2 ?'s on farm ponds
 

1. What causes moss on the surface of a pond? aside from using chemicals,is there any way to get around it? The moss seems to come and go. I've heard people say things about it 'turning over' ??


2. in several of the ponds I fish at there are a lot of nice bass, but many more tiny ones. is this just overpopulation or is it something else? and the bass just need to be thinned out. btw I am 95% catch and release.

thanx

RE: 2 ?'s on farm ponds
 

Gasser~~I think moss is a natural thing to happen to a stagnant pond. If the pond is constantly fed by a cold spring this seems to hinder the growth. I have witnessed first hand a pond turn over. It was one of the best bass ponds in my area. It was usually totally covered in moss. I went fishing one day and did great. It rained very hard for two days straight. I came back after it rained and it was not a pretty sight. There were bluegill floating everywhere. I couldn't even get a bite. I guess all the bass that died sunk to the bottom. I don't know what turned the pond over, but I think the real hard rain had something to do with it. On your 2nd question I would say to take some of the smaller bass out. Due to large population a food shortage will occur and the bass won't grow to optimum size. Just My Opinion


Dan Blair

RE: 2 ?'s on farm ponds
 

Bro,
Moss is a natural occurance in most impoundments usually at its worst in late summer. Chemicals are the only way to remedy that but I don't suggest it. Some occasional water flow like rain will help.

If these are your ponds, you need to manage them or you'll never have good harvest size fish. Take a look at the post I put up in the tread called "Electroshocking".
I would take the smaller fish and either destroy them or eat them depending on their size. Leave everything in the 12 inch plus size to grow and reproduce.
Also, you may need to add Blue Gills as a food source and some Channel Cats to keep the system healthy.
Be careful where you get your supply. You do not want to contaminate your pond(s) with an ovary disease or worse.

Good luck Brother......
Email me if you have questions.

RE: 2 ?'s on farm ponds
 

You need a balance.Sounds like you need to remove some of the 6-10in bass.This size bass eat a lot of forage,get rid of them.You also need a good population of bluegill.Those 6-10in bass are usuly a little too big for the bigger bass to catch and eat..

RE: 2 ?'s on farm ponds
 

That is what I figured...

We could go out and catch two or three 4-5 pounders, and a dozen(or more) 6-8"ers. I have wanted to cull out the small ones, but I didn't want to put small fish to waste.

RE: 2 ?'s on farm ponds
 

I don't kill any bass .Maybe if you don't want to eat them you could transport then ..

RE: 2 ?'s on farm ponds
 

I think what you call moss is thick algae growth. If it is, the nutrient level of your water is too high.

Dan O.

RE: 2 ?'s on farm ponds
 

duno bout moss....but the fish size....take out alota panfish and some bass...you kno whats in there i dont so its hard to say what will work...my friend has a pond and had many fish...only a few big bass...all rest were small only a few decint gills...my dad told us to remove mostly gills and leave a handfull...this was prespawn....after spawn we had alota bass live that never did b4...and this fish got alot bigger by fall...thats all i can say...our project was ruind...ppl that have a camp by his fish on it and took all the big fish out!!!! theres barely nething left!! and my friends dad is to nice to say nething...so its ruined...good luck

mauser06

RE: 2 ?'s on farm ponds
 

Moss is kinda like plant like plankton on the ocean. Usually you can somewhat control this without chemicals, just stock some Grass carp, or stoneroller minnows. Both feed on algae and aquatic plants. You might also try snails. In any case, this will provide a new food source for your bass. I'd try harvesting some of your rather large bass and several of your "yellow bellies" so that the middle range decent sized bass have a chance to get larger. You might also consider redigging your ponds, making it larger so as to allow all of the fish to become larger due to more space and more food source. Good luck.

[Deleted]
 

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RE: 2 ?'s on farm ponds
 

IN MY POND WE HAVE ONLY BEEN CATCHING SMALL BASS LATELY, EVEN THOUGH LAST YEAR EVERY OTHER CAST WOULD BE A 5POUNDER. WE STARTED CATCHING THE LITTLE ONES EITHER USING THEM FOR CATFISH BAIT (AFTER BEING CUT UP OF COURSE) OR PUTTING THEM IN A NEW POND THAT WAS DUG UP THIS SUMMER. IT HAS SEEMED TO HELP SO FAR.

RE: 2 ?'s on farm ponds
 

my cousin and i have been somewhat working on 2 ponds... one is WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY overstocked and you'll catch a bass about every other cast.. and its full of moss too.. we've caught bass and ate them (there's thousands of them in there) and also tried to stock other ponds with bass. eventually we might try to get bluegills in there or something along those lines...

he's also got this little pond by his house and that will eventually be a success story.. we've got the bass growing more these dayz so hopefully it will be a decent pond soon.. and we got crappie in it 2 years ago i think.

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RE: 2 ?'s on farm ponds
 

Been working on my own pond problem. First, what I thought was algae was identified as duckweed. The chemicals to control this is expensive, up to $300 per application for a small pond like mine. At a sports show, I was told that the grass eating carp (white amurs) would get the job done. I already used some to fix another weed problem and they worked. I was told that they eat less as they get larger and that mine were probably not eating enough to control the duckweed. I'll try more grass eaters, but it takes a couple of years to work. Still, better than expensive chemicals.

RE: 2 ?'s on farm ponds
 

This is what I have been told about the things mentioned on this post:

Pond turn-over- Happens when the water temp reaches a certain level, causing the algae on the bottom floor of the impoundment to break loose and float to the surface. Any moss or waterweeds will break loose, also floating to the surface. This in turn, affects the fish activity due to the change in the pond. I have also been told that it causes existing algae to rot or decay, depleting the water of oxygen, making the fish sluggish. As for fish being "belly-up" upon return after a storm. I know (unfortunately) that what probably happened to you was that the pond was struck by lightning during the storm. This happened at the neighbors pond. I would not have believed it if it was not for seeing it happen one afternoon.


Over stocked waters- The other thing mentioned on this post about keeping smaller fish out when caught, adding bluegill, sunfish, and channelcats to the waters will also help bring a pond back to life as far as the fish size go. Even a pond of only about an acre or two, with ideal conditions as far as balance in fish populations, is hard pressed to "fish out" with normal fishing by a few, and when all caught is kept.


Moss problems- The best way to fix a moss problem is to call your local fish and wildlife department and get information on grass carp. Applying any chemicals to water, in my opinion is never an option. We called the the fish and game dept. of our state, and just doubled the amount of grass carp recomended. When all of the moss was staring to be pretty much wiped out, we then removed some of the carp as to not completely remove all moss, but to keep it in check. Some moss is needed for cover, as well as trees, brush, ect. Plus, an excellent way to fish surface moss is to take a black lizzard, no weight on it, and pull it across the top of the moss in a very short jiggling motion. You are trying to act like the lizzard is having a hard time getting across the moss. Get Ready!! Big bass come from nowhere through the moss surface to bust the lizzard!!! Heavier line will be needed for this!! Delay setting your hook for a second or two and let the fish run with the lure. This will make sure that the fish has the lure in his mouth. Trust me, it sounds odd, but after the first couple of missed strikes, you will see what I am talking about.


Duckweed- Duckweed is a small, lilly-pad type of plant just a little bigger than the head of a pin. But can cover acres of surface area in just 1 summer season. It is caused by ponds that have unusually high amounts of cattle run-off and in some cases, septic tanks near by that the latterals will eventually have run-off into the water. Duck weed is only on the surface, and besides being a eyesore and makes it tough to fish in, causes no harm to the pond. Grass carp are about the only options here. Fishing the lizzard suggestion above will also work great in this situation.