No bass over 18" in my pond

[PhishLI]

2 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

I have some BIG Keitechs that I've never used and some 12" worms that I have used to good effect at another pond. I'll try those along with my two, hard swimbaits. 

Good idea. Add some jigs to the mix.

 

My son in law grew up next to and has fished one of the best big bass lakes in the Hamptons for the past 35 years, but he didn't know that having never surpassed much past a 5 pounder. He hadn't even heard of big fish caught there.

 

After 2 years of me torturing him to try a bait caster, he finally acquiesced. Next was persuading him to slow down a lot. He fished way too fast. Next was fishing a jig. Sent him vid after vid and links to jigs to keep the pressure campaign up. It all came together one year when he lost one of his spinning rigs overboard which was the trigger for him to finally go all in with the advice he'd been given.  Taught him the bait caster in an afternoon, and he was off to the races.

 

Not long afterward during that very year he broke his PB twice in one afternoon with a 6.1 and then a 7 1/2 lber throwing a half ounce bluegill finesse jig with a blue Christie craw trailer.

 

So, throw the G2 and whichever bigger hard bait you have. Throw big worms. Give jigs a fair shot and slow down a bit when you do.

[Swamp Girl]

Thank you, @PhishLI. I'll do all of the above. 

[Fried Lemons]

Looks like it has potential based on your description and pictures. If you’re really curious you can start recording length and weight of every fish you catch and calculating relative weights. That’s what I did when I was eliminating lakes from my rotation.
 

I’d also try some baits that cull a lot of smaller bites in favor of big ones. Recently I went for a short after work trip with a buddy to a lake I was convinced was a dink factory so I packed accordingly with regular baits. My buddy, completely naive to this lake was throwing a Deps 250 and stuck a 6. Turned out I was the naive one.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

You'll run into one, from the sounds of it the lake has a healthy population of fish in it.

 

Remember to always use that Relative Weight index to evaluate these questions, and short of having a shock study, it's the single best indicator of what you're trying to learn.     

 

170 acres is a huge lake in a human powered canoe.   I don't believe 90% of the fish population live in 10% of the lake in general, but I do in terms of the biggest fish in a lake.     

 

I would not be surprised if you find a couple of areas that seem to hold the biggest fish in the lake.  

[Swamp Girl]

18 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I would not be surprised if you find a couple of areas that seem to hold the biggest fish in the lake.  

 

There are some areas I've never fished, Alex. As I've stated in the past, I think I have Bass Resource's worst memory for the names and colors of lures, but when it comes to where I've fished and what I've caught, I'm a computer and I can say with 100% certainty that there are parts of the pond I haven't probed. 

 

I didn't know about relative weight index. You're taught me yet another thing, Alex, my friend. Thanks!

 

@Fried Lemons: I'm going to pitch a big strolling bait too and especially in the areas I haven't yet fished. 

 

 

 

 

[PhishLI]

6 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

170 acres is a huge lake in a human powered canoe. 

The Hamptons lake I mentioned earlier is 62 acres. It's that bass paradise lake I sent you to look at some time back. The 4-6 hours we get to fish it during a typical outing barely scratches the surface while fishing out of an electric powered Sun Dolphin. There are just so many juicy spots that deserve full attention, and in doing so time gets eaten up very quickly and the day flies right by with so much left unfished.

[Swamp Girl]

A 62-acre lake in the Hamptons must be worth a bluhgillion dollars. 

[MIbassyaker]

170 acres is especially large if most of it is habitable. You mention much of it is 5-6 feet deep, with a 10ft deep area?  Is there anything like a deep weedline there?  Fishing a deep weedline "Low and slow" with a jig or worm is a classic big fish presentation in the summer.   

 

[Swamp Girl]

1 minute ago, MIbassyaker said:

Is there anything like a deep weedline there? 

 

I don't know and I don't how I'd know something like that. Is that something a sonar might determine? I do have some lures that I can fish low and slow and look forward to it! I have plenty of time to probe. 

[MIbassyaker]

Just now, ol'crickety said:

 

I don't know and I don't how I'd know something like that. Is that something a sonar might determine? I do have some lures that I can fish low and slow and look forward to it! I have plenty of time to probe. 

