How to make bigger fish

[Lsranger406]

Hey all so I fished on pond today that is on PRIVATE family owned ground. Had never fished it before but knew it had to have fish. When I was younger my grandparents use to stock it with thousands of trout. Brooks and bows. This pond is fed by the creek. It sits about 15 feet from the main creek channel and feeds off that creek. Not actually part of the main creek. The pond is maybe 100 feet long by 25 or 30 feet. Roughly. Deepest spot was 14 feet. My nephew and I caught so many fish in an hour that we got sick of fishing. Probably  close to 50 a piece. All were in the 6 to 8 inch range. On the finders the screens would light up with fish. I guess to the question. Would you manage the pond to get bigger fish or is the pond to small to make bigger fish? When I was young the fish got bigger(3-4 pound). Why? Yes they were pellet fed back then but that was 20 years ago.  No one has fed the fish since then. Noticed today has fresh water shrimp.  I think it would be fun to have a pond with natural big fish kind of in the middle of no where. What is everyone's thoughts?

[Lsranger406]

Here's the pond. Feeds into it from right hand side of pic.

[hoofer]

start keeping fish.you have to many fish in a small pond stunts the growth,to many mouths to feed.

[Piltzviller]

Yup, start pulling some fish and fill up the smoker!

[Iceassin]

Photoshop? ...

[Noon]

I agree with the other posts. It sounds like the pond is over populated and thus stunting the growth. Too many fish = limited food supply. Start keeping fish. It sounds like you wont even be close to over fishing it any time soon. Taking some fish out will essentially help the ponds ecosystem to provide for some bigger fish to begin putting on the pounds.

[peacockhurl4]

What do the fish look like-skinny with large heads or fat with small heads: small heads and fat bodies= healthy pond.  Is the meat pink or white?  If you have an abundant food (shrimp-pink meat-, damsel fly and other nymphs, etc) your fish should grow well.  Take a nymph net to it in summer's open water and see how much food is in the pond.  Maybe the fish froze out last year (I hope not) and these are the "young of the year" plants-sound about the right size  (1"-2" plants in the spring) for a healthy pond.  You are so fortunate to have this fishery-the condition of your fish will tell you what you need to do.

[Lsranger406]

Photoshop? ...

you wish it was photo shop. This pond has been in my family for as long as the Potomac valley has been established. When I was young I do remember my dad and amd his brothers draining it and digging it bigger with the dozers and excavators. After that it got stocked one time. When all of those fish grew to a couple pound they were released by fwp. All I k ow is it is a natural fed pond and that there is a pile of fish now. I do not know what is in it for food due to I Havnt been to this pond for over 15 years.(until this last weekend).  Back then I was young and cared more about dirt bikes then fishing.  Its an amazing kid pond. Had a blast with my nephew. Now need to have my daughter for a weekend and go with her.

[BobberdownMT]

He meant photoshop the fish to make them look bigger

[Nockdown]

Throw some northerns in there. Theyll take care of a lot of those little rainbow carp.