Pond Drained.. *Findings

[T.Killian]

Unfortunatly we had to drain our 5 acre pond last week.  But there is something that I can't seem to comprehend that happend with our fish.  The last time the lake was drained was in 2000.  We stocked up with LMB and Blue Gill.  Another note is that during most of the year we have a timed feeder to throw out fish food in the early morning and late in the evening.  During about the 5th year we had some awesome fish for a pond, not uncommon to go catch 5 at 3+ in an hour.  This year I noticed the size either dropped or something had changed in their behavior I was not sure of which untill we drained the lake.  We used a very large wire basket to catch all the fish and transport the ones that lived to another pond less than 1/4 mile away.  But as I suspected the numbers of bigger fish were not there.  I'd say only 10 fish over 3 lbs.  Biggest unfortunaly did not make it due to temp changes or mud in the gills but it was 6.7 lbs.  Still had great numbers of bass but my question is really just do all ponds do this or was something wrong?  Oh and by the way I'd say 85-90% of the fish were 1.5-2 lbs.

[vicdotcom]

How was your supply of baitfish and bluegills?  Without knowing more, that would be my first guess.  Less baitfish to feed the larger bass.  Less food, smaller bass.

Vic

[T.Killian]

Well other than Blue Gill, and I think the correct name is ?Sun Perch? we did not have any other source of food really.  I'm begining to think that the fish feeder was uping the size of our Blue Gill so fast that it cut down on the time of opportunity for the LMB to eat them before they get to be slabs, and I mean monster 1.5"-1.75" thick slabs.

[River Rat 58]

u shouldve fished the bluegils as often as u did the bass just to keep the blance

[Sam]

You say you have "slabs" which translates into Crappie.

A friend who is in charge of Albemarle County's Parks and Rec Department (Charlottesville, Virginia) told me that Crappie will eat all of the food sources in a pond or a lake and seriously hurt the bass population.

In my local pond I have not caught any large bass but I have landed eight (8) beautiful black Crappie in a row, whcih tells me that the Crappie have taken over the pond.  In other words, the same thing that happened to your pond is happening to my local pond.

I have no idea if what I was told about Crappie is true but I am asking Micro and other people who know more than me to add their two cents to this disucssion.

I can move the Crappie to another pond a mile away if necessary if you all think that will help the bass population.

So guys, what do you all think?

[Bassin_Fin@tic]

I can move the Crappie to another pond a mile away if necessary if you all think that will help the bass population.

So guys, what do you all think?

Dont move em, eat em!!

From everything I have read, but not my experience,a small body of water can be hurt by crappie and bass together.Crappie eat the same things bass do,at least until bass get older,and crappie will reproduce faster.

[Pigsticker]

yeah crappie are a big problem to pond bass, instead stock some striper and you'll get only larger bass:

[fishfordollars]

Before you restock contact your county extension agent and get their advice on the correct stocking ratios and get the soil tested to determine of it needs to be treated before refilling.

[TheBeast]

Could also be a overpopulation issue.  It is great to have a bunch of bass in the pond but if you want them to grow you need to take quite a few to keep the population in control to promote growth and not have a pond full of 1-2's that don't have enough food or room to grow.

[T.Killian]

Very Good points everyone thanks!  We have been strictly catch and release but its very possible that we finally just got to many fish for the volume of water.

[vicdotcom]

You say you have "slabs" which translates into Crappie.

Ive heard a lot of people down here refer to large bluegills as "slabs" also.  Now wether thats the correct terminology or not is a different matter.  But it is also used for bluegill and other panfish here.

Vic

[roadwarrior]

The terminology is probably just regional.

"Slabs" around here is always a reference

to crappie.

8-)

[WRB]

You need to provide all the fish in the pond a place to spawn, hide from larger predators, including birds. Build some rock piles, block piles, brush piles,  gravel areas and deep water channels. If you don't have a few large trees along the shore, plant some.