 

Sonar yes, but you don't really need it.  you can use an open hook jigworm -- just a worm on a jighead -- to probe where deep vegetation ends, changes, thins/thickens...you count it down to get a sense of depth, see where and how deep it catches on weeds and rip it out.  You are probing for any kind of deep edge or boundary.   Ripping will draw strikes from active bass on the edges, then you can move in to thicker stuff for less active bass with something more weedless, like a jig or texas rig. 

[casts_by_fly]

since this is now your home lake, i would recommend going in super early and super late season and see where the interesting bottom contours are.  If you have a fish finder great, but otherwise a jig like noted above (ideally tungsten and heavy) will you know you what's what.  If you can get your hands on a map of the lake all the better.  Check navionics, you never know what someone has mapped.  Then you have a basis for checking some new areas.  I don't know how clear the water is but I did something similar for one of my lakes here.  I went in super early when the water was crystal clear and a little low and just motored around a couple areas.  In the summer they grass up too much to tell but without the grass you could see where there was any depth to it and where the drops are. Its helped me to eliminate a bunch of water and focus on the best locations.

[txchaser]

Some random thoughts; I mostly fish smaller waters.

 

The most important new gear you could buy is a sonar. Garmin striker 4 is $120 new. Helix 5 is 200ish on ebay.

 

+1 on getting the musky gear out and see what you learn

 

When in doubt, cast the opposite direction from where you are catching smaller fish, usually the same spot but casting to deep water vs shallow. 

 

If you get on a topwater bite, there's something about buzzbaits that just seems to draw big fish. 

 

I don't think night fishing will be a big deal, doesn't sound like you have a bunch of pressure. 

 

What's the biggest juiciest slowest forage in the lake? Might be somethin better than a gill presentation. 

 

Find the deepest spot on the lake and just sit there for a bit and see what you start to notice being still. There's one or two prime directions from that spot aimed towards great spawning. Maybe a point leading out to that deep water. And hopefully a couple of interesting features on the way, but you'll have to fish around to find them (like dropoffs and flats). If it's pretty regular/featureless, there may still be small changes in bottom that make a difference, or changes in the shore cover. 

[Functional]

For a little encouragement...my BIL and I fish a 12 acre pond which houses some 8+lb fish but if you are not fishing the 1 or 2 very small spots they live all you get are 1-3lb fish. No lie, one paddle stroke and you could blow by the area they live. For an example, BIL, his father and myself fished this pond, each in our own kayaks. All throwing the exact same bait. I fished it first, 5-10 minutes later my BIL fished it, 5-10 after him his father fished it. He hit one specific target in the reeds  that neither of us hit and pulled a 6lb and 7lb fish out of it back to back. Time, place, retrieval, maybe we warmed them up. Who knows but they were within 2-3 ft of targets 2 other angles hit before he came through. 

 

I think for your space, as you mentioned, you just need to explore it more. If you have random topography in your pond I do think a cheap sonar with a $30 SLA battery off amazon (to keep weight light and it still lasts all day) would help find some of the honey holes if they are relating to areas off shore. You can discover most of it the old fashioned way but it will take years and there are likely still areas you will never find.

 

Also, with how productive your pond seems to be I'd start using it as grounds to gain confidence in lures you don't typically use or ones you want to learn. Also don't be afraid to throw things that seem massive. I've been shocked at some of the smaller fish that hit lures as big as them....like how were you planning on eating this? You may stumble on to a particular bait you don't normally throw that the big fish in your pond respond to more. 2 birds one stone kind of deal.  

 

They are there, I believe you'll get on them. Then your decision will come down to " Do I fish numbers today or do I fish for heifers".

[Ryan N]

There could be too much bass. I remember this YouTube video that explained an experiment where bass were depopulated, and the remaining bass grew to be huge because of the abundance of food. I’m going to have to go back to my sources on this one.

