Bought property with 18 acre lake. Ideas on making it a bass lake?

[fishingfreak]

Welcome to OFF! Congrats on the new property! There is a lot of info on here you can research! I hope you have great success!

 

[troutdude]

Awesome first thread! Welcome to OFF. Hope you have much success w/ your new pond!

 

[fredaevans]

Already given this Puppy a 'Five Star' thread rating. Just a couple of thoughts, first check with Oregon F and G to see if they have any 'special regulations' you need to know about. As this 'Pond' appears (correct?) to be naturally fed (water) I doubt there would be anything to onerous.

Many years back a member of a large HOA in Santa Rosa California where the developer had put in a huge 'reflecting pond,' fountain (that thing shoved 1,000 gallons/minute a 100 +/- foot into the air), etc. Anyway, someone brought up the idea of stocking the pond with bass for an added 'recreational opportunity for the kids (of all ages?). Motion past 10 to 1.

Pond was no where as deep as the one your working with, but we did make one 'huge mistake.' Aquatic plants will spread like hell on fire! Error we made was not putting the initial 'clumps' in heavy wire lined baskets anchored to the bottom to control their spread. A few years later the entire area was solidly ringed with cattails, lilly pads, etc. Damned near impossible to fish from the beach save for a few places a couple of guys and myself went in with a heavy chain and back-hoes to cut them off at the roots and pull them out. (Hell of a mess, but it worked ... till the following year and back to square one. This is how the Winery owners cleared their irrigation ponds.)

So go light on the 'in-water' plantings in the beginning.

Fred

 

[the_intimidator03]

I am going to make a few comments, First off this is a hell of an opportunity and folks are pretty helpful with species and such, It Sounds as if some folks are talking about harvesting fish out from local ponds and rivers and such and bringing them back alive, the issue being is technically it is illegal, Altho for this purpose I dont really agree with the law, But just know if you do wish to do that, do so at your own risk,

Structure is important not so much for the "game" fish but the food as well. If its already overpopulated with bass I would be more inclined to either A, Get a bunch of people out there fishing with a no release policy, or B treat the lake and start from ground zero. That way you know what you have to work with and can tailor it to your specific needs.

There is some information online about building your own ponds and stocking it with fish, They would be beneficial to read up on as they talk about different species requirements, forage, food for growth if your feeding them yourself or letting nature take course. Also remember the different strains of largemouth and that largemouth bass prefer more earthen structure and banks than smallmouth, who tend to prefer rocks.

I would suggest getting a good mapping done of the impoundment, That should give you an idea of where you can add or take away from. A few calls to local fisheries biologist would be a good thing as well.

Just my generalized 2 cents of help.

 

[joesnuffy]

I'm too envious to help you

congrats on the pond and as most everybody has said so far: structure, structure, structure!

 

[nwkiller]

lol joe

 

[Thuggin4Life]

Congrats. Sounds like a good investment. can't really give up any more info than already given other than make sure you make a decent desegnated boat launch area. Good luck!

 

[todd_brooks]

I haven't read this whole thread and it too late to right now. So if its been said disregard it. But I think I'd be calling odfw and seeing if you could find a biologist you could talk with. I would bet you could be put in touch with some one that specializes in such matters. You might be surprised at how happy they are to burn some time at work chatting you up. You lucky dog you. Good luck.

 

[shotgun]

UP-Date on Fish in pond ..... It seems to have a bunch od 1 to 3 pound large mouth in it ..... fishing from the bank 2 weeks ago with 50 degree water ... in a half a hour with a Yum Dinger Forked Tail ... I caught 9 LM's with the biggest just over 3 and lost 5 others ..... next day I tried again and got 11 and lost 4 in 45 minutes ..... Then the weather went all to hell and shut off the bite for a few days .... has not came back as good as it was ... but now am usually catching 2 to 4 fish each outing up and down the bank ..... can't wait to put a boat in the lake ....

ALSO .... is anyone out there have a small cat with a blade on it ... that would put in road in next to the lake for access for boat and better access from the bank ? That would trade the work for some bass fishing in my private 18 acre quarry lake ? Dirt is pretty soft with some small rocks in it . I am doing it with my back hoe , but its slow with it ... a cat would do short work of it .... I sure would be willing to do some tradeing ...........

Thanks.. Doug Ramey

Silverton Oregon ...

