Overpopulated Farmpond

[il coyote]

I've been fishing a pond for the past few years that seems to be very overpopulated. Pond only has bass and bluegill. TONS of both. Me and a friend of mine(at landowners request) are trying to lower the numbers of fish to hopefully grow some bigger ones, and maybe even prevent a die-off.

We'll throw wax/meal worms and bobbers for the bluegill, and 9 out of 10 times will catch a fish within a minute, many times even less. A guy could do this all day long if he wanted. These things are everywhere. I normally don't even fish for bluegill, I'm simply trying to get them out.

The bass are the same way. The trick isn't getting them to bite, it's finding a lure small enough for them to get the hook.6" bass all day long. Every hour or so you'll catch one worth the time, but this is really kind of turning into a job. I dont want to see this pond go bad, it's one of the few left that I can fish.

1. Can a few guys taking a bunch of fish out of a pond every other weekend or so really make a difference?
2. Is this even the right thing to do?
3. Would adding another specie of fish make any difference?
4. Are there any 'large scale' techniques worth trying?
5. What's the worst that could happen if we do nothing?

I'm almost at a loss at what to do here. The fact of not catching a lot of big fish doesn't bother me too much, heck, I'm spending time outdoors with a few very good friends of mine and we ARE catching fish,so whats not to enjoy? The guy I'm going with is having a big fish fry later on in the summer, so the fish aren't being wasted by rotting on the bank as I've heard of people doing before. I just want to try and do the best thing for the future of the pond.

Any thoughts?

P.S. Starting Mon. morning I'm going to be working more and going to no classes for the summer, so my internet accessability may be sparse, I don't know yet. I'm working at the school I go to, setting up a new tech shop, among other things.Doing the final installation on equipment that I haven't been 'formally' trained on, go figure.I guess being a few years older than most of the students and carrying a 4.0 has it's perks.

[m.t.hands]

i would get in touch with the county extension office, they will get you the info or the people that have the info, for what need to be done, very, very helpful people

[JoshKeller]

the redneck in me says to go somewhere else, catch some 4 lb bass, throw them in there, and soon have 8 lb bass

the impractical man in me says to drain it or seine it

the logical man in me says to get a fly rod and a few small flies so you dont spend so much money on bait.

[childers]

catch aminly bream and eat them. and then the big bass will eat the samll bass and bream and it will take some time but it will work to control it and keep some bass also

[Phil from Maine]

the impractical man in me says to drain it or seine it

I think I would try to seine it and takemost ofthe small bass out and then go from there.

[thundermug]

Bass that are large enough will eat the bluegill. If you thin out BOTH species, so they will not have to compete for the available food you will be able to manage both at an acceptable level.

First thing to do is an accurate survey, but to do that you will be violating the law.

Surveys are done by shocking the fish so they float to the surface so the can be counted, measured and weighed. This can be done with one of the old crank telephone generators, although it will take longer to do this, this way. Only so many fish can survive per acre of pond, and it is imperative that you get that pond to an acceptable level or the pond will die. THE POND not just the fish.

Good luck, and let us know what you find out.

[Oneshot7]

Catch out a bunch of the lil ones and stock other ponds with em i did this and turned my local pond into a big fish heaven

[indianahunter83]

Catch out a bunch of the lil ones and stock other ponds with em i did this and turned my local pond into a big fish heaven

Check your local laws though because I know in Indiana it is illegal to transport fish from pond to pond without some special permit.

[captainette]

We've had the same problem in our pond when we stocked brim. They revert to sunfish and multiply every month. Two suggestions:

1. Bait - don't laugh. Those pesky little bream will fight over whole kernal corn from a can. One on the tip of a very small brim hook will get it every time.

2. You're bailing out the boat and it's got a big ole hole in it. You're going to have to seine all those brim out of there or bait fishcages for them, one or the other. []

Then don't ever put any bream back in there until a professional fish hatchery can give you a balanced count per acre of what fish need to be combined and which don't.

Hope this helps, been there, done that, no fun! [:@]

[JoshKeller]

i'm not sure why you'd want to remove the sunfish - thats food for bass. Remove a bunch of bass, or add some big enough to eat the smaller fish. a dozen or so 4 lb bass would clean that place up in a year.