Down at my favorite pond(~1 acre) i catch some awesome bass, one being my personal best of just under 5.5 lbs. the bass fishing is great, i can take the girlfriend there and have a good time because she doesnt have to try hard to catch a fish. The problem is the fish arent as fat as i think they should be, and i think this may be because of the huge overpopulation of sunnys. they are EVERYWHERE!. just walking around the edge of the pond you can probably count 200 sunnys just walking around the parimiter. is there anything i can do about this over population? id like to start seeing some bigger, fatter bass come out of this little place. thanks for the help!

Well, you could chuck a few M-80's in there to take care of 'em, or you could keep 'em and have bream fillets for dinner. I suggest the latter

Careful what you wish for, those sunnies could be the only thing keeping those bass alive! Nature has a way of maintaining it's own balance. Things aren't always as obvious as they seem sometimes.

If I were to do anything without DNR by my side, it would be to add some structure or cover.  Give the bass an "upper hand" and one more place to ambush the bait from.

i agree with basspro and LBH but would echo basspro's suggestion about catching and keeping some of the bluegill.  this will thin out the population and give you larger bluegill a year or two down the road.  

the bass to feed on the bluegill but if the population of bluegill is too great they won't be able to control that population.  

just remember, this will not be an over night fix...

hope this helps,

Alfred

Not all sunnys are built alike. Some, like green sunfish and goggle eye, have larger mouths and will compete with young bass for food. Bluegill are not much of a threat.

A high bluegill population can do some heavy damage during the spawn. Too many to defend the nest against.

My point was that you may see alot of sunnies but that doesn't neccessarily mean that there is an imbalance somewhere. Certain times of year, they are much more visible than others. For instance, if person "B" were to go to the same lake in November, he may say "wow, no sunnies, I should put some in here."

Fish should not be introduced nor harvested blindly. An educated opinion from the DNR can explain alot. Ask questions, you pay their salaries. Even an email to them may shed light on issues like disease and such that you are not aware of. Just my opinioon.

good advice LBH, checking with the DNR folks is always a good first step.  

in my experience if you fish a pond and are fishing for bluegills, or whatever you call them, and the majority of the fish are small it is safe to say there is an over population of bluebill or any fish.

common sense says that you don't go in and take 30 - 50 fish out trying to get the population in check, your DNR can tell you what should be harvested per year to maintain a good blance, that woould include bass and bluegill...

in short call your DNR folks to see what you should do.....

Alfred

Down at my favorite pond(~1 acre) ...you can probably count 200 sunnys just walking around the parimiter...

If them thar sunnys is WALKIN' 'round that thar perry-meeter, yew'd best be danged careful down by that thar pond. If'n they'se walkin' they be some tough critters!

Yer Fren,

Ol' Uncle Fly