another noob - pics and pond question 2024

evillllsinz reply :

hey all,

just started fishing for bass (last summer i did a lot of fishing for catfish and ended up getting a 16" striper). i go to a local pond and have had pretty good luck there, trying different techniques. I have caught a 15 1/2" catfish, a 17" LMB, and today i just landed a 17 1/2" LMB (which I released and is the picture).

My main question is... how many fish can i take from it and still have enough fish to fish for next time? I know most of you guys are 90%+ C&R, but i like to eat my fish ( i hope i dont get flamed), but from what i read there probably isn't that many bass in the pond i fish at since its maybe at most an acre. Would it be like... a fish a month or what? i don't think its stocked.. ill have to make a few phone calls to figure that out.

another question i have is.. how do you use a mepps inline spinner? everyone says its as easy as casting and reeling it in. i have tried different speeds and i NEVER get any bites on these things. all my bites have been on artificial worms, t-rigged and wacky style. i read guides on this and it seems like its so easy that the guides don't really get in depth.

thanks!

roadwarrior reply :

Welcome aboard!

That fish looks healthy, but until you know more about the pond, you shouldn't keep any.

A one acre pond is really small and may not hold but a few bass.

8-)

jrhennecke reply :

Quote
Welcome aboard!
That fish looks healthy, but until you know more about the pond, you shouldn't keep any.

A one acre pond is really small and may not hold but a few bass.

8-)

X2 Besides you can eat all the catfish and trout you like.

SenkoBasser reply :

The only way I would eat any bass (other than striper) is if I was stranded in the wilderness, and about to die of starvation. Target the trout and perch. They taste way better.

tyrius. reply :

Quote
A one acre pond is really small and may not hold but a few bass.

My farm pond fishing experience would run counter to this. The most productive pond I fished growing up was definately under an acre and we caught bass all day long. We never caught any big ones because the owner wouldn't let us keep any and because we never fished for big fish But the bass were thick in that pond and some should have been harvested.

There are also many 1 acre or smaller ponds that have no fish. 1 acre is about the lower limit that the Illinois Department of Natural Resources recommends for being able to manage a fishery in the pond.

My thoughts are that from the picture it looks like a pond in a park. There really is no way to know who else is keeping fish from this pond so I wouldn't keep any bass from it. There just isn't anyway to know what the harvest rate is and I wouldn't want to be the one to take the last few fish out of it. Also, if I'm keeping fish to eat then bass is pretty low on the list. They just don't taste as good as bluegill, crappie, or catfish. Just a personal opinion there.

Quinn reply :

Quote
I know most of you guys are 90%+ C&R, but i like to eat my fish ( i hope i dont get flamed)

Flaming is not tolerated here the moderators do a good job at that.

They do allow poking fun and laughing at each other but is only in good fun, like friends.

I like to eat my fish too !! but I do release them in small ponds etc.

Welcome

Paul Roberts reply :

Some thoughts:

There are better tasting fish, and those that grow faster, than bass. Most ponds are stocked with bass and sunfish. Some have the addition of channel catfish. If there are cats, I'd target them for eating!

How many and what size bass you take depends on the pond, and the year. Populations commonly fluctuate in such small waters.

In general, I'd keep a few of the sizes that appear most abundant, realizing that such a small water most certainly won't produce good fishing down the road if you take too many. You'll want to get an idea about how many other anglers are fishing, and keeping, too, when figuring your take.

Not sure where you are, somewhat south I assume, but bass grow relatively slowly. Those 17s you caught would most likely be 7 or 8 years old where I fish. Most certainly, there are not many 17s in such a small pond. So, I'd release the larger ones, as they are harder to replace, the most fun to catch, and proven spawners.

And, in many waters this can be very important: For every bass better than 12inches I take out, I'd also take out at least 10 sunfish.

HesterIsGod reply :

Welcome

If you catch a bunch of bass and most of them are long and skinny, and just look plain undernourished, then you should keep a few. This will actually benefit the pond because it thins out the population and there is much less competition among the bass for food, so they grow bigger and faster. Also, a lot of begginers make the mistake of keeping only big fish when they want to thin out a pond. Wrong, only keep the smaller bass, say 8-13 inches is a good starting point.