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[fredaevans]

too cool!

 

[Kevinb5688]

I took a field and stream repair course. We cut branches off of willow trees and simply stuck them a foot in the dirt around creeks. We did it to get root holds so banks wont wash out . They will grow roots and become full blown trees. Id grow a few in shallow water during summer. They grow fast and make awsome cover. If its 25 to 50 ft deep plants wont grow, but bass pro shops sells sinkable 10 ft "fake tree like structure" that works great. There not to expensixe and wont rot or float.

 

[colbypearson]

I took a field and stream repair course. We cut branches off of willow trees and simply stuck them a foot in the dirt around creeks. We did it to get root holds so banks wont wash out . They will grow roots and become full blown trees. Id grow a few in shallow water during summer. They grow fast and make awsome cover. If its 25 to 50 ft deep plants wont grow, but bass pro shops sells sinkable 10 ft "fake tree like structure" that works great. There not to expensixe and wont rot or float.

if you cut the willow branches under water and never bring them up it works a lot better, if you cut the branches above water it forms an air pocket in the branch and it has a higher chance of dying, we do it all the time for school and so far it works 50% better if you cut it under water and keep it submerged until the branch has sprouted roots and can be transplanted... its a crazy concept haha

 

[Kevinb5688]

My friend had a pond that sounds like this, all they caught were small fish. So they invited 4 of us to come fish it for a few hours. I caught two close to 5 and my friend got a 5 1/2.
They had fished it for years but were not good bass fisherman so they only caught small fish. People think bass are easy to catch but it takes skill to catch big fish.

 

[fredaevans]

if you cut the willow branches under water and never bring them up it works a lot better, if you cut the branches above water it forms an air pocket in the branch and it has a higher chance of dying, we do it all the time for school and so far it works 50% better if you cut it under water and keep it submerged until the branch has sprouted roots and can be transplanted... its a crazy concept haha

Add a thought here to CP's post ... as he's right. History now, but had a Vineyard for several years and many of our/my 'replacement plants/plants for new plantings' came from cuttings. Had a ton of 'milk carton' type of containers from the original starts (from the Nursery stock) so game plan was we need a 1,000 (pick a number) new plants for later planting.

We'd (myself and the two fellows who worked for me full time) would mark especially 'fruitful' vines with yellow tape and come back to them when we did the Spring pruning. Those guys were my 'cutting plants.' Each of us had a bucket of water and would cut off a cane and cut it up into 2 foot lengths and IMMEDIATELY stick same in a bucket of water; we didn't worry about the top bit as that would soon seal itself up without help. Thought about sealing same with grafting paste, but didn't seem to make a bit of difference one way or the other.

From there into the 'milk cartons' things loaded with good potting soil, on a heat mat (things have a temp prob so you could set/maintain the proper soil temperature = 60+ degrees) and a heavy clear plastic covering. To back up a bit here for context with Grape Vines; they are a 'weed' as any 'bud' below ground wants to develop into a root system. Above a leafy vine.

Give it a month and 95% of these things were going nuts with new growth and saving me about $5.00 for Nursery Stock. There are ups and downs useing self rooting vines (especially if you're in Kalifornia), but not here in So. Oregon (or so I never found).

But back to CP's thoughts. You have a Rose Garden and you want flowers inside. Do you're cuttings, bring them into the house and immediatly do a second cut (UNDER WATER!!) and stick the flower into a Vace (sp?) ASAP. Flower will be good to go for over a week.

 

[Hawk]

Imho, i like the way Cattails look in a pond, & they provide pretty good cover for fingerlings, BUT it is only good to have them/let them grow if you can keep these plants under control. CATTAILs SPREAD reel fast. The brown bulb end of the stalk, is all seed pods. The air /wind will blow them. :shock:

 

[tomriker]

how could you controll them once they get started?

 

[Hawk]

I'm not sure but i guess try, just let some grow in shallow water, cut some plants off below the water line, rake out some of the roots. Maybe a backhoe could be used. :think:

I see cattails growing in some different ponds i've come upon when i'm out exploring. Looks like they started growing wild from nature. They provide some oxygen.

 

[Hawk]

How to Control Cattails | eHow.com

I guess it wouldn't be a good idea to experiment with growing cattails.
Probably too much extra trouble. :shock:

 

[tomriker]

sounds like a lot of work!