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Science or management of growing huge bass?

Sligh1

Sligh1

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So I have a farm with a 32-45 acre lake dependent on the year. I will be the sole owner/manager so I want to have the right ideas implemented. I am finding out that I THINK the previous owner may have never stocked it. 15-20' deep, lots of trees in north end. Tried to catch fish 2 times with many methods and maybe leaning towards no fish being in there. 10 year old pond.

Certain types of fish? Special bass you'd want to put in there or general northern Bass?
Would I put minnows in like shad?
Suggestions on catfish, sun fish and blue gill?
Being so big, would it matter if I just ordered a standard amount for 5 acre pond and just waited longer on reproduction?
Would I ever create rock areas and introduce crayfish?

I basically want a BALANCED pond with HUGE bass and those big old pan sized blue gills the kids will love catching. Maybe introduce crappie later. What you suggest? I likely missed window this year, maybe next year you think? THANKS!!!
 
I dont know any specifics about the strain of bass to stock, but the first step is to get the hybrid bluegill and minnows started, then they put the bass and catfish in later.

I must add though that the first and best pond I built, all rules were broken. I netted baitfish from the platte river, probably alot of roughfish and added all the fish my buddies and I caught from some great farm ponds, sandpits and lakes, for 2 years. We had big coolers and airators while it was cool, before hot summer, then again in the fall. Broke every rule and did everything wrong, but it was fun to fish immediately, bass up to 6lbs, 20+ lb flatheads, all sizes of channels with a bunch of crappie and bluegill.
 
Check out herman brothers out of Peoria Illinois. They do work allllll over the Midwest and have a lot of clients in Iowa. Check out their site and give them a call. A true land a water management company. Nate can grow anything.
www.hbpondmanagement.com
 
Crappies

Try some crappies! They grow fast and with that size they should do well...

Good eating too:way:
 
Hardwood11 said:
Try some crappies! They grow fast and with that size they should do well...

Good eating too:way:
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FWIW... I have heard more then once that Crappies can be very hard on your other fish species. I was my understanding that if you do want them it's best to have your Bass and gills well established before you introduce the crappies.

Agree on the eating part for sure.
 
mplane72 said:
FWIW... I have heard more then once that Crappies can be very hard on your other fish species. I was my understanding that if you do want them it's best to have your Bass and gills well established before you introduce the crappies.

Agree on the eating part for sure.
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I think that is in a small pond? In MN small lakes 25-60 acres have thriving populations of bass/bluegill and crappie

Could be different in Iowa?
 
Hardwood11 said:
I think that is in a small pond? In MN small lakes 25-60 acres have thriving populations of bass/bluegill and crappie

Could be different in Iowa?
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No, I don't think it would be any different and I don't disagree that you can have all three in a lake the size of the Op's. Just that the OP seemed to think he had little or no fish in the lake and he in considering restocking.

Not sure you want shad in your lake. One of the conservation clubs around here killed out their entire lake several years after shad got into it during a flood.

I think that the real key to having a good bass lake is the same as having a good deer farm. Management. The fact is fish just grow slower up here so I don't think a different strain other then our "northern" LMB is going to do anything.
 
the state will stock your pond for $25 an acre. now there are stipulations to this. they either have to be new or newly renovated or you have to kill it off. now you could try and fudge it past and day u killed it off but I doubt ur area bio will let that fly for water that big.

you might want to look and see how much round up you'd need to have it killed and the state stock it vs. going with a private hatchery. the private route can be sketchy. often times they give you way way to many fish for your acres and always try to up sell you on things you don't need like to many white amur for example.

the break down is 70 largemouth, 1000 bluegill and I believe its 100 catfish per acre. anything over that per acre and your hurting yourself.

on your size of water you can prolly get away with having some crappies but do so carefully. if they take over your lake is done. they will stunt the whole population and average 6 inches with the periodic 12 incher.

again like someone said earlier if you want to talk in person U can call me too.
 
That sounds like a dream, good luck in your endeavors. Make sure when you do get it stocked all predator fish are released, as that's key to a healthy pond. I think that would be plenty big enough to put in some northerns!

