Stunted Bass

[BassinAssassin171]

Well, for those of you who read my thread about my small bass problem, I read up on it and it appears that I have a stunted lake. Due to the overpopulation and lack of sufficient forage base, the bass only grow big enough to spawn and no more, creating a huge population of miniscule bass. If anyone has dealt with this before or has any suggestions on what I should do, I'd appreciate it

[IneedAnewScreenName9886691]

Deal with it all the time. I fish a lot of private watersheds from 10 to 200 acres in Kansas. These are private/semiprivate lakes built by the army core of engineers to help prevent flooding downstream. They are constructed on private property and often on span multiple landowners i.e. properties.

A lot of these don't ever get fished maybe 0 to 10 times per year. Most do not have boat ramps or the like. The good news is we can have 100 fish days/bad news is most are dinks, with the ocassional good fish. Unless these are managed they will stunt.

Some property owners have out the state biologist or independent companies who will shock it and get a good head count and lay out a conservation plan. Usually like remove X amount of bass per acre under X size, X amount of bluegill, add X amont per acre of this forage fish etc.

The good news is sometimes I get the ok to fish these places and help remove the fish and keep records or call in the harvest. I have participated in some of these and have seen the lake come full circle..it's not overnight and the real good guys implement additional measures, adding crawfish, adding the correct forage fish, continue to remove the correct amount. I am not a biologist or claim to be.

Here is a BR article that can shed some additional light on the subject and I think if you google it you will find a lot more info out there. http://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/raising_trophy_bass.html

Hope this helps some!

Happy Releasing,

H.G.

[BassinAssassin171]

Thanks HG

I've read those articles on the BR and they've kept me entertained for hours researching and whatnot.  My main problem is this is a neighborhood lake and the management responsibility falls to the neighborhood board.  I don't see the enlarging of our fish becoming priority to them.  They have it shocked once in a while but they don't bring much of the actual managing into the equation.  Any suggestions on how I could pitch it to em?

[tyrius.]

The easiest way to begin solving the problem is to keep your legal limit each and every time you go fishing and also to go fishing there OFTEN.

The best way to solve the problem is to have someone come out and study the lake and tell you what to do.

[BassinAssassin171]

there IS no legal limit.  it is a neighborhood pond that only I (and maybe one or two others) fish.  I fish all the time and occassionally get rid of some fish, but I'm really not supposed to I think...

[bass89fisher]

Lakework.com I worked for this guy this summer and we delt with several stunted ponds.

[Bob Lusk]

As a professional private fisheries biologist, I often work with Homeowner's Associations. They are often lacking several things in their decision-making process. First, they don't have a distinct set of goals. Second, they often don't have much of a budget for fisheries management. Third, they don't have the knowledge of fisheries management. Fourth, they don't have people to do the work.

When they contact someone like me, the first task is to identify the mission. If you want to improve the fishery, they should not be opposed at all. Explain that better fish management adds to the health of the lake. Fisheries management entails being better stewards of water quality as well as monitoring the food chain which supports the game fish. When the lake becomes healthier, the fish grow. Healthy water and big fish increases property values, which every landowner can understand. Once that concept is understood, the lake is evaluated. With a mission (goals) and a starting point from an evaluation, a game plan is devised. That game plan may be a selective harvest plan, stocking of fish, a feeding or fertilizing plan...or other tools from our lake management tool box. Then, tasks are delegated (harvesting overcrowded bass, feeders, whatever) and accomplished. If the budget is small, most of the work must be done from within.

[Paul Roberts]

Bob, excellent post! No surprise there. Great game plan for turning that pond around, and would be well worth the effort to have a quality water that close to home. Your baby, so to speak.

Here's some encouragement that shows how quickly bass can respond to "management" -in this case by the hand of nature:

I used to be the sole fisher of a large pond close to my home. The first day I fished it I stopped counting the bass at 130 -every cast, every lure. Not one broke 11inches.

That very winter we had huge snow and a catastrophic kill resulted. I continued to fish it and the growth was impressive.

Here are some photos documenting those very fish:

One of 130+ caught the summer prior to the kill -10inches.

Four 14"-16" taken four years later.  (Remember, I was the sole angler on this 100acre pond, and the vast majority of fish were released).

[BassinAssassin171]

Thanks Bob, that's really helpful.  I'll bring it to their attention.

[EastTexasBassin]

One of the ponds I fish used to be this way.  Years ago it was overloaded with bass and nothing was over 12 inches.

We took home coolers full of bass, and introduced some new forage species including flathead minnows, sunfish, and crappie.

Now, I catch a bass over 5 pounds on almost every trip.  We've caught many fish in the 6 to 9 pound range, and I caught a 10 pounder in there a couple of months ago.

[Tin]

Slot limits have turned around one particular CT lake. In just a few years, all 10-14" fish to an average of just over 2 pounds.

[Perfect Hook Set]

Too much bass and not enough pray...

When I fish over populated  (small bass) ponds, I do one of two things:

Catch X  amount and transport them to other locations

or

Bring them home and eat them (rare)

[BassinAssassin171]

One of the ponds I fish used to be this way. Years ago it was overloaded with bass and nothing was over 12 inches.

We took home coolers full of bass, and introduced some new forage species including flathead minnows, sunfish, and crappie.

Now, I catch a bass over 5 pounds on almost every trip. We've caught many fish in the 6 to 9 pound range, and I caught a 10 pounder in there a couple of months ago.

Nice!!! how big is this pond?  Do you own it or something?  How much new forage did you have to put in to make a difference?

[EastTexasBassin]

The pond is around 10 acres or so.  My buddy owns it and its on private property.  He only lets myself and a few other people fish there.  That pond is HIS BABY.

We put a LOT of minnows in there, (many thousands) and they're still sustaining a very healthy population.  I see swarms of them in the grass and against the bank.  I wasn't there when the crappie and sunfish/bluegill things were stocked.  I've never fished for the crappie but I think I've seen them on the fish finder.  There's a couple of 2 man bass boats chained up down there that we fish from.

[BassinAssassin171]

wow great recovery stories.. flathead minnows? I thought those weren't any good stockin in an older fishery... I read they are good for startin' from scratch.. o well you got results.  I'm personally a fan of shad though