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Managing for Trophy Bass
Largemouth bass are one of the most popular sport fish in Mississippi, and a favorite management option for ponds is trophy largemouth bass. Growing big bass consistently requires careful management. It is critical to follow water quality, fertilization, aquatic weed control, and fish management programs as defined on this site or as prescribed by a fisheries professional.
The way to achieve big bass is through their stomach! A basic bass and bream combination can produce big bass, but you can increase your success by increasing food available to each bass. You can do this in three steps:
- Increase prey production by managing water chemistry and fertility.
- Add new prey species or supplement prey.
- Manage bass size structure and abundance by removing small bass.
You can increase prey production through proper water chemistry and pond fertilization. Check to see if the lake needs agricultural limestone, and consider implementing a fertilization program. Trophy bass ponds can benefit from a properly conducted and maintained fertilization program, since fertilizing can double or triple the pounds of fish per acre, which can be manipulated to produce bigger bass.
Two additional prey species are commonly recommended for supplemental prey in Mississippi ponds:
- Fathead Minnows— good prey for bass with no negative impacts on the fish community. But
bass feeding quickly eliminates these fish from Mississippi ponds, and you have to restock them often. It is best to stock this species fall to spring, when water temperatures are cooler.
- Threadfin Shad— excellent forage fish for largemouth bass and provide abundant prey year after year. Threadfin shad are cold sensitive and die when water temperatures fall below 36°F. This may occasionally result in threadfin shad die-offs in northern Mississippi during the coldest winters. Threadfin shad will need to be restocked the following spring. Threadfin shad may compete some with bream, so stock them only in ponds where you want trophy bass.
Buy threadfin only from licensed distributors to ensure proper species identification. Never collect shad from the wild, because it is very difficult to distinguish threadfin shad from gizzard shad! Do not stock gizzard in ponds because they tend to grow too big for bass to eat; they can overpopulate and will compete with other prey species.
Producing big bass requires a commitment to proper harvest of bass. Do not harvest bass the first two years after stocking. Beginning in year three, harvest 15 (30 for fertilized ponds) pounds of bass per acre each year that are less than 12 inches. Removing these small bass reduces competition with remaining bass, providing more food for those that remain. Also, remove 5 pounds (10 for fertilized ponds) of bass per acre that are 12 to 15 inches each year. Release all bass over 15 inches unless you harvested them as trophies. Harvest bream as desired. Important: Supplying additional food alone will not produce trophy bass. Bass harvest must occur consistently! The biggest mistake in bass management is catch and release of all bass. Small bass need to be harvested to allow more food for fast growth of intermediate-sized bass.