Questions about smallmouth

[bait4me]

I have never been fishing for smallmouth but have heard that they are a blast to fish for.  I am looking to buy some more land and kill off all of the fish in the lake.  But if this does not work could I just put smallmouth in the lake and when ever I catch a laregmouth just take it home and eat it.

I like in nebraska and dont know if smallmouth would survive down here.  Also would I have to stock the pond with some bait fish.  All that the land owner says is in it, is bluegill.  The bluegill are 3-6" long I dont know if smallmouth will eat bluegill.

Let me know what I should.  Thanks

[BassinBoy]

Well Zoom, smallmouth will most certainly eat bluegill.  Another good thing to put in is some crawfish, catch them in a stream and see if you can get a good population going.  I dont know what Nebraska is like but put some smallmouth in and see if it works.  If you do put some smallmouth in then make sure there are plenty of rocks.  If there is not then throw some basketball size boulders in and some buckets of rocks.  Smallmouth prefer rocks over any other cover.  I would just put largemouth in or keep them in there.  There is no reason that they cant be.  This way you dont know what your gonna catch.  Smallmouth are fun to catch but they dont get as big as largemouth.  Good luck

[Bassnbrett101]

They will eat bluegill, and smallmouth and largemouth share the same kinds of cover.  I wouldn't worry about taking the largemouth out. there are probably crawfish there and you don't even know it.  Maybe stock some creek chubs and shad maybe but i'd say just go ahead and throw the smallies in there.  make sure its deep enough for em though

[bassnleo]

IMHO, your question should probably be directed to a biologist.

[bait4me]

Do you know of any good bioligst on this site?

The pond is 20f deep from what I have been told.

I do know that I would have to add some rocks and bolders tho.

[Bassnbrett101]

fishizzle went to school for fisheries and wildlife biology ask him, hes a knowledgable guy.  And the rocks and boulders would help the largemouth fishery too!

[NBR]

Check with the Nebraska DNR. They will likely give you information on what to stock and how much to harvest. There is no point putting fish into a pond or lake that won't survive. Many private small ponds end up with stunted fish because of under harvest and/or lack of forage..

[roadwarrior]

Check with the Nebraska DNR. They will likely give you information on what to stock and how much to harvest. There is no point putting fish into a pond or lake that won't survive. Many private small ponds end up with stunted fish because of under harvest and/or lack of forage..

Without some specific evaluation of the pond from professionals, there is no way to know what should be done or what will work.

8-)

[alarcher]

I'm not sure what the laws are in Nebraska but most states it's illegal to go put a bunch of fish in your live well and plant them in your private pond. To be safe you really should get hold of the local fisheries biologist and have the pond evaluated, this way you won't get in trouble and you'll get better advice from them than anyone else.

[farmpond1]

Smallmouth require different, more specific, conditions to thrive than largemouth (probably the main reason why largemouth are more widespread.  I'm not saying it can't be done but even if they live, they might not successfully reproduce.