Smallmouth in Ponds?

[Bray]

I have heard of ponds up north having small mouth populations but what about Kentucky? The reason I am asking is that I was fishing a pretty large creek fed pond and hooked up with a 14 in. brown fish. I ended up catching a couple more but really wasn't fishing for them. Have you all ever heard of anyone stocking ponds with small mouths? Ever caught one in a pond? I think next time I go I am going to exclusively fish for them.

[MrSplitshot]

I've heard of it in larger ponds...especially ones that are creek fed around here...but it's rare.

[Harley]

I think I saw this discussed on a show or I read about it in a Kentucky fishing mag. I think that the problem is that the water in a pond in our area typically stays much warmer then in a creek or stream. With the water being warmer the fish won't spawn and therefore it won't support a smallie population. Based on what I remember (I used to drink often and a lot so take that into consideration) if you catch one in a creek feed pond it could be there from the recent high water or just visiting for a short time before it goes back up stream. I could be wrong on this as well.

[ekubassfsher]

yea we have a couple smallmouth in our pond we caught out of the creek. we catch them everynow and then so yes they're alive. chris davis also has a pond with 21 inch smallmouth in it. they will live as long as its deep enough. we also have 2 underground springs running into our pond which helps.

[condusivecranker]

Just to echo--

KDFWR suggests that the only fish in KY capable of surviving in farm ponds are black bass, bluegil, and catfish. Of course, we know that many more species are capable of surviving in farm ponds.

However, smallmouth are very finicky creatures. If you look at the smallmouth's favored habitat in KY, you will see a basic correllation. The best smallmouth lakes are very deep, have oxygen at all levels, are clear, low pollution levels, and large. This is because the smallmouth is a cold water fish by nature. The are easily stressed by high summer temperatures. They cannot tolerate pollution, murky waters, or turbitity. Smallmouth are generally found in the lower portions of lakes where the water is deep, turbidity is lowest, and around rocky areas where their favorite food, the crayfish, lives.

Smallmouths in natural habitats are generally found in small, clear, free flowing streams. Large rivers with dams and other means of civilization are generally smallie free because of their pollution and turbitiy level. There may be some smallmouths in large rivers, but not in numbers.

Therefore, your farm pond must be large and have some sort of cool water source (a creek or spring). You would want the pond to be very deep and offer some sort of positive habitat for crawfish. Also, don't put smallmouth into ponds that easily muddy, either by severe runoff or by farm animals. Again, smallmouth are stressed by murky and turbid waters.

Hope this helps.

[JoeB]

I used to fish in a pond in Scott Co. that was spring fed. It wasn't very large, maybe 1/3 acre and had quite a bit of vegitation in it. The owner had put smallmouth in it that he caught from Elkhorn Ck. and they seemed to do very well. I never caught any over maybe 15 inches or so, but they lived in there for all the years that I fished it. I would guess that they did ok because of the heavy spring flow. I doubt that you could pull it off in many farm ponds. I know of a pond in Wayne Co. that has a huge cold water spring boiling up through the middle of it, and trout survive in it year round. Some are pretty big now.

[bereabasser]

a pond down the road from our house has some good smallies in it...i caught one one day that woulda prolly went 18-19 inches and around 3 1/2 lbs

[Bray]

The pond is very deep for a pond, the owner says it's about 25 feet in the middle. It has a spring coming in opposite from the creek. The water is crystal clear. The pond is probably an acre and is in the woods. What they did was dam up a holler. Thats why its so deep. I am glad some of you have caught them out of ponds I thought I was going crazy. The owners say they think there is one that would go 5 pounds in there.

[jonasseed]

I know of a few that have them in it. There is a pond here in Laurel co that has walleye smallmouth and white bass in it. It has a small creek running into it and also has a air system in it. I have caught several keeper smallmouth and walleye from this pond that were transported via Laurel Lake.......

[RC5]

Jonas I'm not aware of any ponds with a size limit....

[RoadToad]

Size limits apply to ponds just like any other body of water, even those on private property.

It makes sense that it would be a deep, spring-fed pond. I bet it has a rocky bottom, too? Sounds like a fun place to fish!

[mhall]

As many have already said yes it can occur but very rare for a brown bass to live long in a pond. Size is the key, it has to be big and deep and have cool water influx and even then it's rare.