When it comes down to it, we have to be honest–Largemouth Bass are a gamefish species that are highly sought after for Texas ponds because they produce AWESOME results and growth…but it takes some intensive management to get there. One of those crucial practices is culling, but the ins-and-outs of it need a little explanation.
In order to build a better bass fishery, two concepts need to take priority–baitfish input, and bass population control. Largemouth Bass in general are a highly prolific species that will actively spawn when water temperatures are appropriate to do so. Couple that with their poor feed conversion rate and insatiable appetite, you have a fast-track route to stunted genetics, rapidly diminishing bait populations, and an overpopulated pond. Explaining it in terms of math for all you smart people out there, think of it like this: Your pond has a certain carrying capacity that it can support, and for example’s sake, we’ll say that’s 100 pounds of bass. That’s either 100 1-pound bass, 50 2-pound bass…so on and so forth. If you want BIG bass, you’ll have to can the small ones!
The main question that most people have when told of these management requirements is just how much they need to cull–and like most everything else in the realm of pond management and aquaculture, the answer is dependent upon specific factors and situations. Luckily, the practice of culling is adaptable, meaning you can adjust accordingly to match your goals for your fishery.
Culling is not necessary until your bass are sexually mature–meaning if you stocked fingerlings, you’ll need to wait about 18-24 months before beginning (depending on the size of fingerlings you stocked). When it comes time to implement your culling, the general rule of thumb is to start at anything 10” or less. The quantity in which you cull is where things start to get more situational, but a good starting point is at least 20 pounds of bass per surface acre annually. For example: if you have a 2-acre pond, you’ll need to cull out at least 40 pounds of bass every year to benefit. Some pounds are more productive than others (especially if there is ample spawning structure and favorable water quality) and require increased culling in order to reap the benefits you want. In these situations a bit of trial and error is necessary to get it right, but up to 35 pounds of bass taken out per acre is typical of highly productive ponds. As always, if DIY isn’t your thing, we’ve got you covered. Our electroshocking services and turn-key management subscriptions include culling practices if you’d rather leave the dirty work to us!
After you invite family and friends to come wet a line and get this done, the next question people are faced with is what exactly to do with the bass that are culled. Usually, we recommend cleaning and filleting as many as you like, but as we all know cleaning smaller fish gets old real quick. Another option to consider (when your back starts aching and you smell like a bait stand) is to stock other ponds with the bass you harvest. Just remember, you need to have a baitfish population established first before adding bass for balanced results.
Now on to the super-sciency and biological side of things–we’ve already gone over what culling is and that it’s important, but in order to better understand the “why” of it, we need to have a better understanding of what relative weights are and how they work. Relative weights are an important management tool that we utilize to gauge how healthy your Largemouth Bass are by comparing surveyed bass measurements against a standard and seeing where they fall. To do this, a bass’ length (in inches) and weight (in pounds) is recorded during a shocking survey or while fishing. Once that measurement is collected, we divide actual bass weight by standard bass weight in that specific size slot, multiply it by 100, and ta da…you have your relative weight percentile! Mainly, we use the percentile information to make educated suggestions on how much supplemental baitfish needs to be stocked or what else can be done to preserve existing populations, and, you guessed it, implement new or adjust existing culling parameters. Once a forward-moving plan is in place, biology takes over and bass get bigger. You can check out a relative weight calculation example below:
Whoop! You just caught a 20.5” bass that weighs 4.2 pounds. The standard weight for a 20.5” bass is 4.96 pounds (this value comes from a widely accepted chart that many lake management companies refer to–and if you want a copy, we’d be more than happy to send you one!). So, in order to find your relative weight percentile you would divide 4.2 (actual weight) / 4.96 (standard weight), which equals 0.846. Multiply 0.846 x 100%, and we find out that this bass is in the 85th percentile (85%).
Long story short, you’ll only produce bigger, desirable bass if you get rid of the smaller ones. Successful ponds and fisheries are all about balance, and even if Largemouth Bass-focused waters need a little extra attention, the results are worth it!
Author: Jordan Moore