| Food for thought... |
The numbers given here are only guidelines. When
you catch fish out of a pond, look at them closely,
especially the thickness across the back. If certain
sized bluegill are thin and poor, you need to either
harvest more of them, or feed more. If the bass are
poor, you need to take a few out or quit harvesting
bluegill of a size that the bass can eat. If the bass
and bluegill are poor, you need to remove some of
each in the 1 to 5 ratio, by weight. If you aren't
fertilizing and feeding, you should start. You'll be
amazed at the difference in your fish.
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| Find out more... |
Use the links below to help you calculate your size
pond and determine stocking rates. If you have any
questions feel free to contact us. We are
open Monday thru Friday 7:00 AM until 8:00 PM and
Saturdays
from 8:00 AM until 6:00 PM.
(800) 433-2950
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Greetings!
Harvesting fish from your bass/bluegill pond is one of
the most important aspects of managing it. Even so,
most people have no idea of how many pounds of
fish a pond should produce. If too many bass are
removed, the bluegill will overpopulate and stunt.
This is a common problem in small ponds. If there is
no harvest, or too many bluegill are removed, a pond
will tend to be "bass crowded". This situation is
characterized by very large bluegill in the ½ - ¾
pound range, with no small bluegill and lots of small,
one pound bass that are in poor condition. If you
are unable to control the harvest, your other
management efforts will be wasted.
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Biomass & Harvest - Three Scenarios
Up to 50% of the total weight of fish can be
harvested from a pond each year. More important
than the total number or weight harvested is the
ratio of bass to bluegill harvested. It takes about 5
pounds of bluegill to produce a pound of bass, so
they should be harvested in the same ratio. Since
this requires a lot of bluegill be removed, some
managers recommend that any bluegill caught be
removed. If they are too small or too numerous to
eat,
consider moving them to another pond.
Now that we know the correct ratio to harvest, we
need to know the biomass or total weight of fish in
the pond. An unmanaged pond will have a biomass
of about 90 pounds of fish per acre. If the pond
is "balanced" between the predators and prey, it will
have 15 pounds of bass and 75 pounds of bluegill (5
times the weight of bass) per acre. A 50% harvest
will yield 7 ½ pounds of bass and 37 ½ pounds of
bluegill per year per acre. You can see how it is
easy to over harvest bass. This also shows why it is
somewhat difficult to harvest enough bluegill. You
would have to take 100 bluegill averaging 6 ounces
each to meet the goal.
For a well-managed pond, the numbers are better.
Liming and fertilizing will increase the biomass to 300-
400 pounds per acre. You can harvest up to 25-35
pounds of bass and 125-170 pounds of bluegill per
acre per year. This is for a 50% harvest, and you
should probably reduce that to 30-40% for a pond
that is being fished for the first time in the second or
third year after the initial stocking.
Now for the best case scenario - a limed, fertilized
pond that is also fed will have a biomass of up to 900
pounds per acre. A 50% harvest will yield 75 pounds
of bass and 375 pounds of bluegill per acre per year.
This is ten times the production of an unmanaged
pond. It also requires you to take 1000 bluegill
weighing an average of 6 ounces out of the pond
each year. Don't worry, bluegill this size are a ball to
catch and a delight to eat.
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