Been fishing a local golf course lately (yes I do have permission to fish here) and have started to notice a trend in a couple of the ponds on this course. I've caught multiple 5+ pound fish in these ponds but when I'm not catching those it seems that every other bass I land is very small and there is no 1 1/2 - 3 pound range bass whatsoever. I've never caught or even seen a bass in these waters between 1 and 4 pounds. When I have caught fish that seem to be the length of a 2 or 3 pounder they are incredibly skinny. Same goes with a lot of the small ones and some fish that have the mouths of 5 pounders seem almost anorexic and weight in around 1 - 1/2 pounds. I know that there isn't much food for this abundant amount of fish, but I still don't understand why there are no medium sized fish, and some fish are chunks while others are skin and bones. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Sounds like a classic case of stunted bass from over population. Golf course ponds do not normally have any catch & kill bass . Small waters need some or many fish removed to keep a healthy population. Most fish under 15" need to be removed until a healthy population emerges.

Sounds like a classic case of stunted bass from over population. Golf course ponds do not normally have any catch & kill bass . Small waters need some or many fish removed to keep a healthy population. Most fish under 15" need to be removed until a healthy population emerges.

That's what I suspected, still not sure why there are no medium sized fish. I began taking some of the fish out the other day, took out about 20 under 14" and will be doing the same tomorrow and so on.

 "still not sure why there are no medium sized fish"

 Very well could be a couple bad spawning years back to back. Bad weather or over harvest off beds can make a huge impact on an age class in a small pond.

Ive been catching a few skinny bass this year in the waters I fish too. Sucks catching a big, long fish with no girth.

 

 

23 1/4inch fish with no girth. Should have weighed much much more then 5 lbs 4 oz.

Back in the mid to late 80's  I took my young son to a stocked pound that the owner said nobody had fish in several years. It was only stocked with LMB. He told me to keep as many as I wanted. ( Tn state Limit 5 per person ) and throw the rest that you catch on the bank .  It was so over stocked the bass hit every thing we threw out them . The largest only weighed 3 lbs but his lenght suggested that he should have weighed 6 to 7 lbs. They were starving. You never had to make two cast with out catching one. My son and I had a blast that day. It made my day watching my son.  Long Skinny Bass means over stocked and not enough food.