Why you should never restock bass you catch into a different lake

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Күн бұрын

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@tagnut1952 3 ай бұрын

I moved into a new little neighborhood (Lilburn) of 14 homes in 1983 that surrounded a 2.6 acre spring fed lake. On some maps, it was actually called Lake Osner. I was the only one that fished this lake and did so about 300 days a year. Over time, the lake developed a lot of algae and undesirable vegetation to where it was almost impossible to fish and real embarrassing when folks would hang out on our dock. Sometime in the mid '90's I took it upon myself to see what could be done about the bad weed problem. I don't recall exactly how I came in contact with Pro Ponds (yellow pages maybe) but I gave them a call and this young man (Shan) came out to assess our situation. I was prepared for him to say there wasn't anything he could do since it was so far gone, but to my surprise, Shan says, no problem. I'll "punch" that crap out for ya. He gave me a price and a plan of attack and I said let me get with the other 13 neighbors and see if they'll chip in. I had 100% participation. So we hired Shan to get our little lake back in shape. And it truly was a mess. Before we knew it, the weeds and algae were all gone and the lake water looked good enough to drink. I couldn't believe how quickly it came around. Shan had us on a monthly plan to maintain our lake and once it was under control, he asked me if anyone fished it. I told him I fish almost everyday mainly to unwind and occasionally my next door neighbor would wet a line. Shan asked me what I was catching and I said, I've caught at least a thousand 3/4 pounders that all look like the same bass. He said we were real bass heavy and needed to get a lot of bass out of the lake, and suggested he do a shock treatment to get a population count. By this time I was really getting to know and like Shan a lot, and he told me I could be the "dipper". Turned out that was a lot of fun along with being very educational, and after getting a population assessment, he calculated how many bass needed to be removed. He also said we needed 800 bluegill put into the lake. He promised me in a couple years we'd have some trophy bass. I was excited just thinking about that, but deep down couldn't imagine it really happening. I don't recall exactly how long it was, but in just a few short years I had caught 4 bass weighing a total of 37.1 pounds. (not a misprint) The grand-daddy, a 10.3 pounder still hangs proudly on my wall, caught June 19, 1999. I've got pictures of the other three lunkers I pulled out of the lake. All were caught on a hullapopper. My lure of choice. For 12 plus years the biggest bass I ever pulled out of that lake was a one pounder, and after hooking up with Shan, I was catching trophy bass left and right. Lots of 4-6 pounders mixed in there too. I was so spoiled that if I didn't catch at least a five pounder within twenty minutes of pluggin' the bank, I was ready to go to the house. I know this is long, but what I'm trying to say is, Shan O'Gorman is a master genius when it comes to pond/lake management. I learned so much from him over the years when he was treating our lake. I don't recall anyone I ever met that was so into his profession. And you could tell he loved what he did. I've been gone from that home for 19 years now. Life got in the way and we lost contact with each other, but I always considered Shan a very close bud. He taught me so much. I always enjoyed being around Shan, and I've been thinking about him lately and was so glad to see he's all over the internet teaching folks what to do and what not to do when it comes to maintaining and balancing your lake. Believe me from an old guy well into his 70's, Shan O'Gorman is THE MAN when it comes to growing large mouth bass. Period.

@aquaticbiologist6516 3 ай бұрын

Thanks for that man, I remember that pond well. It came back around nicely. I was talking about that pond on a Live recently. I’ve always wondered what happened to many clients. I ran into Rod Pearman many years ago now and was so sad to hear about Pam. I really enjoyed that community, it was a fun project

@tagnut1952 3 ай бұрын

@@aquaticbiologist6516 Thanks Buddy.

@leescheffler7677 3 ай бұрын

Thanks for speaking on this. As an avid angler, fishery professional, and bass angler I appreciate it.

@aquaticbiologist6516 3 ай бұрын

Thanks for following

@kenmccarthyfishing 3 ай бұрын

Thank you Shan,well explained

@aquaticbiologist6516 3 ай бұрын

Sure man. Thanks for following 👊

@maxcole3930 3 ай бұрын

Your the expert, this is what you do for a living. I'm not gonna argue with that. Now I can better explain why I shouldn't bring big bass from lake up the road to put in my neighbors pond. I haven't done it yet thankfully. Now I definitely won't!

@aquaticbiologist6516 3 ай бұрын

Thanks for taking time to listen. If you get me a list of species and their relative weights I can show you how to grow those fish so you don’t need to stock

@Grimey_Fishing 3 ай бұрын

Tell 'em, D-Han! In Ontario it is also illegal to transport live fish overland with the exception of baitfish. Even the list of legal baitfish cannot be moved from one zone to another (so that often means from one body of water to another), and they must be disposed of at least 30 metres from any body of water.

