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

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

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.

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..

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.

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

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

Dan O.

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

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.

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