Hey Rick,


Not much happening down here right now. It's been pretty cold lately. Or if not cold, then we get high winds. You know the deal.

Yesterday I visited with a man who invited me to fish in a large pond that his son owns. The reason he invited me is because his son wants a bit more help in reducing the number of little bass (12 inches and shorter) that live in his pond.

Needless to say, I thanked him and said I would sure try to get out there sometime. I would have accepted his invite with an iron-clad promise, except the first thought that popped into my head is that this pond must be out of balance. Things must be pretty bad if there's so many little bass that they've become an aggravation to the owner?

I'm sure you've encountered this sort of thing before. Many of your Panfish stories relate to the 7-to-1 panfish-to-bass removal ratio as a good way to maintain a pond's productivity. What I don't recall from your earlier stories is the "catch and keep" strategy you used when fishing ponds that start off with too many little bass; usually the problem is too many panfish.

We all know that little bass are extremely aggressive feeders. So when approaching a pond infested with largemouth dinks do you exploit their aggressive nature to remove a great number of them, and then when the "little bass bite" tapers off (indicating you've removed enough) THEN you switch back to the 7 lb. panfish/1 lb. bass removal ratio?

Even if I don't end up fishing this pond I would like to recommend some sort of removal strategy that the landowner and his dad can give thought to using.

I would have PM'd you with this question but lots of BB members may someday encounter this same situation. All those inquiring minds would appreciate some advice. I sure would.


Thanks,

Joe
"Better small than not at all."