By Jessica Domel
Multimedia Reporter

Improving fishing in private lakes or ponds is possible, but it involves more than simply stocking the waterbody with new fish.

Steven Bardin, a fisheries biologist and owner of Texas Pro Lake, discussed the steps people can take to attain their pond management and improvement goals at the recent Blackland Income Growth Conference in Waco.

“The first thing I would do is look at who are my anglers going to be. What is the age range? How often are they going to fish? Then, identify a goal for the fishery,” Bardin said. “Whether it’s growing channel catfish or trophy largemouth bass, especially as kids age, their interest in fishing increases, but we have to make sure they catch fish first. Make sure you’ve got the right species for them at the right time.”

For example, blue catfish are easy to catch and an excellent source of meat, according to Texas A&M AgriLife Extension.

They can be caught with a hook and line or trot lines with a variety of baits.

Catfish should be stocked in the early spring.

Channel catfish are also an easy catch for most anglers. AgriLife reports they do not usually spawn in ponds, so structures like milk crates or buckets should be added to the bottom of the pond to encourage their spawning.

Largemouth bass are the most sought-after fish in Texas. They’re best suited for ponds larger than one acre.

Florida largemouth bass can grow to trophy size in the right pond, but they are more difficult to catch.

Before choosing and stocking any of these species, pond owners must first determine their pond’s size and carrying capacity to ensure the fish stocked there will thrive.

“Every lake has a production value, and that production is how many pounds of fish I can raise and also how much oxygen the pond can produce,” Bardin said in an interview with the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network. “If I overstock it, my fish are going to stunt, and that will eventually lead to fish dying.”

Aeration may also be needed for some ponds. It can help prevent fish kills, stabilize water quality and reduce algal blooms.

The color and clarity of a pond should also be taken under consideration.

“Each fish species is going to have environmental conditions it grows best in in terms of water quality, clarity and size,” Bardin said.

Some fish require specific structures to thrive in a pond. For example, crappie need vertical structures in several locations so they can school around them.

Channel catfish will not reproduce unless there’s a cave-like structure.

Pond owners and managers should also consider the other fish and plants that will reside in the pond in order to create a healthy ecosystem.

“We have to build a food chain and have the right habitat,” Bardin said. “It’s a very complex issue, but we need to know the goal, and then we can build all the other things out of it.”

In creating a food chain, competition, reproduction and size of fish and the pond should be taken into consideration.

For example, redear sunfish are essential in all ponds because they eat snails, which can carry parasites that can harm fish.

Redear sunfish can help increase a pond’s carry capacity, but they should be re-stocked every five years.

Golden shiner minnows will eat fish eggs and decrease production. Fathead minnows are slow swimmers, and get eaten, but they reproduce quickly.

Pond owners who plan on stocking bass should also consider adding bluegill, or perch, to the environment.

They’re a forage fish like redear sunfish and minnows. They eat aquatic vegetation, zooplankton, insects and, on occasion, minnows and small fish.

Bluegills provide a food base for bass and are a good opportunity for young anglers.

AgriLife warns that stocking bluegill can be a mixed blessing as they can easily overpopulate a pond, especially those smaller than one acre.

Supplemental feeding should also be considered when planning a pond management system as not all supplemental feeds are created equal and can impact production value.

The types of plants in or near a pond are also important as they can impact the overall system.

Some plants provide habitat, nursey and food for ponds, but having too many of them can decrease a waterbody’s carrying capacity. Too much biovolume can also starve plankton.

Cattails, for example, provide nursey and edge habitat for fish, but they can limit anglers’ access to the shoreline.

American lotus, which looks similar to water lilies, provides shade and edge fish habitat, as well, but will become extremely dense if not managed and difficult to eradicate. The seeds of the plant can lie dormant in the soil for generations.

American pondweed provides nursery areas for young fish and a food source for waterfowl, but it limits anglers’ ability to navigate a boat on the waterbody.

Fish harvest is also vital to pond management.

“We grew up in a catch and release environment. That’s what we were taught as kids, but actually catch and release leads to stunted fish and problems in your pond,” Bardin said. “You need to harvest fish. You need to put a plan together though. Look at what the size classes of fish are and where they are most abundant, and remove fish in that zone. It could be up to 25% of the fish in the lake every year that need to come out.”

Pond managers also need to consider the weather.

“During drought, you have the same amount of fish and a smaller body of water. What happens is the forage fish have less habitat to hide in, and so they decrease in abundance and your predators grow to a larger size,” Bardin said.  “When the lake fills up, we have those big predators and not a lot of forage, so there’s a rebound that has to happen, which means we need a lot of shoreline habitat, or we need to restock to build that food chain back.”

Some fish will die when temperatures get too low. For example, tilapia will not survive when the water falls below 40 degrees.

Although it may sound difficult, Bardin said managing a pond can be a fun activity.

“That’s the fun of owning a pond. We’re going to try to get to that goal, and we’re going to learn as we’re getting on that process that our goal’s going to change a little bit. We may need to reevaluate it. Maybe our expectations need to increase because we’re doing so well,” Bardin said. We need to manage it. It can be a great resource for friends and family.”

This year, AgriLife is hosting several aquatic webinars. You can find those and other resources at fisheries.tamu.edu.

Bardin has information on fish types, aquatic plants, aeration and more at txprolake.com.