Small mouth in the pond

[John J.]

Ok, I think I posted this before but I am not 100% certain. Anyway, over the summer I went fishing with my brother's ex-wife's brother in law. And we were catching bass to stock my 1-1/2 acre pond. Well while on the outing his first bass happened to be a small mouth bass! but the rest of the time I caught largemouth and the pond is stocked with mainly largemouth.

Not thinking of the small mouth not having any effect, I threw it into the pond. Since the pond is primarily largemouth and the small mouth is the only one in the pond, will it happen to spawn come this spring?

Can it cross breed with largemouth or is it in for an uneventful spring spawning? I will try to go this summer and catch more smallies to give it company. What's yalls input on this?

[maxke01]

She may not be good for the LM spawn. I think SM spawn a week or 2 after LM. SM are very agressive during pre-spawn/spawn from the best of my knowledge

[roadwarrior]

On the Tennessee River smallmouth spawn late January through February. Largemouth don't spawn until April through May. It is HIGHLY unlikely that a smallmouth in a pond will successfully breed with largemouth bass. A "meanmouth" is VERY rare, even in large bodies of water.

[Tin]

A "meanmouth" is VERY rare, even in large bodies of water.

I saw a show on those fish once and wow, I want to catch one. The show said how they were only commonly caught in a few rivers in the south. I want to say in Virginia, Georgia, and Tennessee has some of these rivers. A beautiful fish though.

[roadwarrior]

I have caught a couple on the Tennessee River, but they were small. They were black, too. The most notable meanmouth I am aware of was caught in a tournament at Table Rock Lake.

There seems to be some confusion as to how these fish come into being. Although it is widely believed that the hybrid is a smallmouth/ Kentucky bass blend, research has confirmed a largemouth/ smallmouth mix. Still, the confusion persists and you will find conflicting reports on the internet.

[Tin]

The show I saw was about a largemouth/smallmouth mix, the body of a largemouth with the lighter colorings and attitude of a smallie. Pretty crazy.

[Pigsticker]

i do not know much about smallmouth in impoundments but i dont think it could  really survive in a small impoundment especially if it is weedy. but mayb it would thrive if instead u stocked primarily smallmouths

[jomatty]

i dont know how big your pond is, how deep,or what the water temperatures get to but my guess is that not only will the smallmouth not spawn, it will not survive.  ponds are generally just not good matches for smallmouth bass who prefer current, depth, and cooler water.

[John J.]

The pond is about an acre in size and the deepest end is 7'. The pond is fed by a stream that is fed by an underground spring. Even during the summer the deeper water of the pond is cold! The only thing that gets warm is the surface layer or the shallow end.

There is very little weed growth in the pond. The only weed growth is grass and it is primarily in the "spawning cove". The pond has a cove off to one end that is shallow and it extends into deeper water.

There have been a few bass who have perished. I've found their bodies floating sometimes. I was just asking if he would survive and if there's any possibility that he/she would spawn come this spring.

[Danarchy]

Are there any baitfish in the pond? You might want to throw in some bluegills or perch so those bass have something to chew on in there. We stocked a pond (as seen on my pic) in oklahoma last April with about a hundred little largemouth and about a hundred white crappies. I'm anxious to see how they grew over the year when I go down there in the spring.