Dont forget bluegill either they, spawn like crazy and taking a few slabs of them will not hurt the pond too much.

Grey Wolf reply :

WELCOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FivePoundBluegill reply :

I dont eat anything I catch and have never bothered finding out about how many fish of any species I should keep from any body of water...

However about those inline spinners...

I find I catch loads of dinks on these. Dinks are basically all I have caught with them so I rarely use them anymore.... However if the inline spinners do not work than most likely the fish do not like them in that pond at least at the time of year or under the conditiions you are fishing. T-Rigged and Wacky Rigged plastics work for most people once they have lurned how to use them. They are a consistant bait that works for me year round. I would stick to these when you want to catch fish. However you will probably get bored of these baits at some point and will probably want to try other baits like jerk baits, cranks, spinners, topwater.....

ventureboat reply :

x2 FivePound. All I catch is dinks, and not many. Don't even have them in my bass tackle system in my boat. However, I have a buddy (fisheater) on these forums who loves and swears by them!!! He was fishing a #1 in a farm pond for bluegill, and landed a beautiful bass over 8lbs. Now on his wall!!! Go figure :-?

Perfect Hook Set reply :

Quote
hey all,
just started fishing for bass (last summer i did a lot of fishing for catfish and ended up getting a 16" striper). i go to a local pond and have had pretty good luck there, trying different techniques. I have caught a 15 1/2" catfish, a 17" LMB, and today i just landed a 17 1/2" LMB (which I released and is the picture).

My main question is... how many fish can i take from it and still have enough fish to fish for next time? I know most of you guys are 90%+ C&R, but i like to eat my fish ( i hope i dont get flamed), but from what i read there probably isn't that many bass in the pond i fish at since its maybe at most an acre. Would it be like... a fish a month or what? i don't think its stocked.. ill have to make a few phone calls to figure that out.

another question i have is.. how do you use a mepps inline spinner? everyone says its as easy as casting and reeling it in. i have tried different speeds and i NEVER get any bites on these things. all my bites have been on artificial worms, t-rigged and wacky style. i read guides on this and it seems like its so easy that the guides don't really get in depth.

thanks!

how many fish can i take from it and still have enough fish to fish for next time?

I wouldn't keep any type of fish until I knew the body of water. Some waters are polluted in all type of ways and some have warnings posted. If the water is clean and contain healthy fish I would suggest keeping the smaller 12in Bass at a rate of a 2 or 3 fish every other week if not longer.

how do you use a mepps inline spinner?

I usually just reel it in very slowly. I never caught a bass over 2lbs on one. These spinners do work great for Perch and Crappie

What size of mepps inline spinner are you using?

Around here I see people keeping more sunfish then bass, I believe its because, they are easier to catch, can be found any where, and taste better...

When it comes to not having a lot of big bass in small ponds I beg to differ though pond size varies depending on who you talk to.

HesterIsGod reply :

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/iaconelli_panic_box.html

Check that out for inline spinners. Its about Ike's panic box. Read it and you'll find info about inline spinners. I am with you guys I never catch nothing but dinks on them except for smallmouth, especially in the winter. Thats the only time i fish them

Paul Roberts reply :

guest reply :

There you go Paul, Proof is in the puddin 8-)

ohiobassmaster93 reply :

Quote
The only way I would eat any bass (other than striper) is if I was stranded in the wilderness, and about to die of starvation. Target the trout and perch. They taste way better.

x2 for that

Big-O reply :

Welcome aboard, glad to see that you are management minded from the get go. As above mentioned take out all the catfish you want and keep a close eye on how the bass numbers are cking out.

LooksLikeSinbad reply :

Release the bass and pick one of these up at the drive-through on your way home!

Welcome to the board.

Fish Chris reply :

SO much more logical !

To go somewhere and buy your fish dinner is:

1) So much cheaper, than the money we spend trying to catch them.

2) So much better for keeping our own fisheries good.

3) Guaranteed that you will have your fish dinner every time you choose to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Personally speaking, I'm just so darn picky about the fish I eat. Most of the time I'd prefer a big booming fillet of fresh Salmon from Costco.... Or a Carls Juniors fish sandwich....

