Questions About Trophy Bass Management

[OzarkFishman]

My friend and I are in the process of trying to get his 3 pits to produce some 8 to 10 pound bass. Our budget isn’t high, but I have a few questions for anyone that is willing to answer.

There are 3 pits ranging from 5 to 10 acres and up to 30 feet (this depth is based on knowledge from the previous owner). These pits were built in the 70’s and have had no management program. The ground contour is good, but cover may be needed for the main pit. The main pit has already produced many 3 and 4 pounders and a 5 pound 15 ounce and 6 pound 2 ounce bass. This main pit is what we are focusing on.

Crappie are known to be unwanted in a trophy bass pond. I don’t think they are a problem here since 2 of the bigger bass caught had a crappie tail sticking out of their throat.

Should I catch and keep crappie to help reduce the population and allow more prey/forage fish for the bass?

The bass population seems to be in good shape. The pit holds a lot of healthy small guys; with a fair amount of big bass and a few “trophies”. MDC says a trophy in Missouri is a bass over 6 pounds or 22 inches, but we want to try for more. There may already be an eight pounder in there, but probably not a 10 pounder. The bass seem full and healthy, not skinny or showing signs of being stunted. My plan is to harvest twenty 8 – 12 inch bass (~15 pounds) per surface acre. Should I harvest any bigger bass, maybe a few between 12 and 15 inches to allow bigger fish to grow faster? Much of the literature has said to harvest bream at a 5:1 ratio. That would mean I would need to harvest 75 pounds of bream/crappie per acre. Does this sound about right?

A couple positives about the pits are that they already sit on a nice watershed, have a slight greenish tint and clarity to about 3 feet. All of this is within the limits that I have read about. There are also aquatics plants, but not too much.

There is also another pit that I have caught 3 pounders in. Would it be smart to take out three 1-pound bass from the main pit and release a 3 pounder from the other pit back into the main pit? It is said that a body of water has a carrying capacity related to total pounds of life.

At this point our only avenues are harvest, catch and release (unless harvest is needed), and added cover. Later, we may move to investing in stocking bait fish or moving to supplemental feeding of the prey fish.

I have heard positives and negatives of stocking gizzard shad. It sounds like a good idea, the shad are actually easier for bass to eat when compared to bluegill, therefore the bass uses less energy and grows quicker. On a negative note, shad can overpopulate and beat out bream for food and since shad are omnivorous they can also compete with crappie. Are shad a good investment for LONG TERM trophy bass fishing? I have heard that shad can sometimes be a short-term benefit and long-term hindrance.

Golden shiners also seem like a good possibility. Does anyone have any experience stocking these little guys (they actually can grow fairly big)? (It just so happens that all of the big fish I have gotten out of these pits were on a golden shiner swimbait, even though shiners are not present).

Would it be more cost effective to stock bait fish or to feed the existing bream?

Anyone have any experience stocking Florida/Northern Hybrid Bass? They say it is too cold for 100% Florida bass (also the southern subspecies is a little more lure shy).

Again, thanks in advance for any advice. Research only gets me so far, then I turn to people that have personal experience. There are a lot of products that have been “scientifically” proven to work, to turn out a crap product.

The pictures attached are of fish from the main pit (pictures without trees) and one of the other pits (pictures with trees). Hopefully this gives you an idea of where we are starting (We are lucky to be starting at this point).

Good fishing to all,

OzarkFishman

[taxidermist]

pic one and pic four show bass that are starved, the large head is an indicator for bass not having enough food. I would had fathead minnows and remove the bass under 3 pounds. Maybe even pure bred bluegill. I would never add greeneard sunfish or even red eared.

But lots of minnows. I have a small pond and after three years the catfish are still hungry, large head small body. Had a good spawn on fathead mionnows last year but still added 10 pouns plus 8 breeder goldfish, I figure the F-1 Bluegill hybreds in the pond will eat the little goldfish and a few of the minnows, but over all maybe balance it out. My pond would support maybe three bass.

[OzarkFishman]

Thanks for your insight taxidermist.

Bass, like every living species, grow faster if they have to burn less energy to get food. If we do add bait fish, I would rather add something a little bigger than fathead minnows (this would increase the calorie intake compared to calories burned). I have been reading a lot about stocking bait fish and I am thinking about threadfin shad. They don't grow as big as gizzard shad, but are bigger than minnows. If anyone has any experience with stocking shad, please let me know. If 5 acres is too small to add shad, tell me I need to adjust my plans.

Even though I have questions about stocking bait fish, I wouldn't stock for a few years. My plan now is to take out 10 to 15 pounds of bass per acre and 10 to 15 pounds of bream/crappie per acre. Since the fish population is not balanced (bass heavy), I will not follow the 5:1 ratio until I feel the population is balanced. If there is anyone out there with experience with bass management that would like to offer insight, I would greatly appreciate it.

OzarkFishman

[Poke 'Em]

Bluegills. You didn't mention bluegills. How is the bluegill population? Keep the crappie, make sure you have a healthy population of bluegills.

[Greg]

Have you ever talked to an MDC fisheries biologist? I would bet there are some on staff specializing in small waters such as yours. They could probably give you a lot of good advice.

Greg

[OzarkFishman]

I haven't checked the bluegill population yet, but I have a two day trip planned in June. One of those days will be for bluegill and crappie and the other day will be for bass (there also may be sunfish). I also haven't had a chance to get a grip on the catfish population in the pit. This pit isn't like most 3-fish ponds (bass, bluegill, channel cat).

I do plan on talking to MDC, but I want to wait until I have a better grip of the fish population on hand. It would be nice to have them come out and electrofish the thing, but the banks a too steep to get that heavy of a boat to the pit.

Thanks for the replies.

OzarkFishman