Food For Thought About Lack Of Food

Been fishing farm ponds this year allot due to son taking an interest in fish and he likes keeping a tight line. One of the things I have noticed in kansas is allot of the ponds are under fished with starving bass due to over population. The ones with too many bass have had some big sunfish though. When I was in the military in Texas there was allot of emphasis on this and there was some beast bass. The pond where this gal was caught you can catch bout 30 bass in an hour and none of them are over 14 inches. What are your thoughts on this?
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Was fishing a pond Saturday, the bluegills were a nice hand size and healthy, the bass were thin and ranged in the 10 inch size. The balance in that pond is not correct, farm ponds need to be managed for the best production. We did not keep a fish, maybe two of the bream will die to deep hook extraction. We should of kept some of the bream and some of the bass do to over population.

Yah that is the thing some of these bodies of water have great potential but if they are very big and get this way would almost need to be drained and start over to reverse the cycle. I dont even especially like to eat largemouth so don't think I will take on trying to balance it.

We have farm pond that we no longer can catch a bass over 12-14in. For the last few years we have just been throwing them all up the bank to die. We only fish it 12-15 times a year and usually catch 60-80 bass a trip, so we ar throwin out roughly 700-900 or so out a year, been doing that the last 5yrs and that doesnt help. Cant drain it and start over though. I used to feel bad about just killing the bass, but it seems they reproduce at such a high rate the only option is to drain it. Which, really isnt an option since the cattle need the water.

Only other things I could think of to try is increase baitfish population this pond sits right next to another one that has a rediculous number of stunted sunfish that are about 2 or 3 inches and no bass as far as I can tell so far. Think that is why the pond that has all the bass has such big sunfish is the ones that dont get ate when young end up growing into brutes. Other thing is using something to kill some of the moss that is cover for spawning which may reduce reproduction.

I have a few people I know that are willing to spend a couple of hundred bucks a year and the stock Tilapia fingerlings in cages. http://tilapiasource.com/blue-tilapia-fingerlings.html

Tilapia spawn multiple times producing in lots of little fingerlings for sport fish to eat as well as they eat the moss and then die out each winter once the water reaches 45 degrees to keep from over populating small impoundments. It's not the cheapest way in the world but one guy I know stocks 250 a year in a metal wire cage that keeps the predators out but allows the little ones to swim free. It has really increase the quality of his pond in just a few years.

This one is not for everyone but if you own your own pond and paid to stock it they don't mind keeping it healthy. Now they do keep a lot of the fish they catch to keep the predator base lower. They also have start adding fat head minnows to build a long-term food base.

I have been to some that people have put shad in and they have survived from year to year but they are also ponds that get fishing pressure so the people that like to keep bass help keep numbers down. Only problem there is most of them want to keep the 5 pound fish instead of the eater size fish!

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Originally Posted by fishlessDan

We have farm pond that we no longer can catch a bass over 12-14in. For the last few years we have just been throwing them all up the bank to die. We only fish it 12-15 times a year and usually catch 60-80 bass a trip, so we ar throwin out roughly 700-900 or so out a year, been doing that the last 5yrs and that doesnt help. Cant drain it and start over though. I used to feel bad about just killing the bass, but it seems they reproduce at such a high rate the only option is to drain it. Which, really isn't an option since the cattle need the water.

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I can think of better ways than throw bass up on shore. It's probably me growing up with the mentality of catch and release while bass fishing. Just doesn't seem right throwing up on shore. But heck, I feel guilty throwing a junk fish on shore.

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Originally Posted by Postman

I can think of better ways than throw bass up on shore. It's probably me growing up with the mentality of catch and release while bass fishing. Just doesn't seem right throwing up on shore. But heck, I feel guilty throwing a junk fish on shore.

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Eating them is out of the question as they are full of worms, and transporting them is illegal. Just making them raccoon food rubbed me wrong at first also but heck, what can ya do?

Only my opinion, but small bass are easy to filet. Why not filet them and give them to a food bank or a church to feed people. Shame to waist them.

I've looked into this and Rotenone is probably your best option here is an article on it. https://www.noble.org/ag/wildlife/rotenone/

Here a couple years ago I got into a quest for Humpy's and the conditions you've described are exactly what grows them. Odds are according to what I read conditions will continue even if they drain it. Imbalance, lack of predation (or enough to allow sunfish to exceed) are kinda similar to aquarium environments. Some species of sunfish spawn the entire warm water season according to one article. If nothing else it's got to be a good bait pond. Love those greenies when their fins get striped, it's mesmerizing to watch them in the water