Size of the lake vs size of the fish

[HarveysMinnow]

Many of us have heard the saying, "It's not the size of the dog in the fight; it's the size of the fight in the dog." What that has to do with Bass fishing I'm not sure, but maybe there's a slight analogy to something I've wondered about over the years:

I have fished a lot in a farm pond of about 1.5 acres. Never in all that time have I caught any Bass larger than about 4 lb. To my knowledge, neither has anyone else. This has led me to wonder, does the size of the lake/pond set a limit to the size of the Bass? There have always been plenty of 1.5 - 2 pounders, and maybe they all get only enough to eat to sustain them at that general size, and unless one of them gets lucky and eats more than his share, I'm thinking they will never become real lunkers.

Many of us have seen the growth explosion of 'goldfish', if they are taken from an indoor aquarium and freed into a small pond. The aquarium was an obvious growth inhibitor for them. Does anyone else have an opinion on whether the size of their environment might effect the ultimate size of the Bass?

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[Ebbetsguy]

Excellent question! I have wondered this myself, also at what point does it not make a difference. I would think it also has to do with Water Temps. Dissolved O2 and Forage. I have been wondering for a while if a fish gets as big as it can in lets say 20 acres of water but at what point, lets say over 100 acres does it not make a difference, I would guess population density and predators such as Northern Pike and or Muskies would have an effect. Imagine a Muskie in a 1.5 acre pond!

I hope Raul answers this

[bamabassman]

this is jsut my opion now ok? i DO think the size of the body fo water ALONG with harvesting said body of water has a lot to do with. also..........what kind of cover, dept,natural food (minors,craws,and such) AND location is a factor. this is an interesting question for sure. i would be interested in some research findings to see what can be found out about this.
here is another factor i want to know about too.
in said "pond" or small body of water, wht does mixing say....bass,bream, and crappie an catfish do to the eco system. who is the dominat fish? which fish (catfish,bream,crappie, bass) wins out.
reason is i have always heard that if oyu want a catfish pond, stoc it with catfish only. if you want a bass pond, stock it with bream and bass. if oyu want a crappie pond stock it with bream and crappie. so i am wondering jsut how small or large a body of water do you need for all 4 species to co-exist?

[lilmule]

Have to agree,years ago my wife wanted tropical fish so took her goldfish out of a 20 gal aquarium and placed in a 90 gal outside pond,they grew twice as large.No less or more food,so available space is a factor at least in smaller containers.
Most farm ponds have a population factor the dnr or fb puts out that exceed the lbs per acre so it limits their growth.
Larger areas its forage present to lbs per acre.
Thus why its good to keep a few bass from a farm pond on occasion,same with gills,they get stunted when to many in a small area.
If you check most state game records for bluegills come from farm ponds,yet check those and one wouldnt find three inch ones all over the place.Reduce the bass in numbers in a small pond they do get larger than 4 lbs,but wont support numbers of such fish.
Tn dnr states a state record over 14 lbs is in a small impoundment south of me in a state forest,it is rather small in comparison to most tn lakes.More large pond size.Think about 200 acres in all.Never been there going from memory about an article I read and my memory is faulty at times,im thinking twas smaller than that but dunno.

[CamG]

I don't think that the size of the body of water matters. Two of the heaviest largemouths I've caught were from a 3 acre pond. If you look at the LM record books for at least Nebraska and Kansas, they came from small sandpit type ponds.

There are far more important factors for the most part (water quality, predation, forage, cover, etc.) than the size of the body of water.

[Ebbetsguy]

Hey Check this guy and his site out, even a froum for questions and answers

BOB LUSK; The POND BOSS

http://www.pondboss.com/

Builds and manages ponds , and has some for pay for fishing

[cassidyta]

I do not believe that the size of a bass really has anything to do with the water size.
If they have food and cover, I don't believe that it matters if they are in a lake or swimming pool.
Some of the biggest bass I have ever caught came out of golf course ponds. I am talking about a pond less then 1 Acre.

[66KingFisher]

I've caught several bass over 5# and one over 6# from a farm pond so small you could cast all the way across it......Might of been half acre or so I'm guessing, not sure....I do know I fished that pond almost daily for several years and consistantly caught bass ranging from fingerlings to 4#, an occasionall you'd hook into a bigger one.

