Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction Hello from Illinois

Been reading the posts here for a few months, and finally decided to join up. Some really great info here!

I've got a cabin on a roughly 2-acre pond. About 8 other cabins are around the pond. All of the cabin owners have rights to use the lake and fish it, but only a couple of them, besides myself, actually do any fishing.

The pond was built, at least 50 or so years ago, by installing a dam at one end of a small valley. On the other side of the dam is a creek.

I'm told the pond is 20 feet or so deep on the deep end (toward the dam). You can wade across it at the other end.

I've caught bluegill and redear in it, some of them good-sized but also a lot of smaller ones, and a couple small LMB. One of the guys who fishes said he caught a 5-pound LMB this year. And I saw one person catch a 4-pounder. The neighbors say there definitely are good-size LMB in the water.

Cabin owners have come and gone through the years, and I don't think there's ever been any type of management effort. I'm told that some hybrid bluegill were stocked at one point a few years ago.

When the fish truck came to the farm store this spring, I figured what the heck. I bought 250 hybrid bluegill fingerlings and 75 8-inch CCs, along with a couple of pounds of minnows and a couple of pounds of shiners.

I told a neighboring guy about my stocking. He said he also put in 100 6-inch CCs!

I'm guessing we'll be having a few catfish dinners in the next couple years!

I've started randomly tossing feed. To my surprise, I'm seeing huge catfish hit the feed -- ones that obviously have been there a few years. I had been told there were catfish in the pond, but I questioned it, because I hadn't been able to catch one (in a year-plus of fishing). Small bluegill also are eating the feed.

I toss out about a quart of feed three days a week, morning and evening. It's probably just a snack, but it's fun to watch.

Here's what else I know about the pond:

1. I'm told there are crappie in it. I've caught only one -- a fairly small one. So, hopefully, they're not overrunning the place.

2. There are a lot of turtles. And unfortunately they love the fish feed.

3. I think there's a decent minnow population. I can see a lot of them in a very shallow area. Sometimes I'll see a school of something -- I'm guessing minnows -- that cause a stir on the surface. Whatever they are, they dart every which way for just a second or so. I'm guessing it's a school of minnows that get spooked by something? I just bought a minnow trap and plan to try it this weekend.

4. There are a lot of bullfrogs.

Thanks for listening. I've got a ton of questions, beginning with: Will my uninformed catfish and hybrid bluegill stocking be a disaster?

Welcome, Brian!

I doubt your "uninformed stocking" will be a disaster. Most of the HBG and CC probably became quick snacks along with the 6" CC put in. CC over 3 pounds are Apex predators and compete directly with LMB for forage.

With Crappie, big CC and LMB as known predators there, straight bluegill will produce more forage than Hybrids.

I'd suggest fishing/trapping it a lot...Use all size hooks and also live bait to try discovering what all is in the pond. Keep some records to see if any size classes are missing and weight/length will help you determine health and how well they are fed.

Welcome Brian
This is a good place to get good information, and believe it or not make some darn good friends. Rainman will steer YA right as will most of the rest of the guys. Enjoy the pond

Not a lot of those small stocker fish will survive predation from the larger bass and CC. I think I would put in a couple of brush piles for small fish cover.