Pond maintenence...Bass, verse bream.
 

I have heard two different schools of thought regarding big bass...

One pull them out as they eat the little bream from growing into big bream...

Leave them in as they are the reproducers.... I went fishing this weekend so as to gather food for the winter and pulled out two really big ones...

Just FYI... this is about a one acre pond 9 ft deep never gone dry...

Re: Pond maintenence...Bass, verse bream.
 

I assume that when you say bream, you are refering to bluegill? I have heard that term but was not sure what it meant.

As far as bass removal?? Leave them in to help with the bluegill population. The company that help our small association manage our 9 acre pond said that a well balanced pond should have approx 80 lbs of bluegill/acre of water removed from the pond annually wether caught or eaten as prey. I can safely assume that you are not removing 80 lbs a year and need help. Once the blugill population get out of wack by lack of removal, you will then stunt their growth and only get dinks. Bass tend to not over populated themselves as they will canibilize their own species and keep themselves in check. Over-harvesting bass is highly detrimental to your pond's health. That same company that helps our association suggests no more then 10-12 pounds of bass removed annually. That ain't very many.

Re: Pond maintenence...Bass, verse bream.
 

Thanks... I remove about 50# of Bluegill, sunfish, perch all of which I call bream...annually.. they get natural feed of millions of grasshoppers which we seem to have in abundance as far as Bass I have only pulled out about 15# so far and will limit myself to bream from now till next year..

Re: Pond maintenence...Bass, verse bream.
 

That same company also highlyy encourages you to open up your pond to guest fisherman. Be selective about who you let fish and let them know your management/maintenance plan. But get people in there. Most ponds are underfished and need the extra fishing to promote a good balance. Good balance promotes good fish. I realize people want to say it is MY POND and want it exclusive to me. Well, that is fine, but you just better be prepared to love fishing and eating fish if you are goona keep population balance in check by yourself.

Re: Pond maintenence...Bass, verse bream.
 

I do let other fish if they know how to do things.. such as roof a house or grow a garden.. those TV loving never do anything types will get what is coming to them no matter what I tell them...they just depend on MSM for what is coming down the pike..


I have just started 4 years ago trying to manage everything and I will tell you it makes a world of difference to get on GIM and find out a lot of info you need..

Re: Pond maintenence...Bass, verse bream.
 

While your at it, you might as well remove 100% of the perch. They are ill suited for ponds of that size. Perch and crappie are not suggested untill you get into ponds that are 8+ acres in size. And as far as the removal numbers I gave you, the perch weight does not count. So, lets say you removed 15 pounds of perch, you are now down to 35 pounds of panfish removed. Best get your beemoth and redworms out if you are gonna hit that 80lbs goal.

By the way, what size of bluegill are you catching???? Under our management plan, I consistently catch 10 inchers.

Re: Pond maintenence...Bass, verse bream.
 

There ain't no shame in trading services for fishing rights.

Re: Pond maintenence...Bass, verse bream.
 

That's strange... When I was teen - I recall spending one evening catchin about 6 black crappie in a stocktank about a half acre and 6' deep at its middle... They were big as dinnerplates.

Not that you're wrong.. That figure just surprised me.

Re: Pond maintenence...Bass, verse bream.
 

8 inch range...

My take on perch is that they are good eating so they fit into my plan...as far as removal goes I have to take into account the snakes..and the turtles...

Re: Pond maintenence...Bass, verse bream.
 

It is not that crappie/perch won't do well themselves, but they screw up the population dynamics of ponds that small.

On a side note, you might consider a 100 or so channel cats for your pond to help clean up the garbage/debris on the bottom that robs the water of precious Dissolved Oxygen. Don't try and get cute by putting flatheads or blues in. They are predators (especially flatheads) and will clean you out of panfish in a hurry.

Re: Pond maintenence...Bass, verse bream.
 

All very sound advice above. I may actually add Bullhead (probably a couple hundred) instead of the cats. Once established they make awesome table fare as well.

Re: Pond maintenence...Bass, verse bream.
 

If bass is to be the major predator fish, I would strongly agree to leave the catfish out of the population. The reason is, I fish a private pond that has both. The cats are monsters, while the bass are only 12-15" tops. Bluegills are the main, if not only other bait fish for the predators. I've only kept a couple of the big cats as I believe they keep the bluegills from over population. Bullheads, on the other hand, would add bait fish for the larger fish and fill a gap in the chain.

Re: Pond maintenence...Bass, verse bream.
 

Thanks for the advice on the cats...question...we are prone to extreme droughts here every once in a while... with the pond getting down to 5 feet in depth...or the extreme cold winters with freezing over for two months..not often but it can happen..do I need to worry about overcrowding with the cats in there...