Years ago, when I lived in Ohio, I joined a fishing club.  The club had built a couple of lakes, the largest being 20 plus acres, with deep water.  Fishing was fast and furious in the early years, and it is still excellent for big bluegill and numbers of sub-15 inch bass.  Bass much bigger than 17 inches, though, are few and far between.

Recently I spoke with the Ohio club owner about the stunted bass problem.  He knows there is an issue and has addressed it by sinking pallets in the lake.  He's also recently stocked tiger musky (25, I think) and has taken away the limits on sub-15 inch bass.  Still, the lake is underfished (I think he means underharvested) and it is a struggle to improve bass size.

I recommended that he mandate that every bass under 14 or 15 inches be harvested, just as PWF does when facing a situation like this.  Of course, this means he's have to find a way to dispose of the excess fish that club members don't want to clean & eat themselves.  Right now few people harvest because, frankly, it is so much easier just to toss the little 'uns back.  I know, I've done that myself!

I also recommended that he start feeding the bluegill.  Because the lake has mostly steep shorelines, they have relatively few good bedding areas so need to make the most of them.  Ohio has a shorter season, too, so bluegill might spawn once or twice a year, rather than multiple times as here in the South.  Feed would help the bluegill mature faster and spawn more, which would increase bass forage.

My last recommendation was that he check out what PWF is doing with fisheries management.  He's sharp and I'm sure will quickly pick up some helpful ideas.

One other thought I had was that they could construct more bluegill bedding habitat in areas that weren't too deep.

Fellow PWFers, do you have any suggestions?  Steve, Seth, do tiger musky work to reduce bass numbers much?  I'm headed up to the Ohio club in a few weeks and will likely have the opportunity to speak with the club owner face to face.

Thanks ahead of time for your ideas!

Frank, all I know about stocking tiger musky is that east of Spokane, Washington is Newman Lake. It held the state Largemouth record for many years, and from 1975-1977, I personally caught Largemouth over 8 pounds and Smallmouth over 5 pounds rom the 1200 acre lake. as well as a LOT of LMs between 3 and 6 pounds. The state stocked it with Tiger Musky (I don't know when), and now there are very few Largemouth bass in the lake...still some Smallmouth.

In a twenty acre pond I Don't think the muskies  will get more than 24 to maybe 28 inches. But they are eaters. When I lived in New York I would catch them in the spring on 6 inch chubs and even 9 to 12 inch suckers.  Then after the spawn troll for them in the Niagara river around strawberry island. Trolling triple jointed creek chub plugs.  They eat everything fish, frogs, ducks.  I never heard of putting muskies in a pond. The ponds I owned and own we stocked with bluegills, trout and largemouth bass. Good luck, have them bring in an expert.  Back in the seventies in Colorado someone had an idea to stock Northern pike in the lakes.  They are still paying for that one.  Pike love to eat trout. Pike and Muskies fight more in the boat then they do in the water.  

I'm not doubting your experience or assessment Frank, but step one would surely be a shock survey to actually see what you've got.  Once you know that, then you can customize a plan to either increase habitat, forage base, or your selective harvest as you've suggested.  It's hard to give a generic prescription without that first key piece of evidence though.

I'm sure he was appreciative of your willingness to help.

J

Thanks for the feedback, guys. 

Tom, I guess the Ohio owner feels okay about tiger musky because they are sterile.  They can't overpopulate the lake and eat every bass unless he puts in more.  Maybe that's what happened to your favorite lake, it was overstocked with tiger muskies?  Something odd happened if the smallmouth came to dominate the largemouth instead of vice-versa, that goes against normal natural processes.

Robert, this same lake was stocked with tiger muskies 30 years ago and, for whatever reason, they grew to about 38 to 40 inches.  Don't know if they will do so again, it is not as fertile as it used to be.  You are so right about their diet, just about everything in the lake is fair game.  Hooked one while soaking a live earthworm for bluegill, hooked another on an 11 inch bass.

Jackson, I concur re electrofishing survey by a professional, but the owner specifically mentioned that he doesn't want to spend that kind of money.  He feels creel surveys give him a pretty good idea of what is going on.  I wish he'd break down and get a professional survey to know more exactly what is going on & will mention this again when I see him.   (Or, if I'm smart, I'll get my dad to mention it.  He and the owner get along great; in fact my dad likes to tell me that the owner is "like the intelligent son I never had.")