5 acre pond; plant the bait fish at least 6 months to a year before planting fingerling bass. Pumpkin seed sun fish and some variety of minnow and crayfish are normally recommnded for ponds that size.

I would take some of the bass to have them aged by the local DNR to determine what age they are. 2000 to 2008 is 8 years and the bass in a pound could live well beyond 10 years. The 6+ was more than likely the first year class you stocked, then you lost several year classes from preditation by the larger fish until the larger bass were removed.

Crappie, if that was what you had, spawn before the bass and that isn't a good balance for a pond, becuase crappie are minnow eaters and prey on the bass fry. Bluegill and pumpkin seeds spawn after the bass, so thier fry become bass food. Bluegill are egg eaters and will eat some of the bass eggs, however should not off set the balance of the fishery.

WRB

[TheBeast]

"slabs" is just a generic term used to describe the size of any panfish whether it be bluegill, crappie, redeye whatever meaning you can fillet it and get some "slabs" of meat. Just because the greatest majority of the time you hear the term "slab" crappie doesn't mean that's their name just means they are big, I reffer to oversize bluegill as "slab" bluegill all the time.

If any of ya watched the Flamich Cup then take a tip from Ray Scott don't feed the bass feed the bluegill and make them big for the bass to feed on them and get big themselves.

[The Rooster]

Did you drain the pond especially to find out what the reason behind this was, or was there some other reason??  I never heard of draining a pond only to refill it and restock it again.  Is that a common thing to do??

[T.Killian]

No we had some problems with the head gate.  The pond is over 20 years old but just 8 years ago we drained it for the first time to dredge some sand out due to years of it building up around the creek channel.  We do have an area with rocks that extends out into the water to about 15ft deep.  We also have a long line of stumps that are about 20 feet deep.  And the back side of the pond is about 8-10 ft and is full of brush piles and root systems that are up on side.  Then there are a few other stump and brush piles around the lake as well.

[T.Killian]

I think I should edit my post as most of this has turned into what is a slab a big crappie or a big blue gill.. Well I was using it as a general term..  Had some real nice blue gill, and the biggest crappie was 16''.

[Daniel My Brother]

There's an article on this website that explains a situation very similar to your own. Here's a portion of it:

"One mid-south lake owner built a 30-acre reservoir, hoping for a balanced bass fishery, with a legitimate opportunity to catch a double-digit fish. Modest goals, certainly attainable.

  He stocked fathead minnows with bluegill and redear sunfish, gave them, a six month head start. Then, he stocked largemouth bass, some Florida strain fish, some natives, and some genetic mixes, at 50 per acre.

  At the beginning, he set up three feeding stations, to expedite growth rates of bluegill, to get them spawning more quickly, setting the table for his impending stocking of voracious bass. Bluegill grew rapidly.

  Once stocked, so did the bass. Here's the rub: At the end of the second year, frequency of bass catches was low. The landowner was concerned. His bass were growing well, some of them nearing three pounds. But, he couldn't catch them as easily as he thought he should.

  He's an impatient guy. We electro-fished his lake, caught a few bass, all like green footballs with giant mouths. A few bass were surrounded by thousands of forage fish, bluegill ranging from 1-7 inches. All seemed well, until the third year.

  Thousands of 5-9 inch bluegill crowded around each feeder, all day, whether there was feed in the water or not. The lake was fertile, and teemed with baby bluegill. Midway through the third year, circumstances suggested bass weren't spawning. An electro- fishing survey proved the theory.

  The earnest lake manager faithfully fed his bluegill. Bluegill responded by growing ... and growing ... reproducing and growing more. Bluegill became the dominant species. As their sizes and numbers increased, the demand for bluegill food expanded throughout the lake.

  In this case, bluegill were dominating bass nests, before bass could have their first spawn. So, the originally stocked bass were rapidly growing, some near five pounds in their third year, but there wasn't a year class coming in behind the originally stocked fish. Bluegill had turned the tables on baby bass. Or, maybe bluegill set the table by eating baby bass."

You can read the entire article here:

http://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/forage_bass_balance.html