[Raul]

My first 10+ lber came from a half an acre pond, btw, I´ve caught several 10+ lb fish from that same pond and I can swear it´s not the same fish and that there are several fish of that size. Also, there are numerous ponds around here smaller than that one that also have large fish in them.

The size of the body of water limits how many big fish can have enough food to grow large, in a very small pond you can´t have lots of big fish.

[nofearengineer]

It's really all about water quality and amount of forage available.

Obviously, large bodies of water with low numbers of fish will maintain good water quality longer (this is why they tell you not to over-crowd an aquarium). It is also why our beloved impoundments are such great fishing spots. The water is continually flushed out, and as long as they are not polluted by man made sources, will continue to thrive.

That being said, there's no reason a small farm pond can't produce a 10 lb'er, if it's carefully raised with the right level of forage, and numbers are kept reasonable.

[JB]

A couple of things come to mind, genetics for one. If you have an over populated pond with limited forage year after year, I tend to believe the biggest bass can only get to a certain size. That being said(no fear lol)
you never know what yaa hoo's go into ponds like that and take out the big ones for a meal or the wall.
Being up north, a bass takes forever and a day to get to trophy size. Plus we all have seen like mentioned before that the size of the water also has a factor in fish size. Get some fish out of a aquarium and into a garden pond and they do increase in size.
These bass in ponds get the occasional bug or bluegill, while a big lake the bass will team up and work a school of shad over till their bellies are full. Big dif. in the amount of proteins and all the ingredients to make them grow a lot bigger than the pond fish.
Granted a pond is much easier for the angler to get more fish in any given outing, the big lakes have the fish migrating and spread out much more than working over known spots/structure in a pond. I think we've all gone through the learning curve of believing we were good fishermen
from our years at ponds/pits, rivers...but once you get a boat and
have to learn BIG bodies of waters, you're daily catches most of the time decreases till you get things figured out. Its also more rewarding to pull a hawg out of a lake than a pond.
Other anglers will hear of ya catching a hawg and if its from a pond they
typically will say"well you hooked one of your pets" they all know they are going to be released, where as if you get a hawg in a tournament on a lake
I think co anglers respect that catch more than being on a small pond.
Fish by mid summer see a lot of fishing pressure on any size of waters, its a safe bet these lake fish target huge balls of shad or other forage like craws.

[HarveysMinnow]

Originally Posted by 66KingFisher

I've caught several bass over 5# and one over 6# from a farm pond so small you could cast all the way across it......Might of been half acre or so I'm guessing, not sure....I do know I fished that pond almost daily for several years and consistantly caught bass ranging from fingerlings to 4#, an occasionall you'd hook into a bigger one.

Looks as if there is ample evidence to lay my initial question to rest. Maybe I was just not fishing properly for the larger ones.

On further reflection, it would seem that surface area of any lake is less important to the fish than the total volume of living space available. Two lakes could have the exact same surface area, but if one is a lot deeper than the other, the deeper one will have a far greater volume of water. A greater volume could mean more favorable growing conditions, ie. more plentiful forage and other factors mentioned above.

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[MississippiBoy]

Originally Posted by HarveysMinnow

...favorable growing conditions, ie. more plentiful forage and other factors mentioned above.

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I think that's the key...it's not necessarily the size of the body of water, it's the amount of food available. If two lakes are the same size, both in surface area and total volume, but one has (for whatever reason) a bigger shad or crawfish or panfish population, the fish in that pond will (probably) grow larger than the ones in the more barren pond.
In my mind, a bigger body of water will typically have a greater abundance of prey for the bass to feed on, so the fish there would generally be bigger than in a smaller lake. Of course, the total population of bass and other fish play a role in this, too. If there's an overabundance of 12-15" bass in a lake, they're not going to grow very much bigger, since they're having to compete with so many other fish for the forage.

[screwballl]

Like mentioned, it is a combination of factors.

Less competition and fishing pressure means better chance to get big and fat. Now this tends to pertain mostly to ponds of 1 acre or more. Any smaller and yes size of pond does make a difference.

I fish a 65 acre lake with LOADS of fishing pressure and rarely hear of any bigger then 14" being pulled out. It may be that the bigger ones are smart and avoid lures, or it may be that they just never have a chance to get that big since so many people keep them.