When I'm lucky enough to catch the Cali Halibut, I'll keep a few of those..... and maybe a few Crappie. But in general, I end up releasing about 98% of my catches for the year. Come to think about, that was 100% in 07'.

Peace,

Fish

Popeye reply :

Welcome to BR!! Not much I can add that hasn't already been said by the other members. I personally catch and release ALL the bass I catch BUT will keep and eat catfish, bluegills (on occasion) and am looking forward to catching and eating some Walleye when I get back to the Midwest later this year (supposedly one of, if not the best tasting of the fresh water fish so I've heard:o) As far as inline spinners, all I've ever caught on them is Northern Pike. I reel them in at various speeds and try to change the direction of the lure ever so often by sweeping the rod tip from side to side. Northerns will demolish a spinner when they're in a feeding frenzy mode. Large spinners are very effective for Musky too, but there's probably none in the pond you fish (IF there were, then there probably wouldn't be any other fish - "Musky: all other fish are just bait!"). Again, WELCOME to BR!!!

ba7ss3in reply :

Welcome to the boards, hope you have found what you were looking for.

SV1000 reply :

Welcome!

I disagree with 90% of people here, I like the taste of Black Bass as much as Crappie and hands down over any catfish. The Filet O' Fish is one of the primary reasons for me needing a bigger outboard; and, the fish in the stores are filthy compared to what I am eating.

I live on a private lake and I record how many people I see fishing and on what days, but I can't determine how many fish they catch or keep. There are not that many who fish the 55 acres though.

I am doing as much as I can by sinking crappie and bass habitat, logging the fish I catch to access as much as I can about the bass population, and will probably buy a few 1000 Coppernose Bluegill this summer out of my own pocket...and I am on a tight budget.

I WILL eat one or two fish every week from our lake. If I find that fish are disappearing or becoming scarce I will change my approach.

Here is a link to Pond Management from TP&W

http://www.sdafs.org/tcafs/manuals/tcafs_pond_manual_2005.pdf

Hope this helps!

roadwarrior reply :

The section on Proper Harvest is particularly interesting. "Improper harvest of largemouth bass ruins future fishing in Texas ponds more often than any other cause." However, the opposite is often true! "Management" is the key.

I see nothing wrong with keeping bass in general, but I am not in favor of taking big bass that have the potential of becoming bigger bass. I want to catch 'em when they grow up!

8-)

Shadcranker reply :

I'll defer to the stae fisheries biologists and wildlife resource regulators on the subject. They set size limits and creel limits for a reason, and I do not have a problem with people harvesting legally, as long as they have a license, and eat what they take.

I personally choose to practice catch and release, b/c I don't want to hassle with cleaning them, and if I do want meat, I'll go catch crappie or walleye / sauger.

From what I read, selective harvest of spotted bass and smaller LM / Sm is a good thing in many fisheries.

FishinDaddy reply :

I prefer catch and release for one reason only.....So that someone else may have the pleasure you just experienced. I think it's selfish for someone who loves to CATCH bass, to remove that possibility for someone else. I'm thinking mostly of my children and future generations. Fishing pressure is on the rise in most areas and will not ever go down..One fish released today could be responsible for thousands of fish 10 years from now....

Quinn reply :

See! Good advice from a good question from good folks.

I learned alot from the replies to your question.

8-)

Ifish4keeps reply :

im all for catch and release

i never eat my bass

skillet reply :

WELCOME to the forums!!!

As Ever,

skillet

Glenn reply :

Welcome home!

SenkoBasser reply :

Personally, and this is maybe just my strictness coming out, but I think that some states should deem large and small mouth to a catagory maybe named "sport fish" and make it illegal to not put the catch back unless for tournament purposes (which they will go back anyway), or its a trophy bass that has ambushed the bait and more than likely won't survive (wall mount or food). In my opinion, this wouldn't be a bad idea for areas with decreasing bass populations.

As I stated before, no way would I eat bass. I've also read that bass along with other slow growing species tend to have double the amounts of mercury at 12" in length than other species like trout, crappie, bluegill (delicious).

