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Home , Angling, Rough fish

How to Assess the in Your Farm Pond

By David Routledge, southeast region technician

Summer is just throughout the year with a variety of lures around the corner and I and baits such as lures, worms, am sure many farm crickets, doughbaits and jigs. pond owners, if they This will allow you to catch various sizes haven’t done so and types of fish. already, will be dusting For this method of assessing your pond off their equip- to be effective, you should record the ment and heading to lengths and numbers of each species their very own body of caught on a yearly basis. A yearly record water for some of fish caught will provide a trend in the action. Many of you harvest make-up, which in turn will allow will probably be won- you to make sound management deci- dering if you have a sions. Also, if you have friends that fre- quently fish your pond, you should make quality in your Shoreline seining will help you determine the reproductive sure they keep a record of all the fish they pond or if some adjust- success of largemouth bass and in your pond. For catch as well. You should also keep track ments need to be made best results, use a 20 x 4 foot seine with one-quar- of the time you fished so you can deter- to improve the existing ter inch mesh, from June through September. population. mine the catch rate of all species caught. Yes, there are ways to For a fishing log to record your catch, refer use a 20 X 4 foot minnow seine with one- evaluate the fisheries population in your to the 2001 summer issue of Your Side of quarter inch mesh. Several quadrant hauls farm pond and early summer is an excel- the Fence, “Getting to Know Your Pond” should be made in different locations, while lent time to do so. There are two main by Brent Gordon on page 7. Past issues at the same time trying to avoid areas with methods to assess your pond’s fish popu- of Your Side of the Fence can be obtained excessive vegetation and brush. Once a lation. One is to seine the shoreline which at the Department web site haul has been made, you should record the would cool you off when the weather http://www.wildlifedepartment.com. Go to numbers and lengths of all fish sampled. heats up, and the drier method would be publications, then Landowner Newsletter. This method should also be supplemented to fish your pond and monitor what you by angler catch records. Your seine haul catch. Interpreting Your Assessment should contain several fry and fewer inter- mediate sized bluegill (two-three inches) Assessment Methods Now that you have completed the hard and a few bass fingerlings (one-three inch- work, or should I say fun of assessing es). what is in your pond, it is time to interpret Let’s start with the shoreline seining tech- Angling is the second method of assessing nique, which will help you determine the your findings. If you found an abundant fish in your pond which sounds like great population such as , bull- reproductive success of largemouth bass fun, but it also requires a lot of work on your and bluegill in your pond. Shoreline sein- heads, , etc. your best bet would be to part. This assessment technique provides renovate your pond by lowering the water ing of your pond is best accomplished information on adult species in your pond. from June to September. For best results level and applying a fish toxin called You should fish your pond on a regular basis rotenone. This will kill out all the fish, then you can restock the pond with TABLE ONE bluegill, largemouth bass and . It is illegal to apply SEINE CONTENTS STATUS RECOMMENDATION rotenone in Oklahoma bodies - Young bass (<4 inches) Continue assessment using of water without ODWC super- Population balance - Many recently hatched bluegill angler harvest records vision and approval, so make (<2 inches) sure you contact your local Bluegill absent or undesir- ODWC personnel for advice if Verify bluegill presence by - Young bass (<4 inches) able species competing you go this route. angling - No recently hatched bluegill with If you used the shoreline sein- ing technique and found main- - No young bass Verify bass presence by ly bass, bluegill and catfish, - Many recently hatched bluegill Bluegill crowded or bass not present in pond angling use Table 1 to evaluate the (<2 inches) population. Over population or If angler harvest methods - No young bass absence of bluegills or Verify bass and/or bluegill pres- were used to evaluate the bass - No recently hatched bluegills undesirable fish species ence by angling - Undesirable species collected overpopulation 4 of bluegill harvested. Yes, you Much of the information obtained in this article need to harvest both bass and came from “Managing Pond Fisheries in bluegill. Oklahoma” and “Stocking and Management Also, many pond owners think it Recommendations For Texas Farm Ponds”. would be desirable to have crappie in their pond. This is a mistake, since crappie are notorious for pro- ducing large year classes. If there are not sufficient numbers of bass to help control the crap- pie, then they can become over- Listed below are two examples of how to populated and stunted. The figure PSD values for bass and bluegill in result could be a poor balance of your pond all species in your pond. Bass PSD example The drier method of sampling a farm Conclusion Your catch record shows 100 total bass caught pond is to use a rod and reel. By assessing your farm pond’s with 45 being over 12 inches long. fish population on a regular basis and bluegill populations in your pond, then and applying sound manage- 45 (Bass > 12 inches) x 100 = 45% recommendations can be made on abun- ment practices, you should enjoy 100 (total bass) dance and size distribution of the two years of quality fishing on your species and Percentage Size Distribution very own body of water. For Bluegill PSD example (PSD) values. more detailed information on To maintain a balanced fish population, managing your pond, I recom- Your catch record indicates 60 total bluegill you should try to keep PSD values for mend reading the ODWC publi- caught with 30 being over 6 inches bass and bluegill in the desired range and cation “Managing Pond Fisheries follow harvest recommendations in Table in Oklahoma”. This can be 30 (Bluegill > 6 inches) x 100 = 50% 2. obtained from all Wildlife 60 (total bluegill) Department installations for $3. Other Important Pond You can also go to the Management Considerations Department web site http//www.wildlifedepartment.com/ One mistake many people make which outstore.htm; print an order form can have a detrimental effect on a pond’s and send it along with $3 to fish population is not harvesting any fish. Oklahoma Department of Wildlife It is very important to harvest fish out of Conservation, C/O License sec- your pond to keep it in good balance. A tion, P.O. Box 53465, Oklahoma good rule of thumb is to harvest one City, OK 73105. pound of bass for every four to five pounds

TABLE TWO

CATCH COMPOSITION ANGLING PSD % HARVEST RECOMMENDATIONS BASS BLUEGILL - Bass average 12” - 15” - Bluegill range from 3” -6” 20 - 60 or larger 50 - 80 Balanced pond - release 12 “ - 15 “ bass - Bass caught are 12 “or Bluegill reaching over-crowded condi- larger 20 - 60 less - Bluegill caught are less than 5” tions. Harvest more bluegill and release than 50 12” - 15” bass - Bass average 12” - 15 “ - Bluegill caught are less greater less Bluegill overcrowded. Harvest more than 5 “ than 60 than 50 bluegill and release all bass. - Bass easy to catch and most are less than 12 “ Bass reaching over crowded conditions. - Bluegill range from 3 “ to 6 “ less than Harvest more bass less than 12”. or larger 20 50 - 80 Release 12” - 15” bass.

- Bass easy to catch and most Bass over crowded. Harvest more bass are less than 12 “ less than less than 12” and over 15”. Release 12”- - Bluegill (6” plus) frequent greater 20 than 80 15” bass and all bluegill. - Undesirable species caught (carp, bullhead, gar, etc.) Consider renovation 5