‘Pond doctor’ helps people create their own dream fishing holes – Kansas City Star

By BRENT FRAZEE

The Kansas City Star

A couple of years ago, Jack Rudnay realized that his dream of developing a trophy bass lake was starting to slip away.

Thick vegetation covered one portion of the lake, making it virtually inaccessible. The bass were skinny, obviously lacking in food. And while there were big fish in there, the fish were predominantly in the 12-inch range.

That’s when Rudnay called Shawn Banks, known as the “pond doctor.”

Banks, who runs Midwest Lake Management, a business that specializes in rehabilitating small fishing holes, took a series of steps to get Rudnay’s private lake in central Missouri back in balance. And on a recent fishing trip, it was obvious that the steps were working.

As Rudnay fought a 13-inch bass to the boat, he said, “That’s a healthy boy bass.” Banks nodded and added, “Two years ago, that fish would have been skinny. But he’s in good shape. He’s getting enough to eat.”

That was the goal when Banks set out to work with Rudnay, the former Chiefs center, to achieve his dreams.

Rudnay moved to the country years ago, built a home overlooking a valley and had a pond constructed to his specifications. He spent hours building brush piles, designing ledges and dropoffs, and developing spawning and feeding flats for the bass.

And for a while, things were good.

“Like a lot of people, I had always dreamed of having my own Walden Pond,” said Rudnay, who played for the Chiefs from 1970 to 1982. “I wanted to move out into the country, live out in nature and have a fishing spot of my own.

“I put a lot of sweat equity into it, but it was worth it. When my grandson caught his first bass there, I knew I had done something right.”

But eventually, the pond got out of balance, partly because of the lack of harvest.

“Those bass are like my babies,” Rudnay said. “I just couldn’t bring myself to kill them.”

Troubled by a lack of big fish, Rudnay turned to Banks. The fisheries biologist started by electroshocking the lake to find what was there. Then he set a plan into motion

Because Rudnay didn’t want to remove any of the bass, Banks advised providing the fish with a heavy dose of food. He stocked 12,000 golden shiners into the lake, providing a high-protein food source.

Banks also removed the water shield vegetation that had overrun part of the lake. That made it easier for the bass to find their forage and opened a whole segment of the lake to fishing.

Today, Banks continues to stock golden shiners in the lake. And the results are evident.

Rudnay caught the biggest bass his lake has yielded — a fish that weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces — a year ago.  And he is convinced that there are even bigger ones out there.  Click link below for full story!

via ‘Pond doctor’ helps people create their own dream fishing holes – Kansas City Star.