To my favorite pond. This 2/3 acre pond used to be full off 2/4 pound bass. It was a great little honey hole and only a few guys went there. It’s behind a industrial building. It was about the best fishing you could have for a hour after work. I ran into one of the other guys there and he told me he seen the landscaping crew there at night filling up coolers with bass. What a shame. That explains why all of a sudden last year there were only a few dinks to catch. 

I hate that. Those guys are out of fish too now. Some people just can't think long-term. Good ol' landscapers.

Sadly, a lot of people can't think long term. I strictly am catch n release, almost everything, except for trout. I've seen people filling up 5gal buckets with 5" catfish and such. 

I had a little pond where the bass fishing was real good. Lots of small bass. I could easily catch 20 in an evening and I'd get a handful of larger 20"+. There were lots of bluegills and I used to take the grand-kids there. I turned all the bass back.

 

All of a sudden last year there was almost nothing. I think somebody went in there and cleaned up...even though there is a posted minimum size limit on bass.

 

Poaching is rampant around here.

  My Uncle had a small pond he stocked with channel cat . He gave a Vietnamese family permission to fish it and they seined it empty . LOL 

Often the problem is cultural.  If the folks fishing are new from a country where you keep everything you catch in order to eat that evening, then they will wipe out a pond.

 

We see that in Southern California on the piers.  Decades ago, people used to catch albacore from the piers and up until the 70's, you could still catch nice fish off them.  Now there are hundreds of people fishing off them, keeping everything they catch.  A huge majority of those anglers have a cultural background very different than those of us on this site.

On 3/5/2020 at 6:04 AM, MGF said:

I had a little pond where the bass fishing was real good. Lots of small bass. I could easily catch 20 in an evening and I'd get a handful of larger 20"+. There were lots of bluegills and I used to take the grand-kids there. I turned all the bass back.

 

All of a sudden last year there was almost nothing. I think somebody went in there and cleaned up...even though there is a posted minimum size limit on bass.

 

Poaching is rampant around here.

That’s what happened here. I’ve never seen bluegill like at this place. 2/4 pound bass were what was in there. Now nothing. It’s sad

Same thing happened to the small pond on Lochinvar Road in the City of Richmond.

 

Not landscape guys just people from Richmond taking what they caught out of the pond.

 

I don't waste my time fishing the pond anymore.

Yeah, this is a different culture here. A place where we can afford to kiss and release fish. I spent 4yrs in SE Asia and, in this regard, it was sad, frightening, and to-the-bone real.

Seen it all last year at local Small lake, Every single time I was there at dusk which was a crap load of times.. same guy there with his buckets catching and most likely taking to his pond..anything.. he caught it he took it. Others there have said the same as they think he has a pond.

A lot of old timers especially around here Do not understand the concept of fishing for fun. Only time you throw a back is it out of season or under the limit inch wise.  Luckily In the state of Michigan bass is way down at the bottom of edible fish for most people.  

I'm not big on eating bass, we're not supposed to have many lake fish anyway for health reasons. I'd keep a sizeable trout or salmon but in the end I look at it and put it back for someone else, or maybe even me to catch again. Even if it's a really big one. Actually the bigger ones I can't bring myself to have the heart to let it die and not be in the lake anymore. Besides, Haddock is in the store and there's no bones in it. The king of eating fish in my opinion.

I love to eat bass. My mother always claimed that it waa the only fish she liked. Anyway, years ago there were fewer people who knew how to catch them and I used to eat a bunch. These days there are lots of people on the water and many of them know how to catch them. If we all eat them, there won't be any.

 

It took some getting used to. A few years ago (maybe it was longer) I decided to turn the bass lose. I lost interest in catching them and started crapie and bluegil fishing. I did get a few meals but it was all very unsatisfying. First of all there's too many crapie fishermen around here and all the crapies are dinks! Second pan fishing just isn't as exciting as hunting bass.

 

So...I turn about everything back these days.

I personally do catch and release on everything except trout, only one time try catfish from Cristal clear water it was 4lb from Hansen dam, two times tilapia once from Thailand and once in USA, thats it, never think of eating my catches.

reading about how old is a 7 or 8lber is crazy, some of them 10 years plus, so imagine people getting them for food, a fish that was survived for 10 years, and especially females that can produce more bass.  that is shameful in my idea. sorry  that what I am thinking and no means to offend some people or culture.

I know for fact in some third world country people are practicing catch and release, but in Asia which I have been everywhere, I haven't seen that plan at all, except in Japan and only for bass.

thailand, philippines oh lord, they hook anything, they eat it, and they are really good Fishermans.

On 3/3/2020 at 1:40 PM, Derek1 said:

To my favorite pond. This 2/3 acre pond used to be full off 2/4 pound bass. It was a great little honey hole and only a few guys went there. It’s behind a industrial building. It was about the best fishing you could have for a hour after work. I ran into one of the other guys there and he told me he seen the landscaping crew there at night filling up coolers with bass. What a shame. That explains why all of a sudden last year there were only a few dinks to catch. 

Happens everywhere unfortunately