll third that idea.  Unless you know something about the correct stock amounts per acrea of surface water you'll wind up with a pond completely out of balance in no time.  

In fact, it sounds like it probably already is.   Your best choice is to drain the thing killing all the fish, specifically those large bluegills and crappie and start from scratch.  

[flyphisher #]

Catch all the crappie and bream  out that you can when you can. Put all the bass you can catch elsewhere that are over a lb or 2 and leave the bass alone a while.Some catfish will help too. Experiment and be patient.

I have a retired cousin did this with a small pond he owns. In the last 5 years he has caught several 10's, a 12, and a 14lber out of this 2 or 3 acre pond. I didnt believe it until he let me fish it someI caught 2 fish over 8 lbs and several 5's in the same week on a buzzbait.  

[John J.]

Just so everyone knows, we contacted the VDGIF and asked them the proper amount of certain fish to put in. They told us the proper numbers for bass, catfish, crappie, and bluegill. So we stocked that number. When we stocked it the guy who brought the fish (from the fish farm) told us what all we needed (fertilizer, check the pH, etc.) and he also told us to put some structure in the pond, which I am working on now, the Winter months can be a pain in the rear!!!

We WILL go out this spring and catch and eat some crappie. As I said before, my folks put the crappie and bluegill in there, while they are big, so we can have something to catch during the spring and summer until we wait on the bass to grow. We only put in 75 large crappie, but we put in like 700 bass, 200 redear bluegill (which are small 2-4") and I think like 150 hybrid bluegill (that don't breed) which are adult size. From what I understand, this fall and winter we've had a few fatalities as far as fish goes, and they all looked like the crappie (they were big, and round and white).

Even if the crappie do spawn, there will be food for catfish, bass and bluegill then. And besides, there's a bird down at our pond that swoops down and gets small fish probably the minnows (fatheads).

There are also (I also said this before), 2 nice size catfish in the pond, they are roughly about a pound-2 pounds each. They will eat up the bluegill and when they get big enough, the crappie.

So this solves the whole VDGIF thing.

God bless  8-)

[cart7t]

Just so you know, crappie are very difficult to successfully keep in a small pond.  They generally prefer deeper, cooler water with cover than is available in most ponds for them to survive, the oxygen level at that depth must also be sufficient for their needs.  Most ponds don't offer that, though the fact you've got a spring feeding the pond certainly doesn't hurt.