Yellow perch is delicious and its actually encouraged to bag them in alot of states. I make my locally famous Fish-Ka-Bobs. In order on skewer: Montery Jack cheese - zuccini - perch - squash - red potato.... and repeat.

tyrius. reply :

Quote
Personally, and this is maybe just my strictness coming out, but I think that some states should deem large and small mouth to a catagory maybe named "sport fish" and make it illegal to not put the catch back

I've seen waters where the bass were very overcrowded and were not healthy because no one kept any. You could fish there and catch a less than 1lb fish on about every other cast. This is not a healthy fishery.

On the larger lakes biologists study the fish populations and will typically set slots and limits so that the population of bass can be managed to provide for the best quality and quantity for that specific lake. A broad law requiring the release of all fish would be detrimental to the management of the fisheries.

Read up on fisheries management publications from the various state agencies and nearly every one will say that selective harvesting is a GOOD thing for managing a fish population.

key chain bass guy reply :

Quote
I prefer catch and release for one reason only.....So that someone else may have the pleasure you just experienced. I think it's selfish for someone who loves to CATCH bass, to remove that possibility for someone else. I'm thinking mostly of my children and future generations. Fishing pressure is on the rise in most areas and will not ever go down..One fish released today could be responsible for thousands of fish 10 years from now....

Amen to that!

roadwarrior reply :

Welcome aboard!

8-)

key chain bass guy reply :

Thank you. I think you were talking to me.

roadwarrior reply :

Yes, glad to have you here!

-Kent a.k.a. roadwarrior

fooman reply :

Welcome

It's hard to give you advise with it being a public pond and not knowing how many bass are being kept by other fisherman..

But I can give advise about private ponds..I belong to a club with a pond and the bass started getting thin and stunted..We had a bioligist come in and shock the pond and we had way to may small bass in there..He advised us to take out 150 bass under 12"

After his advise we went and looked at our harvest books and found out nobody took any bass out in over 5 years.We all assumed somebody else was harvesting bass..

The 1st time out I took home 3 small bass and fried them up and IMO they tasted like crap.

Everything else caught the rest of the year were put in a livewell and transfered to a new sub-division pond..

Without the added compition now the bass are starting to come back around with some decent size..

flechero reply :

I think we as "sportsman" or "conservationists" do more to harm the bass fisheries than we help. In many areas, catch and release is way overdone- and more misunderstood than rod action and power! ;D Somewhere it was decided that bass were some superior fish that was so fragile we can't keep a few w/o endangering them. Harvest regulations are put on a body of water to ENCOURAGE people to keep fish in those ranges... to help balance out the populations, sizes, species mix and overall health of the local ecosystem. I think the Man upstairs would say that a carp is as important as a bass or any other fish.

And as far as ponds go, the best ones I have ever fished for BOTH size and numbers, were the ones that had a regular harvest. :-? Funy how that works out...

I say if you like bass, keep some that fall within the regs and don't let anyone make you feel bad for it. By following the biologists recommendations, YOU are actually the conservationist who is contributing to the solution.

final thought before stepping off the soapbox...

I don't think it's a coincidence that regular fish kills and LMB Virus have been on the rise ever since C & R has taken off to the extreme. (Yes there were kills prior but it seems like we see them much more frequently now)

farmpond1 reply :

Welcome to the forum!

In my humble opinion, there isn't anything wrong with keeping a few fish now and again. The question you are asking is the appropriate one: how many fish can we keep without ruining our fishery. Something a lot of people forget to ask (but a few have mentioned here) is how many other fishermen utilize this same resource and how many of them are keeping their fish? Obviously, the more people who fish and, in turn, keep their fish, the fewer we should keep ourselves. This doesn't seem very fair (and I think it's why some people chaff when they hear about others keeping fish) but it's a hard reality. Personally, I don't understand why anyone would want to keep a large stringer of fish from a small pond unless they intentionally want to fish it out.

On a side note, why is it everyone seems to treat trout like red-headed step children? I suppose if they aren't wild trout and won't reproduce, then that's a little different. But trout don't reproduce like gang busters and the mentality that they can all be kept is just as inappropriate as keeping all of any other species. (My personal rant).

