middle TN angler's association forming - access to private lakes

[tnpondmanager]

Hey all, an angler's association is forming in the Columbia area. Membership will be capped at twenty members so as not to over-fish the lakes. Dues will be $200 yearly and all dues money will go directly into intensive management of the lakes on the property. There is a 22-acre lake which will be managed for trophy bluegill, and a 7-acre lake which will be managed for trophy bass. Members will make reservations online in advance for days they wish to fish, and no more than two reservations per day will be allowed on the big lake and one per day on the small lake to prevent over-fishing and provide a serene fishing experience.

We will be meeting once all the spots are filled, most likely at the big lake which has a beautiful new lodge right on the lake. PM me if you're interested.

[Travis C.]

What strain bass are in the trophy lake. Are they all female?

The reason I ask about gender is: If all your bass are female they will not get watered down by the smaller male. You can add an abundance of forage for the fish then they will grow faster and bigger.

[Reel Tune]

Are these catch and release only? Say I buy a membership, will it be good for me and my wife? We fish from differen't vessels. How long have these bodies of water been managed?

[tnpondmanager]

Hey guys, sorry I just now checked the thread, thought I had my settings to be notified when people reply but evidently not:)

We will have very specific limits for each lake, and they'll be different from lake to lake depending on the goals for that lake. In the trophy bluegill lake, all bluegill over 7.5" will have to be released immediately, but 10 per day will be allowed kept from 6-7.5" so as to keep the smaller fish thinned out. Also, bass will be catch-and-release only in that lake so as to keep a high density population of bass, also for the purpose of keeping the bluegill well-thinned so that the ones that survive the bass gauntlet get huge.

Regarding the bass lake, there are no bass in there yet - we'll be stocking tiger largemouth from American Sportfish in Alabama. They're a cross between Florida-strain and the northern strain largemouth that are native to this area; they get much bigger than northern-strain, and hit lures better than Florida-strain do, which have been found in multiple studies (not to mention many frustrated pond owners' experiences) not to hit lures well. We won't be doing female-only simply because then we'd have to restock very regularly in order to keep different year classes in the pond. Seven acres is large enough to have quite a few trophy largemouth if the lake is managed properly, which it will be. In that lake, we'll be harvesting a good number of smaller bass, under 15", each year so as to free up more food resources for the fastest-growing bass so they can really grow at maximum rates.

The lakes are not being managed in any way presently, though the bluegill are already bigger in the big lake than they are in a lot of area lakes that have been managed for years (not by me)...The bluegill already average over 7", with no management whatsoever. I have a one-acre pond and a 60-acre lake I'm managing now, in which the bluegill averaged 4" or less when I began managing them; I've only been managing said BOWs for two years, and yet the bluegill average 8" now in both, and there are several fish over 10" already - I saw one feeding yesterday that would have gone 11" if he went an inch, and he was about an inch thick. With the bigger lake on this property where it is already with bluegill, within two years the bluegill will average close to a pound apiece, and a year or so after that two-pounders will start showing up, possibly sooner.

The bass lake has tremendous potential. Right now it's slap-full, as in morbidly overpopulated, with green sunfish, which just happen to be some of the best bass forage you could ever find. I managed a two-acre pond several years ago that was overrun with green sunfish when I started with it, and four years later bass from four to six pounds were common, and a nine-pounder was caught by my best friend - and my grandfather lost one at the boat that was a good deal bigger than that.

Don't hesitate to ask more questions if you have them.

[Travis C.]

I have always wondered something that was told to me years ago.

Is it true if you stock a pond with hybrid gills then you will need to completely drain it and restock all over again after about three years.


On a side note though, getting after those big bass in your lakes would be awesome on a 7wt fly rod and topwater pattern.

[tnpondmanager]

You were told correctly about hybrid bluegill, Travis. They're only desirable for the first generation - subsequent generations, i.e. their offspring, regress genetically so that most of their growth potential is lost. And, common northern-strain bluegill will get bigger than hybrid bluegill if they're fed pellet food. But best of all is coppernose bluegill, which are a substrain native to Florida. They're the bluegill equivalent of Florida largemouth - they grow faster and get bigger than northern-strain bluegill, and they're not a hybrid so there's no genetic drop-off from generation to generation.

And I just happen to be raising a bunch of pure-strain coppernose bluegill in several smaller ponds in the area, and will be stocking them in both association lakes:)

And yes, the bass in the trophy bass lake will be quite a handful on a fly rod in two or three years...

[Mnfishingbum]

How big do those sun fish get?

[tnpondmanager]

Coppernose bluegill can grow to over three pounds in ideal conditions. A 3 lb. 2 oz. coppernose was recently caught from an intensively-managed private lake in North Carolina. We'll be aiming to grow them that big and bigger:)

In years past I've grown northern-strain bluegill to one and three quarter pounds without automatic feeders or pellet food. So I'm pretty confident I can grow them to over two, and coppernose to three or better, using feeders and high-protein food, which we'll be doing on the 22-acre lake. The lake in N.C. where the giant referenced above was caught makes heavy use of feeders and high-protein food.