Good luck!
 
We restocked our pond a few years back, Our's is just a little under an acre , Went to the DNR and their fish biologist told us we needed this and that many of blue gill, bass/ and catfish, The first thing he said was add No Crappie, That kind of stunk because Crappie is in my opinion the best eating, but he said they will take over and ruin a small farm pond but if we really wanted to add crappie make sure we fish it on a regular basis and stock it only with Black crappie
 
Check out www.pondboss.com for some good info. Like 6x6 said you will want to get your prey species established prior to releasing the predators. Being a muskie fisherman I'd look into stocking a few pure strain muskies if I had a pond that big but I'm not sure how that would effect the biology of the pond. Lots of ponds I fish down there have too many stunted bass so a few toothy critters might actually help.
 
I'd go with gills, perch, smallies and walleye. Avionics crappie as they are way to invasive and stunt growth. You also don't want to mix SM and LM. Just pick one.
 
Hard to argue with what the Iowa DNR recommends for ponds. Bluegill, largemouth bass & channel cats. Lots of other things sound "romantic" as well as tasty but if they worked, the Iowa DNR would recommend them. In most ponds harvest all the gills you can catch, but keep only a few eater size bass. You will need the bigger ones as predators. Catfish may not reproduce in a pond & may need periodic replacement. A pond that size may need a lot of fishing to keep gills in check. With all due respect to the whitetail knowledge on this site, check with people who know IOWA farm ponds for guidance. Good luck, sounds like fun fishing to be had! If you don't like what the Iowa DNR has to say check with Randy Beemer in Bedford. He sells lots of different fish for stocking & is a wealth of knowledge.
 
HorseDoctor said:
Hard to argue with what the Iowa DNR recommends for ponds. Bluegill, largemouth bass & channel cats. Lots of other things sound "romantic" as well as tasty but if they worked, the Iowa DNR would recommend them. In most ponds harvest all the gills you can catch, but keep only a few eater size bass. You will need the bigger ones as predators. Catfish may not reproduce in a pond & may need periodic replacement. A pond that size may need a lot of fishing to keep gills in check.
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I'm struggling with managing a 2.5 acre right now. Stocked it with hybrid bluegill, LMbass and catfish. The bluegills haven't kept up and the catfish have reproduced. I caught some "normal" bluegills this spring and introduced them. They supposedly have a higher reproductive rate than the hybrids, so might get some "feeder" fish back into the food chain.

I've been throwing all bluegills back and tossing small bass onto the bank. Last year I took 225 two to three pond cats out.

A couple pics from today.

 
JNRBRONC said:
I'm struggling with managing a 2.5 acre right now. Stocked it with hybrid bluegill, LMbass and catfish. The bluegills haven't kept up and the catfish have reproduced. I caught some "normal" bluegills this spring and introduced them. They supposedly have a higher reproductive rate than the hybrids, so might get some "feeder" fish back into the food chain.

I've been throwing all bluegills back and tossing small bass onto the bank. Last year I took 225 two to three pond cats out.
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Hybrid gills are the result of mating male bluegills to female green sunfish. The hybrid offspring grow fast & fight hard but are 80-90% male so reproduction is very low and when they do reproduce they tend to revert back to the sunny. Excellent for put & take fishery where overpopulation & stunting may be a threat. Sounds like you need a forage base. I would add a few hundred regular gills +/- some fathead minnows. Should make your bass a lot happier. On the other hand, I was told that the young gills wreak havoc on catfish fry. Maybe that's why cats don't reproduce in my pond. Whenever they get up around 8-10 lbs. I make a concerted effort to fish them out & replace with youngsters. It's not a big puddle so a hundred new cats every few years keeps it going. Playing "God" with a pond can a fun pastime. :way:
 
Man, if I had a pond (actually 40 acres I'd consider a lake) that big I'd definitely be tossing some pike and walleye into the mix. We have a 1 acre pond that we stocked 10 years ago with catfish, bass, crappie, and hybrid bluegill...for a while we were struggling with overpopulation of the bluegill but the bass are pretty much huge now and have alleviated that concern.
 
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