Mepps reply :

Mepps #3 Black Fury, learn it, fish it correctly and you'll love it.

Catt reply :

Dude don't let what others say discourage you, aint nothing wrong with eating a few bass.

Most guys who preach 100% catch-n-release don't know much about conservation otherwise they would learn more about selective harvesting.

The way I look at it is God put bass on earth to eat not worship

Paul Roberts reply :

Quote
The way I look at it is God put bass on earth to eat not worship

Now that was a good. ;D

Now does that mean that C&R is akin to blasphemy? Does that mean I'm headed straight to hell??? 'Cause I'd rather eat perch, 'gills, cats, walleyes, trout, and .... Will those save me???

-hydrillagorilla- reply :

Welcome! You opened her up in style!

Catt reply :

Nope but many people do place bass on some kind of pedestal which is akin to worship

It ticks me off when someone mentions eating bass and we have people who hardly even post anything but they jump all over this subject in the name of conservation. Every wildlife & fisheries agency in America will tell you selective harvesting does more for bass population the 100% catch & release. Many of these so called "conservationists" never spend any time on community service helping wildlife & fisheries; they spend absolutely no time studying conservation. They are very few people here that love bass fishing any more than me, I practice catch & release 90% of the time, I spend 50-100 hours helping local wildlife & fisheries agencies.

If someone wants to eat a few bass is perfectly ok & if someone doesn't want to eat bass that's ok to. But trying to make someone feel like they are harming something by eating bass is just plain wrong.

FivePoundBluegill reply :

What I do not get is why people say its so wrong to keep a bass and say its perfectly fine to keep a bunch of catfish, crappie, bluegills, trout. Its like the bass is a sacred fish or something. Yeah I think you should be careful how many bass you keep if you want your local lake to continue to have a good amount of bass to fish for but thats the only reason I say you should be careful keeping them. Im not an expert on this subject because I throw all my fish back however from listening to a lot of experts I have learned in most situations keeping some of the smaller bass is actually a good thing. However I personally think you should look at the population of bass in the lake you are fishing. Especially if you like to both eat fish as well as have fish to catch in the future. If it is loaded with small fish then keep a lot of these smaller fish. However if there are not that many fish in the lake and they are pretty balanced in the area of size I would be careful about keeping them.

Also if you are fishing beds NEVER keep a bedding bass. Doing this is the worst thing you can do because you are killing the bass garding the nest as well as all that bass's offspring. I personally think it should be illegal to keep a bass that comes off a bed.

SenkoBasser reply :

Quote
Nope but many people do place bass on some kind of pedestal which is akin to worship
It ticks me off when someone mentions eating bass and we have people who hardly even post anything but they jump all over this subject in the name of conservation. Every wildlife & fisheries agency in America will tell you selective harvesting does more for bass population the 100% catch & release. Many of these so called "conservationists" never spend any time on community service helping wildlife & fisheries; they spend absolutely no time studying conservation. They are very few people here that love bass fishing any more than me, I practice catch & release 90% of the time, I spend 50-100 hours helping local wildlife & fisheries agencies.

If someone wants to eat a few bass is perfectly ok & if someone doesn't want to eat bass that's ok to. But trying to make someone feel like they are harming something by eating bass is just plain wrong.

Say what?

HesterIsGod reply :

You can eat a few bass every now and then, its fine but just use selective harvest and leave the real big ones, they don't taste good anyway

evillllsinz reply :

wow i dint notice how fast this thread grew! thanks for all the input from everyone! ill try to take one every once in a while imo i think bass taste good.

today i went out to the same pond and got skunked... i think the fish just dint wanna bite. it was really hot (75 degees-ish sunny). i saw a group of maybe 6 carp.. i think? one of them was white and the others were black. would it be possible that one of those could have been bass or catfish?

and i know this is a bass website but i find it odd that today was the clearest the water has ever been and i still havent seen any of the "prey" fish. i dont even know if there is bluegill in there!

Fish Man reply :

i love in line spinners. they are fun and ive caught fish that have come close to my pb on them, around five pounds

10775

another noob - pics and pond question 2024

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