What should I kill?

"Rodney Long" wrote in message
...

If you have that many small Blue gills, your bass population is not over
crowded. If you want to grow big blue gills, then you would want to reduce
their numbers.

I don't want to get rid of the bluegills then. I guess I will just leave
them alone.

Of course one of the 'BIGGEST" problems your pound has is crappie, they
will quickly over populate a small pound, this will indeed help stunt the
growth of both them and the blue gills. I would take out as many crappie
as possible, regardless of the size, that little pond can not support a
crappie population. They reproduce much faster than bream,, and they eat
what small bass eat, reducing you bass fingerlings survival and growth
rates. True, large bass eat small crappie, but large crappie also eat
small bass. You can grow some huge bass in such a lake, but not many of
them, and they could be difficult to catch, due to the amount of food they
have available

I had NO idea the crappies were a problem. That's it then, these suckers
are going down!

Secondly, should I kill the snappers should I catch any more of them? I
,
have no idea what snappers eat.

The snappers eat fish, usually small ones, and not many of them, due to
their method of catching them. A 20 lb snapper could possibly be a
"young" (under 20 years old) alligator snapping turtle (if they live in
your state), they are great table fair , but protected in many states. I
have never known them to greatly reduce a pond's fish population, unless
there are a huge number of them in a pond. They can reach up to 200 lbs
and live hundreds of years.

Thanks Rodney. I guess I will leave the snappers alone too. I don't see
many in the pond. I appreciate your advice on the fish management of my
pond.

John

johnval1 wrote:


I don't want to get rid of the bluegills then. I guess I will just leave
them alone.


Take them out for table fair,, your not going to hurt a 4 acre pond
eating the bream out of it, with you being the only fisherman

I had NO idea the crappies were a problem. That's it then, these suckers
are going down!


I've seen 20 acre ponds get ruined because of the number of crappie in
them. They are not recommended in any pond under 30 acres, and then
they must be targeted for harvesting on a regular basis, at least 50 lbs
per acre removed each year, with a 100 lbs not too much harvested per
acre each year.

I don't recommend using live minnows in a pond that small, they to, can
overpopulate a small pond, and some get away when your fishing with
them. Try using very small jigs and spinners, toss out every crappie
caught regardless of the size (of course eat those big enough, or give
them away) You might need to put a couple of trees in the lake to get
the crappie to hang out in a couple of places, it makes catching them
much easier. Don't be surprised to catch many under 4 inches long.

I would also be a bit worried about northerns eventually being a problem
in such a small pond, they are not one yet, in your pond, but they could
become one as you get those crappie out.

We have a 60 acre state lake that sells 22,000 daily fishing permits a
year. They keep it stocked (regular stockings) with bass (only when
needed), blue gills, and catfish. They do not restock the crappie, yet
they harvest over 6,000 lbs of them a year (they require all kept fish
to be weighed before leaving). There is a healthily, sustained,
population of crappie in that lake.

--
Rodney Long,
Inventor of the Mojo SpecTastic "WIGGLE" rig, SpecTastic Thread,
Boomerang Fishing Pro. ,Stand Out Hooks ,Stand Out Lures,
Mojo's Rock Hopper & Rig Saver weights, and the EZKnot
http://www.ezknot.com