@aquaticbiologist6516 3 ай бұрын

They want to fight about it. Ok then, they just gonna get embarrassed in public. 🤣

@Grimey_Fishing 3 ай бұрын

@@aquaticbiologist6516 🤣

@davidcloyd1296 3 ай бұрын

I listened, learned,,, but clarification is needed. Here in Northern Va we have new ponds being created for drainage etc. due to the road expansions and new developments. Many of these bodies of water don’t have ANY bluegill or bass in them, but only little minnows etc. Now, if I put several bluegill in one of these ponds and then a couple years later, after they spawned and reproduced like crazy, put in several bass which reproduce and have a large forage base… what’s the problem with that?

@aquaticbiologist6516 3 ай бұрын

You will need to check regulations. Transporting game fish is illegal many places and the laws can be strict. You could end up with fines or worse

@hookingbassupnorth5012 3 ай бұрын

I talk with you for days on this topic 🎣

@aquaticbiologist6516 3 ай бұрын

I wish dudes would listen but many fisheries have already been permanently ruined. 🤷‍♂️

@maxcole3930 3 ай бұрын

People did that same thing with Clark's Hill & lake Russell on the savannah river chain. People brought spotd into the lakes & the dam spots taken over & their all pretty small. Lake Russell is horrible! Clark's Hill is getting bad too. I think there is no limit for spots in lake Murray, to encourage everyone to help keep them from taking it over also. Im not a fan of spots, I've never seen one over 3.8lb, not big at all

@aquaticbiologist6516 3 ай бұрын

Spots will ruin a fishery. Russell used to produce nice largemouth. I caught several 6-8 pound bass there in the mid 1990’s. That’s gone and it’s never coming back

@secretbassrigs 3 ай бұрын

When your area becomes a world class fishery. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity. The potential is there in many more places than it actually happens. But, it's when people do what they know isn't good for the fishery for selfish reasons that prevents it from ever happening. Or worse, actually ruins one

@aquaticbiologist6516 3 ай бұрын

My problem is with the guys with high follower counts that push catch& release. They are either lying to make money or too dumb to have a follower count

@secretbassrigs 3 ай бұрын

@@aquaticbiologist6516 that too. I think it's definitely a regional determination, and the population of humans can be a huge factor too. There's not enough specific information per body of water. When there's a lot of poachers or poor management, those fisheries don't have a chance at becoming world class. When the culture is responsible and it's managed well, they do have a chance at having a world class fishery, and it just takes a few bone heads to introduce a negative element to mess it all up no matter how well everything else was done. When it comes to conservation/selective harvesting, I'm pretty sure the sporting population could use some good recipes. Okay, I just looked up Castaic Lake's LMB regs. I thought they had a slought since 2015. I never keep Bass enough to know. Just stripers. IT'S 5 FISH 15" MINIMUM SIZE. NO MAX SIZE for LMB 🤦‍♂️.

@secretbassrigs 3 ай бұрын

@@aquaticbiologist6516 the next nearest lake is Pyramid. It's not fished as hard by sports anglers. But is probably fished harder by food anglers. They have standard 12" minimums. 5 fish. And the size of the LMB AND SMB are good

@secretbassrigs 3 ай бұрын

@@aquaticbiologist6516 another problem for urban areas is the health advisories.

@secretbassrigs 3 ай бұрын

@@aquaticbiologist6516 there's a small lake that is part of the Aqueduct system that Pyramid get its water from, Quail Lake. About 20 years ago, it was full of 12" striper. But it wasn't well known and difficult to fish the productive areas due to parking location and no boats. It was easy to limit out on them. After becoming familiar with the area and " secret " parking areas, I let the word out. Because I was aware of the issues way back then. About 10 years ago, I noticed much bigger LMB and striper, small striper seemed to become rare. But then Sacramento made changes to water depths where they pumped water from in the delta. Because of the endangered Sacramento Smelt. Then the word got out to the immigrant community. In the last 5 years, it's still got some decent sized bass and striper, but far fewer in numbers, but still no little striper. It all makes sense

@JacksonHomestead 3 ай бұрын

I know this may be a stupid question, but is transplanting Red Ear as bad of an idea as transplanting Bass? Is the trade off of possible disease introduced vs parasites eaten worth it? Its like on one hand Im risking my entire pond to disease and on the other hand, im introducing parasite eating machines "for free". I guess im asking is it worth saving a few dollars to put my pond at risk? I guess not.

@aquaticbiologist6516 3 ай бұрын

Learn to treat them before you move them. Sometimes it’s hard to find RE at the hatchery, they sell out quick

@hardtarget2359 3 ай бұрын

Question? You can’t control the bass population without first controlling the forage population. So how do you do that?

@aquaticbiologist6516 3 ай бұрын

Controlling the bass population is what controls the forage population. It works like a see saw, more bass = less forage. Remove bass and the forage population goes up. If you add additional predators you have to control all the predators not just the bass. That’s why we don’t add crappie and other predators into ponds. You can’t catch enough crappie to control them. Many other species of predators work the same way, we use simple bass bluegill ponds as an example to learn how population dynamics works. If you let a big lake get bass crowded no amount of harvest will change the crowded conditions. You simply can t keep enough to make any difference