There is another one that is 318 acres and it is rare to hear of anyone catching any bass smaller than 12".

So I do think that there is a type of limit depending on 2 main factors: food and fishing pressure. Even ponds/lakes with a no keep policy or size limits still have plenty of people keeping fish of all sizes.
I have been at a few private ponds that had maximum keeper sizes, they want all the bass under 10" kept, but anything over 16" should be reported in, and if possible, photographed.

[Missouribassman95]

I fish alot of ponds (about 2 acers each) and I've caught some hawgs from them. If there is good water quality, forage, ect. it's just like a lake except much smaller.

[bamabassman]

can anyone answer some the questions i asked? not wanting to steal the thread, jsut wondering.

[CamG]

Originally Posted by bamabassman

this is jsut my opion now ok? i DO think the size of the body fo water ALONG with harvesting said body of water has a lot to do with. also..........what kind of cover, dept,natural food (minors,craws,and such) AND location is a factor. this is an interesting question for sure. i would be interested in some research findings to see what can be found out about this.
here is another factor i want to know about too.
in said "pond" or small body of water, wht does mixing say....bass,bream, and crappie an catfish do to the eco system. who is the dominat fish? which fish (catfish,bream,crappie, bass) wins out.
reason is i have always heard that if oyu want a catfish pond, stoc it with catfish only. if you want a bass pond, stock it with bream and bass. if oyu want a crappie pond stock it with bream and crappie. so i am wondering jsut how small or large a body of water do you need for all 4 species to co-exist?

Bama - here's a good read that should answer most of your questions.

http://mdc.mo.gov/conmag/2007/05/pri...cking?page=0,0

[cassidyta]

John,

I fish a small pond that has bluegill, catfish, and LMB. This pond is only 150 yards long and I can cast the width with ease. It is about 10' in the deepest spot. All three species appear to thrive. I have caught several LMB over 5 lbs with the largest being 9lbs. There are not a lot of cats, but I have caught 2 that went over 10 lbs.
Nothing has been stocked in this pond in 15 years and everything thrives greatly.

[boloson]

temperature?, an ecosystem that can sustain such fish? perhaps it lies in the species the bass eats. for example trout & catfish. aren't they in general a larger species then bass? clear lake & dixon lake for example produces double digit bass on average. their primary food is trout. as far as your average ponds & lakes? i guess some thrives more then others

[HarveysMinnow]

Originally Posted by cassidyta

I fish a small pond that has bluegill, catfish, and LMB. This pond is only 150 yards long and I can cast the width with ease. It is about 10' in the deepest spot. All three species appear to thrive. I have caught several LMB over 5 lbs with the largest being 9lbs. There are not a lot of cats, but I have caught 2 that went over 10 lbs.
Nothing has been stocked in this pond in 15 years and everything thrives greatly.

That's amazing Cass! The pond you describe sounds almost identical to the one I used to fish, except mine may be a little deeper overall. But I think mine is well past its prime and probably 'out of balance'. I also wonder if your year-round climate is more conducive to the production of larger Bass, as well as their food supply. Does it even get down to freezing in the San Diego area?

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[cassidyta]

Harvey,

The pond never freezes and temps don't get below 35 but maybe 4-5 days a year. I personally believe that the key to having good basws in a small pond is having a good bluegill population. We do not do anything special for the gills, but we are mindful not to catch too many.
The second key on such a small pond is that we do not bed fish. I am not against it in general, but when you have a pond this small, the value of every bed is amplified.
Lastly, we will harvest a few small bass each year. We try to pull out maybe 2 dozen fish between 12-15" each year. I believe this keeps them from getting too stacked up in the pond.

[mrmuskie5]

It has alot to do with regulating bass year classes i feel. if you have a pond that is full of pounders that pond is gonna be a numbers pond . the big girls are in constant battle for forage and as we all know those big ones just dont like to run around alot for dinner. Those farm ponds you go to and you dont catch a 100 dinks but a few quality bass are the ones you need to hang out at. Ive caught many 5#+ bass at a farm pond i go to here in northern IL but right down the road from it is a pond that look very similar that you cant catch any thing over 2# to save your life but you will go thru a bag of plastics in a hour.