This is further supported by you saying the bass average around 16” to 18”, which is an incredibly consistent length range. That could mean all bass are having equal opportunities to feed, so none can be outliers and eat more. Referring to my PB, I fished my pond for hundreds of hours, I found they averaged 12 inch little guys, but with one or two 20”+ dinosaurs.

[Ryan N]

To detail this further, The huge ones were always next to large schools of bluegill that were being fed daily by my neighbors. The average bass were either nearby or somewhere else in the pond with a less abundant supply of smaller baitfish.

[Swamp Girl]

On 5/15/2024 at 7:53 AM, Functional said:

Also, with how productive your pond seems to be I'd start using it as grounds to gain confidence in lures you don't typically use or ones you want to learn.

 

I like this idea. A lot.

 

On 5/15/2024 at 8:25 AM, ardeact said:

There could be too much bass. I remember this YouTube video that explained an experiment where bass were depopulated, and the remaining bass grew to be huge because of the abundance of food. I’m going to have to go back to my sources on this one.

 

I think you're right. There are too many bass. I just wish I enjoyed eating bass more than I do.

[Pat Brown]

Peanut oil and breading go a long way 😂😂😂👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[Swamp Girl]

Pat, do you really think I can eat enough bass from a 170-acre lake to change the composition of the population? I'd have so much breading, bass, and peanut oil in me that I'd pop. 

 

I will, however, encourage others who use my land to keep and eat bass. 

[Pat Brown]

You'd be SHOCKED what a little culling every year can do.

 

You can choose to donate dinks and unhealthy fish to:

 

Gardens/farmers/ospreys/otters/snapping turtles/pike/bigger bass/catfish/bank fisherman etc.

Edited May 18, 2024 by Pat Brown

[Swamp Girl]

8 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

You'd be SHOCKED what a little culling every year can do.

 

Dear Pat and Jake.

 

Please drive north. Bring a tent, big appetites,  peanut oil, and breading. You may camp on my land and use my tandem canoe. Remember to  come hungry.

 

Your BR buddy,

 

Ol' Crick

 

P. S. - Jake, I know you like to catch different kinds of fish. Well, there are BIG eels in my pond. A Maine guide told me this. I don't fish for them, but you could. You seem able to catch everything with anything, so I imagine you asking your dad if he has anything  in his pocket that would catch an eel. Your dad would fish out an old beer cap and you'd say, "That'll work." And you would make it work. 

[Team9nine]

In fisheries, there is a term called PSD (proportional stock density) that is used to classify a fishery based on the overall size distribution of the fish in a lake, which can then be used to make educated guesses as to the health and status of a fishery. You can Google the term for detailed specifics, if interested.

 

Based on what you mentioned, the PSD of your lake would be 100, or very close to that, suggesting an imbalance in the size structure to more larger sized fish (a good ‘problem’ to have in a way 😁 ). High PSDs would tend to suggest little or poor recruitment, which usually leads to fast growth and healthy looking fish - not an excessive amount to create stunting or food shortages. As such, culling out some of the smaller bass would likely have little effect.

 

The overall condition of the fish seems healthy, so they are apparently getting enough food of the right size to get to where they are. So why no big fish and why so many of the same size? 
 

One possibility is these are all (mostly) the same year class fish. If so, that might explain why no larger fish are showing up (they just haven’t had time to grow that large yet). Why/how this could occur could suggest a widespread winter or summer kill of most of the fish some year past. Another scenario might be a fantastic year class of fish from a great spawn that is dominating the fishery right now due to overall low productivity/recruitment.

 

If either of these scenarios are the case, you should see steady increasing of bass size over the next few years as these fish continue to age and grow. If there is a major food bottleneck, or some age limiting factor to growth, at some point most of these fish will rather suddenly ‘disappear’ or die off, and fishing will become tough. You would also likely start seeing a lot of smaller bass showing up again in your catches.

 

I’m also guessing fishing pressure and harvest is very light on this lake? I would tend to lean against some magic bait or location change as being ‘the answer’ to the problem. It simply sounds like there just aren’t a lot of big fish in the system at this time. But again, a couple more years and a lot more trips under your belt might start to shed some light on the reasoning. It’s all just guesses at this point from us. Just throwing out another option that hadn’t been mentioned yet. 

