Management Of Recreational Fish Ponds In Alabama

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Harvesting And Record Keeping

Ponds should not be fished for at least 1 year after bass are stocked to let the bass reproduce. Once fishing begins, three basic management options are common:

• Harvest both bass and bream at recommended rates (see Table 4).
• Restrict bass harvest to 10 pounds per acre per year (in fertilized ponds) to produce larger, but fewer, bream.
• Harvest no bass to manage for a few verylarge bream.

Table 4. Recommended Harvest Rates
For Alabama Ponds.

Harvest Rates (in pounds per acre)
	bass	bluegill/shellcracker
Fertilized pond	25	up to 200
Unfertilized pond	10	up to 100

Bass harvest must be carefully controlled to have quality fishing. Bass are often easy to catch, especially the first fishing season after stocking. It is possible to catch more than 70 percent of the bass population in a few days of intensive angling, especially in small ponds. Bluegill will quickly over-populate and stunt if bass are over-harvested. If this happens, regaining a balanced population will be difficult, and the pond may require renovating for a fresh start. As a general rule, a fertile pond can sustain the harvest of about 25 to possibly 35 pounds of bass per acre per year. If the pond is infertile, only 10 pounds per acre per year can be harvested. The recommended maximum harvest should be spread over the entire year. Do not catch the majority of fish during short periods of time. Catch and release bass and enjoy successful angling more often.

A problem that can occur is the underharvest of bass that causes a "bass-crowded" condition. In a bass-crowded pond too many bass are present and few bream reach maturity. The few bream that do escape grow rapidly to a large size but are too few for a good catch. The bass do not have enough food (small bream), become stunted, and are in poor physical condition. Many times this condition can be corrected by heavily harvesting the bass (see Evaluation of Pond Balance).

Over- or underharvest of bream appears to have little effect on the population balance in the pond. Heavy fishing, however, will reduce the average size of bream harvested. A good rule of thumb is to harvest 4 to 6 pounds of bream for each pound of bass. Research has never shown that heavy angling is effective at countering bream over-population; however, larger bream result when bass harvest is restricted.

(Photo left) Plump bass (top) is in good condition, while skinny bass (bottom) is in poor condition and suggests "bass-crowded" pond.

Quality bream fishing can be managed by regulating the harvest of bass. If fewer than 10 pounds of bass are harvested per acre per year, the average size of bream will increase. The more numerous bass eat more bream, and bream that survive grow faster because there is more food or less competition per fish. Remember, however, that if no bass are harvested, a bass-crowded condition may occur.

Catfish reach eating size 6 to 12 months after stocking. Catfish stocked with bass and bluegill are generally unable to reproduce successfully because their fry are eaten. Therefore, catfish must be restocked periodically. An 8-inch or larger catfish fingerling should be stocked into ponds that have adult bass.

Do not rely on your memory. Keep records of numbers and sizes of fish caught, so that total pounds of harvested fish can be evaluated. Pond balance can be evaluated from catch records plus seine data. (See the table below --Table 8 in printed publication--for an example of how records should be kept from angling data.)

Catch Record

All fishing should be recorded; provide number of fish caught; if no fish caught place zero under species fished for; record time spent in hours­one person initial in case further information needed.

Date

Number Fishing

Initials

Bass

Bluegill

Catfish

Other

< 12"

12-15"

15"+

< 6"

6"+

Length

No. Species

k

r

k

r

k

r

k

r

k

r

k

r

k = kept or taken from the pond
r = released back into the pond

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