Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Walleye

How do you introduce smaller Walleye to a already started pond? Thanks.

It is very difficult to avoid predation by larger fish.

If you can't get larger fish to stock, the other side of the coin is to stock way, way more smaller fish and hope for some fraction to survive.

Now, there may be some here who have tried to plump up some walleye in cages, but I'm not sure if that's been tried or not.

Let's see what others have to say.

Bruce did it this last winter in a tank in his basement. Then moved them to a cage in the summer. It went relatively well until water temps got too high and he lost a few. I believe he started with live minnows, then dead minnows and worked his way to hydrated feed. All in all it was a successful project.

I'm hoping to try something similar next spring with saugeye. I'd guess they'd be more tolerant of warm waters.

I'm wondering that myself, as I would like to supplement the numbers to keep the perch count down. I have been unable to find the time to fish out enough YP and BCP to have any real impact.

Good question! I was wondering the same thing.

I was considering a dozen or less walleye stockers to also be the apex predator in my pond, mainly for my YP. My pond is small enough that I can control YP numbers very effectively with removal of egg ribbons.

But I may have YOY RES or pumpkinseed (or hybrids of the two) to deal with come spring. Have been seeing some smaller wide body fish in the shallows that we have not had before.

My biggest YP are 11-12" now. What walleye stocking size is best to avoid predation or will YP not eat them? I have no other predators outside of the YP. Do I need 6" walleye stockers?

I also wonder how much worry there is about 'cold water' being a must? I was told the same thing about YP and they are doing well in my pond with max depth of 10' at full pool, and most of the time it runs 8' in the deep. Will Walleye be at risk for 'summer kill'?

And is it best to stock fall or spring or don't matter?

WAE will (should) be at least 5-6" this time of year, too big for YP to mess with.
I have a handful of both walleye and Saugeye in my pond and have caught a couple of both this year, around 10-14". DO requirements for WAE are a bit higher than some but unless your pond is completely static with no wind and/or wave movement I think they'd have a chance in your area.
Fall stockings are most common because fish are usually not over wintered at many farms.
They need some refuge from high temps, even though their best growth is around 77-78, DO has to be in the 5.0 range +.

Thanks Snipe!
I think my closest supplier has a 100 fish minimal order. I might be able to find some other MI pond-meisters to share. Maybe if I show up they will sell me less than a full order if we get near the end of the fish season.

I have aeration and some windy days but the area is sheltered on E and W sides by trees and we get winds from the west.

I would attempt a fall stocking based. I wish the pond was deeper but who doesn't? Too hard to fix now.

Thanks on the tip to look for a 6" size slot.