[Swamp Girl]

@Team9nine: There are so many smart, thoughtful anglers at BR and you're sure one of them.

 

I just returned from the lake. The first 2/3rds of the driveway was built this week and the primitive boardwalk to reach water deep enough to float my canoe is being built right now. So, I'm planning to fish two hours this evening. I feel soooo lucky to have fine fishing five minutes from my house. 

 

My sense is that the bass are getting bigger. They used to be 15.5" to 16.5". That was two years ago. Now I'm seeing 17-inchers and an occasional 18-incher. As you wrote, time will tell.  

 

I have decided to put a chain across the entrance. I've invited many people to fish there, but I've seen tire tracks already on the just finished driveway. Anglers are welcome, but not people who want to go down to drink and trash the shoreline. There is some of that in Maine...and everywhere else. 

[Woody B]

Just some random thoughts.  

 

I believe you said parts of the lake are surrounded by swamps.  IF oxygen levels and forage permit perhaps the biggest Bass are deep in the swamps.  I believe big Bass have to eat a bunch.  I also believe to get big they have to be effective hunters.   The biggest ones are probably going to have the best ambush spots.  

How much fishing pressure?  Most, or maybe even all of the 5 pound plus Bass I've ever caught were either caught at night, really early or when it was pouring rain.  I suspect fishing pressure has something to do with this though.   

We're pretty settled that it takes quite a few years to grow a 5 pound Bass with Maines short growing season.  Was there some kind of event (weather or something else) that triggered a fish kill ~15 or however many years ago?   I'm also curious why there doesn't seem to be any small Bass.  What does the bottom of the lake consist of?  Are there any good spawning areas?   Bass, and animals in general are good at adapting, but a "muck" bottom isn't ideal for spawning.   Perhaps spawning is difficult for some reason due to habitat.  Perhaps good spawning seasons are few and far between.  Could this explain all the Bass being the same size?  

 

There's a BUNCH of people around here who know more about this stuff than I do.  

 

Once you get your driveway, dock, ect completed you need to get a "pond boat" to keep at your dock.  Jon boat, Bass Raider, or something.  I've got a Lowrance Elite7 Ti2 I'll give you.  However, I don't have a transducer.  You may be able to get a better unit, with a transducer for what a suitable transducer for the Ti2 would cost.   Do any BR members have a compatible transducer sitting around?   

 

170 acres may be too big for this, but have you considered tagging the Bass you catch?   I don't know what equipment is needed but it would be interesting to see how much "the Bass tagged #7 grows in a year, if you catch it again.   

[Swamp Girl]

52 minutes ago, Woody B said:

What does the bottom of the lake consist of? 

 

There's much, for sure, and rock too, which explains the smallmouth. In Maine, largemouth outcompete smallies and smallies tend to be thin, but they're fat in this pond.

 

53 minutes ago, Woody B said:

Perhaps good spawning seasons are few and far between.  Could this explain all the Bass being the same size? 

 

Yes, it could. I used to fish white bass on the Mississippi and successful reproduction was hit and miss. You might have a good year followed by three bad ones.

 

54 minutes ago, Woody B said:

Was there some kind of event (weather or something else) that triggered a fish kill ~15 or however many years ago? 

 

Maybe. We did have our record cold winter about 11 years ago.

 

55 minutes ago, Woody B said:

170 acres may be too big for this, but have you considered tagging the Bass you catch?   I don't know what equipment is needed but it would be interesting to see how much "the Bass tagged #7 grows in a year, if you catch it again. 

 

I haven't considered this. Hmm. Interesting idea.

 

56 minutes ago, Woody B said:

I've got a Lowrance Elite7 Ti2 I'll give you. 

  

You're so kind, but I don't want to fool with a battery. 

 

I'm off to fish it in about 15 minutes!

[Swamp Girl]

After last night's fishing, I think it's only a matter of time before I land a 19+-incher. I say this because of the frames of some of the bass I caught, i.e. they have the frames to be four-pounders and more. I caught at least three that are already 3.5-pounders. Not that far to go to reach four.