DVW

1- Big Largemouth is the goal. The trout are stocked every couple years(I believe they are 12" - 16") and seem to survive ok, but don't get all that big. I'm fine with that. It's a nice change of pace every now and then. I believe they stocked them mainly for the kids. The problem is that the trout don't survive "catch and release" with the kids....They are learning, but still gut one every now and then. The bass however can take a beating. 2- I've been telling the association to harvest the bass....They will get it one day. What is the best size slot to remove? 3- We have lots of plants that grow from the bottom up along the lake, along with lilly pads/cat tails(seen in pick on left). We also planned on making some artificial shelter using pine trees/branches etc. We also have a large stone wall that runs along the bottom of the lake with lots of nooks and crannies. The lake is privately owned by a community that my father belongs to/lives in. Basically they vote at a yearly meeting on matters such as the lake. I finally got them to agree that the bass needed more food. The lack of frogs/crayfish/newts finally sunk in. Now, it's a matter of stocking the right combo of baitfish for the bass. We are looking for a solar feeder for the trout as well. My hope is we can supplement the trouts diet with the feed, and leave more for the bass. Plus, I would think the bluegills/minnows would readily take food from the feeder, which should eventually end up in the bass when they chomp them down. Thanks again for all the replies.

Wow, thanks for the quick reply! The lake is about 20 minutes north of Windham, on the top of a mountain. The lake never gets too warm. It is fed constantly by springs. Even in the dead of summer, you can find pockets that will give you major shrinkage. I was thinking of using the feeder for mainly the Trout and eventually for the baitfish. I figure if the Trout eat more feed, they will eat less of the natural food in the lake, leaving more for the bass. And if the bluegills/minnows fatten up on the fish food, the bass will eventually benefit by eating them. Would hybrid sunnies hurt the Bass population? A friend of ours has a pond with those and I believe perch(what kind I'm not sure). One thought was to net the perch and use them as feed. The hybrid sunnies were also contemplated. I asked them to hold off on those until I could learn a bit more about them. Are there any benefits to hybrid sunnies, or will they just cause problems? Edit: We also were going to try and coax the trout to spawn. Our lake has a slow, but steady flow from east to west. One end is fed by a spring fed pond(very shallow/filled in) which constantly overflows into the lake. There is a mini stream that connects the two(I use stream loosely). We were told if we cover the "stream" bottom with gravel, we may be able to get the trout to spawn. Has anyone had success with creating an artificial stream? It would cost us next to nothing to do, I was just wondering if anyone has any tips/experience with it. Thanks again....

We have a 7 acre lake(private lake in a mountain community) in Upstate NY that is currently stocked with Largemouth Bass and Rainbow Trout. It is a man-made lake that is about 12ft deep at its deepest. One end is shallow(~3ft), while the other is deeper. It is spring fed, and always contains pockets of 50-60 deg F water. The lake constantly overflows, unless there is a severe drought, at which point the level usually remains constant(doesn't go down or overflow). Its bottom consists of many rocks/rock walls/etc. Some of the lake is a bit muddy(more like silt), due to shale run off from the mountain. The lake was initially stocked with only Rainbow Trout years ago. They do not reproduce in the lake, so we had to restock every few years. Well, one year someone used shiners(not sure which kind) for bait and dumped the rest into the water. Eventually, the lake was absolutely infested with them. You could literally walk across the lake on them. Stocking of the Trout ceased(not sure why they decided to do so). Eventually, they decided to stock with Largemouth. For the first few years, the fishing was incredible. People were pulling out 2ft+ bass with ease. 5lb bass were pretty common. Unfortunately this did not last. The shiners were completely wiped out. Then, the newts(spelling) were no where to be found. Soon the frogs and crayfish followed the same path. The frogs/crayfish are still there, but their numbers have plummeted. Then, for some unknown reason, they decided to restock with Rainbow Trout. Since this was done, the bass have gotten much smaller. If you go watch the lake at sunrise/sunset, it looks like an aerial show. They feed like crazy on the insects. While this always has happened, it seems they feed more heavily now on the insects then they did before. After reading some of the articles here, I came to the conclusion(always had a feeling), that the food chain was basically broken in the lake. There are NO baitfish in the lake, and the frog/crayfish population is almost non-existant. Adding Trout only seemed to make the problem worse. From the reading I've done, Bluegills seem to be a good fit. We have a friend with a pond that is loaded with "hybrid sunnies", but I've read they may not be such a good option. We are currently looking into adding a fish feeder for the trout(and in the future the baitfish), to help alleviate the food problem. My questions: What is the best baitfish to stock? Best time of year to do so? Can we re-stock crayfish? Will a fish feeder help? I included a pic of a Bass from the lake. He is about as big as they get now. A few years ago, he would be considered a small fry. Thanks